Drainage
They’re the bits you don’t see – the maze of pipes which run through, around and often under your home, carrying all the waste from toilets, baths, sinks, washing machines, dishwashers, showers and everything else that uses or spits out water.
In theory – and in a perfect world – your drains would never let you down. Built out of long-lasting plastics or, for those underground, made from clay, nothing is going to cause them a problem. Untrue! Drains get blocked – largely by the things that go through them. Waste from your toilet is the biggest and main culprit, but this has to catch somewhere.
Badly fitted drains, or drains which no longer connect correctly, create edges which toilet waste and debris can catch on. Before you know it, your drains are blocked; backed up and overflowing through manhole covers.
Another cause of drain blockages comes from pouring hot fat down sink. This floods into your drains and, as it cools, this fat solidifies within your drain, narrowing the diameter of the pipe and no longer allowing waste to travel through the pipe without getting caught us somewhere. In turn, this causes the drain to back up and any other solid waste slowly works its way down to make the blockage worse.
Believe it or not, one of the major causes of blocked drains is the infestation of tree roots. The root system of a tree work in such a way that they go searching for sources of water and, if they find the tiniest bit of moisture, the roots will work their way into the gaps of your drain, forcing them apart and filling the drain as absorb the waste water and grow.
Most blockages can be removed by with using the suction caused by a simple plunger, followed by a 10 minute burst of poring hot water down the drain, or, for more stubborn blockages, you may have to call in a drainage expert. A company who will understand how to quickly remove any blockage through either plunging, rodding the drain using a series of flexible rods which lock together, or finally through using a water jetting machine. This incredibly powerful and clever way of clearing a drain comes in the form of a metal jet head which attaches to a special hose. Using water to propel itself, the head blasts a jet of water at the blockage until it moves. At the same time, the jet head cleans the drain of any kind of debris, drawing everything down the drain. All the expert will need is a man hole entry to the drain.
If you have a root infestation problem, a specialist drainage company will be able to send a CCTV camera up the drain to establish the size of the problem. Thereafter, the drain will need to be lined or replaced once the roots have been removed.