Recommend a firm for work on drains?

Thu 13 Jan 2011, 20:36

Update. Got round a really great chap who used to work for Dyno-Rod but now is self-employed, based in Didcot but serves all Bucks Oxon etc. Called Oxfordshire Drain Services, and he charges £70 plus VAT -- flat fee whether 30 minutes or 3 hours. He cleaned all my pipes with his high-pressure jet, stuck a camera up them all, and discovered it was simply some old builders' rubble in the way and now all is running smoothly.

Yeah, the pipes are rubbish and bumpy and shaped a little bit like rugby balls, but I reckon an annual wash out will do the trick without having to resort to complete reconstruction.

Highly recommend the chap anyway.

Wed 5 Jan 2011, 22:39

When we found out about the material the pipework was made from we took out drain replacement insurance. Which should mean that it is one of the other 4 houses sharing the same 4" pipe (totally inadequate sizing) has a collapse and floods the entire row of us with raw sewage...

Mon 3 Jan 2011, 23:17

Now let me see ... £3000 ... tenner ... £3000 ... tenner ... sounds like I'm off to eBay!

Mon 3 Jan 2011, 12:36

We have just had our entire drains redone for under £3000 and they have done an excellent job (we needed to increase the fall on the main sewer out of the house and accomodate a new extension). They were part of Kingerlee and based at Hayley. However as Jon said, we have previously much improved the drainage from our bathroom using a thing called a 'Turbosnake' by JML bought of Ebay. It removed an astonishing amount of hair from the bathroom plughole and has dramatically improved the flow from our bathroom for less than £10.

Mon 3 Jan 2011, 10:37

If it's only part of the house that is affected, it sounds like a relatively short section of pipe, or even just one sump thingy. When my kitchen drain blocked and the contents of my sink found their way into the garden and street to an embarrassing and smelly extent, I buried my arm in the drain and wiggled blunt instruments around to no avail whatever. Then I wound up in Focus looking at bottles of stuff with horrendous warnings all over them, and eventually selected something which cost me about a fiver and which I didn't believe for a moment would achieve anything.

It did, and the drain has run freely ever since.

In the sort of drain you are describing there is probably a lot of hair and woollen/cotton fibre getting into the pipes. Might be worth checking and clearing the filters on things like the washing machine, to make sure they are working, and making sure that the plughole in the shower or bath is designed to capture hair so you can remove it by hand (and don't then flush it down the loo!).

Sun 2 Jan 2011, 23:41

Just one other question: is there any way of sliding a modern pipe into the pitch-and-fibre-roll pipe?

Sun 2 Jan 2011, 23:40

Thanks, Chaps. Just heard the same bad news for another neighbour, re: material of the pipes. In my case, it's not the kitchen part that's being affected, but a bathroom and utility room, so it could be detergents or it could be loo roll getting stuck on the rough edges inside. I've just about been convinced to ask my friend with drain rods to come out and clear anything, because short of re-digging the whole thing so the fall is better on it, I think there is no other remedy. A regular ramming is probably cheaper than the overhaul. Unless, of course, it has collapsed ... ughhhhh.

Sun 2 Jan 2011, 12:19

Malcolm's description of pitch fibre drains is depressingly accurate if that is what you have! We have used dynorod in the past, and on the basis of their work for us I would recommend them. I imagine they are not the cheapest, but they came when called, and were well equipped with very helpful men working for them.

Sun 2 Jan 2011, 00:09

Be warned - the drains on The Green and related estates were all made of pitch and fibre roll 4" pipework which I didn't know could be used on domestic property drainage (I installed a lot of it as drainage on farms etc. in the 60s/70s) and it was probably…

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Sat 1 Jan 2011, 15:03

Anyone had work on their drains in the last few years? I'm afraid it's time for camera work to be done down there to figure out what's wrong, and with about fifty local firms advertising, would rather hear of your experiences than call someone just because I closed my eyes and put my finger on their name.