A blocked drain in Birmingham is usually a toilet that will not clear, a gully overflowing onto the drive, or a terraced house where the run under the entry has silted up. Tell us the problem and the postcode. We pass that to local drainage companies that cover it.

Common signs of a blocked drain in Birmingham

• The toilet will not clear properly, or water rises when you flush
• Water comes up in the shower or bath when the washing machine is on
• An outside gully overflowing onto the path or driveway
• Sinks in more than one room running slow
• A sewage smell in the garden or downstairs

Once a drain is restricted it rarely clears on its own. Anything else that goes down sits on top of what is already there.

Typical costs in Birmingham (2026)

A short look with a camera can cost less than the range above. A full written report or homebuyer survey usually sits toward the higher end. National ranges are on what drain unblocking costs, and a local camera guide on CCTV drain survey Birmingham.

Everything Birmingham flushes ends up at Minworth

Minworth sewage treatment works, on the north east edge of the city, is where the waste from most of Birmingham goes. It is one of the biggest treatment works in the country, and the figures show why.

• It serves a population equivalent of 1.75 million for wastewater treatment
• Full flow to treatment is 1,070 megalitres a day
• It handles sludge for a population equivalent of 2.3 million, including material brought in from Coleshill and works across south Staffordshire and north Warwickshire

That scale is the reason the wrong thing in a Birmingham toilet is not a private matter. Severn Trent pulls around two and a half tonnes of wet wipes out of its sewers every year, and clears roughly 14 million litres of fat, oil and grease, which it compares to six Olympic swimming pools.

Their crews have recorded blockages traced to a bucket, a table leg and a decapitated teddy bear, in Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton among other places.

Your own drain fails the same way, earlier in the chain. Wipes catch on a joint, fat sets around them, and the pipe closes over weeks.

Terraced streets and shared entries

Balsall Heath, Sparkbrook, Small Heath, Handsworth, Aston and Bordesley Green are dense terraced areas, most of the housing late Victorian and Edwardian.

The drainage under those rows was designed for the houses as originally built. In a lot of streets one run serves several properties and passes under a shared entry or a rear yard.

• One restriction shows in more than one house, often on the same morning
• The cover is frequently under paving, because yards get flagged, concreted or decked over the years
• Rear access can be tight, so a jetting hose has to run further than the quote allowed for

If the whole row is slow at once, that matters for who pays. Since 1 October 2011 most shared private sewers in England transferred to the water company, so a run serving several houses is normally Severn Trent rather than the residents.

Extensions over the drain run

Birmingham has a lot of rear extensions and kitchen builds on terraced and semi detached houses, and many of them sit over the original drain line.

That is legal and common, and it causes no trouble until something goes wrong. Then two things make the job harder.

• The inspection chamber may be inside the extension, or sealed under a solid floor
• A cracked pipe under a slab is a repair job rather than an unblocking job, and the access decides the cost

A camera survey is what tells you which of those you have before anyone lifts anything.

The student belt around Selly Oak and Edgbaston

Selly Oak, Bournbrook, Harborne and parts of Edgbaston hold a large share of the private student housing for the University of Birmingham.

The pattern is the same one that fills sewers everywhere. Several unrelated people in a house built for one family, several kitchens’ worth of fat going down one waste, and wipes that the packet said were flushable.

Report it in writing to the landlord or the agent and keep a copy. A tenant can still use the quote form if the landlord has agreed to it, and it is worth saying on the form that it is a shared house.

Tree roots in Moseley, Kings Heath and Sutton Coldfield

The leafier suburbs are where roots do their work. Moseley, Kings Heath, Harborne, Sutton Coldfield and Solihull have mature street trees, big gardens and older clay drain runs with jointed pipes.

Roots do not force their way into a sound pipe. They find a joint that has already opened slightly and grow into the water. Once inside they build a mat that catches everything passing.

The pattern is recognisable across a year:

• Slow running for months, with no obvious cause
• A backup in autumn or after heavy rain, once leaves and silt add to the mat
• It clears when rodded, then returns the following year

Rodding buys time. Jetting cuts the roots back properly, and a survey afterwards shows whether the pipe itself is cracked or has dropped at a joint. If it has, lining or repair stops you paying for the same unblock every autumn.

City centre apartments and Jewellery Quarter conversions

The Jewellery Quarter, Digbeth and the city centre have a mix of converted industrial buildings and newer blocks.

Drainage in a conversion is usually retrofitted: new pipework threaded through an old structure, long horizontal runs to reach an existing connection, and sometimes pumps where there is no natural fall.

• Long shallow runs block more readily, because there is less force behind the water
• A failed pump is an emergency, not a slow drain
• The stack is shared, so a neighbour’s habits become your problem

Tell the managing agent before you instruct anyone. Communal pipework is normally a service charge matter and a bill you paid yourself can be difficult to reclaim.

Who looks after the drain in Birmingham

FAQs in Birmingham

The whole row is slow at the same time. Do we split the bill?

Not yet. A run serving several houses normally transferred to Severn Trent in 2011. Report it to them before anybody pays a contractor.

My drain cover is inside the extension. Is that a problem?

It is workable but say so when you book. Access decides the price, and a chamber under a solid floor is a different job from one in an open yard.

The gully floods onto the drive whenever it rains hard. Whose is it?

If it drains away afterwards it is usually silt or a restriction in your own gully. If it stays full and the neighbours have it too, ring Severn Trent.

Are wet wipes really the cause?

Severn Trent pulls around two and a half tonnes of them out of its sewers a year, alongside roughly 14 million litres of fat and grease. Flushable on the packet does not mean it breaks down in a pipe.

Is a CCTV survey worth it before buying here?

Yes on older terraces, anything with a rear extension over the drain line, and any house with mature trees nearby. A standard building survey does not film the pipe.

How quickly can someone attend?

Same day and next day cover is normal across the B postcodes. Emergency rates apply out of hours. If waste is coming into the house, ring as well as filling in the form.

Getting a quote in Birmingham

Describe the problem and the postcode. We pass it to drainage companies covering Birmingham. Say if the cover is under paving or inside an extension, if it is a shared entry, or if more than one house is affected.

Not in Birmingham? See all areas.