Blocked Drains & Drain Unblocking in Ealing, London

Kitchen drains block most often from fat, oil and food waste hardening inside the pipe, while bathroom lines block from hair, wipes and soap scum gathering at a joint or bend. In the older central-Ealing villas and Northfields terraces, original clay drainage can also be cracked at a joint and invaded by tree roots, which a camera survey identifies straight away rather than guessing from the symptom. Hard water across the whole Thames Water supply adds a scale layer inside older runs, narrowing them further over the years before anything actively blocks.

A standard clearance starts from around £80 depending on how accessible the blockage is and how far down the line it sits, confirmed in writing after the CCTV survey shows exactly what is there. A straightforward kitchen or bathroom blockage sits at the lower end, while a deeper external run needing more access costs more. Anything beyond a clearance — a repair to a cracked or collapsed section — gets its own separate written quote before that work begins.

A camera survey runs first on every job, because clearing blind risks missing the real cause — a root intrusion, a partial collapse, a misaligned joint — and merely punching through the immediate blockage. The survey usually takes under an hour and gives a clear picture of the pipe's condition before jetting or excavation is discussed. It is also how we confirm the line is genuinely clear afterwards, not just clear enough to pass water for a few days.

The low-lying land towards the River Brent and the Grand Union Canal at Hanwell — around the Flight of six locks — and on the canal-and-river side of Greenford under Horsenden Hill sits inside the Environment Agency's River Brent flood warning area, where the water table is high and can rise fast after rain. That means external gullies and drains there back up from ground water and surface flooding in a way that a dry, higher Northfields or Ealing Common street simply does not. Recognising which pattern applies to an address is a large part of what the first visit sorts out.

Thames Water classifies all of the borough's supply as hard, at 200–300 mg/l calcium carbonate, and that mineral content deposits scale on the inside of pipe walls over years, gradually shrinking the bore of a drain before anything actively blocks it. A run already narrowed by scale blocks faster from ordinary fat, hair or wipes than a clean one would, which is part of why the older stock across central Ealing and Northfields sees more recurring drain calls than newer flats on modern plastic. Jetting removes both the active blockage and a good share of that scale layer in the same visit.

Clear any visible leaves or debris off the gully grate first, since a surface blockage is the commonest and cheapest cause, particularly on the low Brent-valley ground at Hanwell and Greenford after a wet spell. If it overflows again once the surface is clear, that usually points to a blockage or partial collapse further down the connection, which a CCTV survey will confirm. Do not keep running water into a gully that is already surging — that only adds volume to whatever is causing the backup.

Sewage backing up into a WC, sink or gully, or water refusing to drain anywhere in the property, both count as emergencies and get the same 24-hour response as a burst pipe. A single slow-draining sink or an occasional gurgle, by contrast, will almost always hold until a scheduled visit. Call 07447 181913 either way if you are unsure which one you have — it costs nothing to ask and is faster than guessing.

Yes — roots seek out moisture and will exploit even a hairline crack or a slightly open joint in an older clay pipe, then grow to fill and eventually block the line from the inside. This is more common under the mature, tree-lined Victorian and Edwardian streets of central Ealing and Northfields than under Greenford's younger 1930s development, simply because the pipework is older and the trees have had longer to find it. A CCTV survey pinpoints root ingress precisely, and jetting with a root-cutting head usually clears it without excavation.

It can. The Grand Union Canal climbs Hanwell on the Flight of six locks, a scheduled monument, and Brunel's Three Bridges and the 1837 Wharncliffe Viaduct sit at the south end of the district, so the canal, locks and viaduct constrain excavation and access near the water corridor. Most household drain work is well clear of those structures, but where a run sits close to the canal we plan access with that in mind. It is one more reason a survey comes first, so any constraint is known before work is scoped.

A straightforward kitchen or bathroom blockage, once surveyed and confirmed, usually clears within an hour of jetting starting. A more involved external run, or one where the survey shows root ingress needing a specific head, can run closer to half a day. Either way the survey happens first and the time estimate is given once the cause is actually known, not guessed at over the phone.

Yes — the CCTV survey shows the pipe's real condition, and if it reveals a cracked joint, a partial collapse or root damage that clearing alone will not fix for long, that is flagged with a separate written quote before any repair work starts. We would rather tell you a drain needs proper attention now than clear it every few months at your expense. That is the same honest-quote approach that applies across every job we coordinate in Ealing.