To keep our homes in a habitable condition we need to make sure that we maintain them on a regular basis. However, one area of home maintenance which is forgotten about is checking the drains that leave the home. Drain blockages in London are an all-to-common occurrence, and something which can be avoided.

The drains that leave your home may get blocked when they can’t cope with the type of waste which is disposed there. People frequently put incorrect items into the drainage system, such as sanitary wear and cotton wool buds. These items can actually block a drain completely and stop further waste products flowing through the drain.

Drain cleaning companies in London come across all sorts of things inside our drainage system. But luckily they have the right tools to remove the offending blockage.

The common method of removing a blockage is drain jetting. During this process a jet of water at high pressure is directed down the drain. This jet of water is usually powerful enough to break up the clog into small particles, which can then be washed through the drainage network.

If drain jetting fails, drainage engineers can use a CCTV survey to look inside the drain to work out what’s going on. With this information they can then decide upon an action plan on how best to tackle the drain blockage.

Most people don’t even give a second thought to the drainage or plumbing in their home. They only think about it when it goes wrong.

There are quite a few reasons why drains become blocked. These include things such as:

The disposal of liquid fats

Many people in the UK still think it’s ok to dispose of liquid fats in the drainage system. And despite campaigns by many waste water companies, thousands of people still do this on a daily basis. When fat enters a drain it quickly cools and solidifies. If this happens on a frequent basis it’s not long before the drainage pipe becomes blocked completely, rendering the drain useless. Instead of disposing of fat down the drain, people should let it cool and then dispose of it in the general waste.

The accumulation of hair

Another problem which causes drain blockages is hair. When you take a shower or a bath, hair can get washed down the plughole. This hair then accumulates and eventually blocks the pipe that leaves the bath. Some liquid drain cleaning products break up hair in the pipe under the bath, so it can be washed away. If you want to stop hair entering the drainage system completely, you should use a sink strainer which will catch the hair so it can be disposed of in the general waste.

A project to restore a historic tunnel to its former glory has been completed by Thames Water. The Wood Green Tunnel Culvert project involved each brick in the tunnel being individually replaced and the complete tunnel repointed. The tunnel entrance has also been lifted and repositioned to make the tunnel foundations secure.

MITIE completed the project for Thames Water, their commercial manager stated:

“This was a great project to be involved in and it’s fantastic to see this historic London tunnel restored to its former glory.”

The tunnel provides water from the New River to London and is an integral part of London’s water supply heritage. The tunnel will celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2013. The community garden where the culvert is situated is managed by Bowes park residents.

The recreation and amenity co-ordinator at Thames Water, John Liddard, stated:

“It is fantastic to see the culvert back to its former glory and we are really pleased that the users of the community garden will get to enjoy its history and beauty once again.”

Autumn is a busy time for drain cleaning experts. They normally get a lot more calls at this time of year due to leaf debris blocking garden drains.

If you live in a home which is surrounded by trees or woodland, you’ll probably already know the problems that leaf litter can cause to your drainage system. When the leaves fall from the trees they usually end up being blown around the garden and find their way into the gutters and drain gullies around your home. Because of this it is really important to make sure that you embark on a regimen of home maintenance at this time of year to stop drainage problems before they happen.

Around late autumn you should check your gutters for debris and remove any leaves you find. You should then check all the drain gullies around the home and remove any leaves which are collected here also.

It’s just about impossible to stop any leaves from entering the drainage system, but if you fit drain covers to all your drains, the leaves will not be able to accumulate. And if you make sure your gutters are free from leaves, you should be able to reduce drain blockage incidents significantly.

At some point in your life you’ll have to contend with a blocked sink or blocked bath tub. Blocked sinks are a common occurrence faced by thousands of households every year. However, you needn’t panic if you have a blocked sink, as removing the blockage is normally quite simple.

When your sink is blocked you might notice that the water drains away much slower than usual. If the sink is completely blocked, the water won’t drain away at all and you might have to manually remove some of the accumulated water before you can tackle the blockage.

Some sinks have a detachable ‘U’ bend pipe which sits just underneath the sink. It’s common for this section of pipe to accumulate food debris and solidified fats. With a bucket placed under this section of pipe it’s easy to unscrew the pipe from the adjoining sections so the waste matter in the pipe can be disposed of in the general waste.

If you don’t fancy your plumbing skills, you can try a plunger or use a rotating drain snake, which is a flexible rod like device which you can insert down the plughole to try to shift the clog.

If all else fails and the sink blockage is still proving difficult to move, a quick call to your drainage experts in London should get the job done.