Keep clearing the same drain only for it to block again? A CCTV drain survey reveals the real fault underground so you can fix it once and for all.
You clear the drain, and within weeks it blocks again. Plunger, rods, chemicals, another call-out, and still nothing fixes it for long. When a blockage keeps coming back like this, the blockage is rarely the real problem. Something deeper in the pipe is causing it, and until you find that cause, you are only ever treating the symptom.
A CCTV drain survey is how you find it. A small camera travels through the pipe and shows exactly what is happening underground, whether that is a tree root, a crack, a collapse or a build-up of fat. A+ Drainage Services runs no-dig CCTV surveys across Essex, London and the M25 corridor, with clear reports and no callout fee. Here is how a survey gets to the bottom of a drain that will not stop blocking.
A drain that blocks once may simply have caught some grease or a stray wet wipe. A drain that keeps blocking is telling you something else. Usually, a fault in the pipe keeps catching debris and slowing the flow. It might be a root that has forced its way through a joint. It might be a section that has cracked, sagged or partly collapsed. Whatever it turns out to be, ordinary clearing will not cure it, because the fault stays there waiting to snag the next thing that comes along.
A camera inspection tends to turn up one of a handful of culprits.
Roots creep in through tiny gaps at the pipe joints, then spread into a mesh that traps almost everything passing through.
A broken section catches debris and disrupts the flow, and it only gets worse the longer it is left.
Where the ground has shifted, a dip forms in the run, so waste water pools there instead of draining away.
Years of grease and limescale gradually narrow the pipe from the inside until very little can get past.
Pipes that have shifted out of line or been wrongly connected snag waste and cause repeat trouble.
The survey itself is quick and completely non-invasive. We feed a high-resolution camera into your drainage system and watch the footage in real time as it travels along the pipe. Because we can see inside the run, we can pinpoint the exact spot where the trouble starts and work out what is causing it. There is no guesswork, and there is no need to dig up your garden to find out. Most domestic surveys take under an hour, and you are welcome to watch the screen alongside Keith as he goes, so you see the fault for yourself rather than taking our word for it.
Once we know the cause, you get a clear report of what we found and what it means. From there, we can target the fix instead of repeating the same work. If it is a root, we can cut it out and seal the joint. If it is a collapse, we can repair or replace that section. The point is to fix the real problem once, rather than paying to clear the same blockage again and again.
Our surveys are no-dig from start to finish, so your driveway, patio and garden stay exactly as they are. Keith talks you through the footage in plain English, explains what he has found and gives you a straight assessment of what the repair really needs, with no pressure and no upselling.
And, as with everything we do, there is no callout fee. You get a clear price up front, backed by more than 500 top-rated reviews from across Essex, London and the M25.
Quick answers to common questions about recurring blockages and CCTV drain surveys.
A blockage that keeps returning usually points to an underlying fault in the pipe, such as a tree root, a crack or a partial collapse. Clearing the blockage removes the symptom, but the fault stays there and catches debris again. A CCTV survey finds the cause so it can be dealt with properly.
Yes. The camera shows the inside of the pipe in real time, so it can identify a collapse, a crack, a sagging section, root ingress or a build-up of fat, along with the exact location of the fault.
No. A CCTV survey is a no-dig inspection. The camera travels through your existing pipework, so there is no need to excavate your garden, driveway or patio to locate the problem.
Most domestic surveys are done within the hour. You can watch the live footage with Keith during the survey and see the condition of your drains for yourself.
There is no sense in clearing the same drain again and again. Book a CCTV drain survey with A+ Drainage Services and find out what is really going on underground, with no callout fee.