What causes blocked sinks in Merton
Merton is mostly suburban, with interwar semi-detached houses in Morden and Mitcham, Victorian terraces closer to Colliers Wood and newer developments along the main routes. Most properties have their own garden drainage.
A slow sink is a partly blocked sink. The restriction is already there, and every wash adds to it, so dealing with it early is far less disruptive than waiting for it to close completely.
The River Wandle runs through the borough and the ground alongside it holds water, so gardens drain slowly and soakaways fill during prolonged rain. Where a driveway has been paved without drainage, that water goes straight into the foul system.
What happens when we attend in Merton
We work along the waste run in order, so we find the real restriction rather than the first one.
- Isolate and clear the trap under the sink, protecting the unit below
- Clear the waste run to the point where it joins the stack or gully
- Where the run is shared with other fittings, check those as well
- Flush the line through with volume, not just enough to drain the bowl
- Advise on what caused the build-up so it can be avoided next time
Off-street parking and side access make these jobs relatively straightforward. Where a chamber has been covered by a driveway, we trace the run with a camera and locator instead of lifting slabs blind.
Signs it needs attention now
- Water rising in the bowl before it drains away
- A gurgle from the plughole after the water has gone
- A stale smell from the plughole, particularly in a kitchen
- Both sides of a double sink draining slowly
- Water appearing under the unit or at the trap
What we see most often in Merton
- Waterlogged ground alongside the Wandle holding surface water
- Soakaways filling and failing to discharge during prolonged rain
- Inspection chambers buried under later driveway work
Merton work is mostly suburban and mostly for owner-occupiers, with off-street parking and side access making visits efficient. We also attend a steady number of garden drainage jobs where rainwater has nowhere to go.
Equipment and what happens afterwards
For sink work we carry small-bore clearance equipment, hand tools for traps and waste fittings, and jetting for the section beyond where hand tools reach. We also carry replacement trap seals and connectors, because a trap that has been disturbed several times over the years often needs replacing rather than refitting.
After clearing we fill and drain the bowl fully rather than running a trickle, which is the only reliable way to see whether the restriction has really gone. We check underneath for leaks at the joints we disturbed, and we tell you what the build-up was made of, because that usually points to a simple change in habit that prevents the next one.
What blocked sinks cost in Merton
Clearing a blocked sink is a fixed £120 plus VAT, with no call-out charge. There is no call-out charge in Merton, at any hour, and the price you are given on the call is the price you pay.
Areas we cover around Merton
We cover SW19, SW20, CR4 and SM4 and the surrounding streets of Merton, with engineers typically 60 to 90 minutes from the door. We work across Wimbledon, Croydon, Balham and Wandsworth as well, so if the fault turns out to sit on a run shared with a neighbouring property we can deal with both ends of it.