Recommend a firm for work on drains?

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 illegal for domestic use anyway at the time and got a surreptitious nod... given all the alleged rumours I've heard about the "close" [allegedly corrupt to be blunt! I'd like to know the truth] relationship between the council building inspector, NHCB inspector and the developers that was going on at the time..).

Modern detergents especially dishwasher stuff strips the tar out of the pipes. And they (pipes) then collapse as they are basically impregnated cardboard surrounded by a weak mix of sand and cement in a trench. You could be in for a big job if you loaded the foundations of the new extension onto the old pipework.

If you are lucky you just poured down too much saturated fats after Xmas dinner and it is congealed so some considerable quantity of boiling water/very hot water might see it eroded (so set up the combi or water tank to max temperature and run it out). Don't flush the loo while running this!! It might well well up sewage through the manhole covers!! Make sure no human waste is in the system before an attempted hot water flushing!! This has worked successfully in the past so good luck and get the potties out for the family to fertilise the veggie patch with a good dose of nitrogenous compounds!

As for drain clearance we had a persistent problem with some SE Asian tenants in a house we rent in Oxford who kept on blocking up the pipes with fat from their traditional cooking and had numerous callouts to the point I was going to call the problems as "tenant damage" and refuse to pay for it but fortunately they moved out first, and so far their replacements from the same part of the world have been very good tenants the last few years.

The drain persons all used the same equipment to examine, loosen, and flush away the blockage after putting down a fibre optic scanner to see what was going on. The only judge is to phone their number and see who has the most convincing sounding customer support reply. This can be an indication of the attitude and ethos of a company (and also of course a good front0.

It is about the only thing you can go on with without recommendation. Our chap in Oxford has plenty of work locally and won't come out this far so no use as a recommendation!