Why Hammersmith properties get drainage faults
Hammersmith combines Victorian terraces with flats above shops on the main roads, post-war blocks and riverside developments. Mixed-use buildings are common, with a restaurant or takeaway at street level and flats above sharing one drain.
Repeat blockages almost always have a physical cause. A survey identifies whether that is root ingress, a displaced joint, a partial collapse, a badly made connection or simply a run with too little fall.
Mixed-use buildings are the recurring theme. Commercial kitchen waste and domestic waste meeting in the same pipe produces grease build-up that a domestic property alone would never generate, and the flats above feel it first.
Our approach in Hammersmith
We survey with the end use in mind, whether that is a repair quote, a purchase decision or an insurance claim.
- Clear enough of the line to give the camera a usable view
- Run the camera through the full length of the affected drain
- Record the position and depth of any defect with a locator above ground
- Grade what we find, from minor wear to a defect needing repair
- Provide the footage and a written summary you can pass to an insurer, surveyor or builder
Work on the main roads has to fit around traffic and shop opening hours. We agree timing in advance, including out-of-hours where a business cannot close during the day.
Signs it needs attention now
- A drain that blocks again within weeks of being cleared
- Unexplained damp, subsidence concerns or a sinkhole in the garden
- Buying a property with mature trees close to the drain run
- An insurer or managing agent asking for evidence of the pipe condition
- Planning an extension that will be built over an existing drain
What we see most often in Hammersmith
- Commercial kitchen grease restricting a run shared with residential flats
- Flats above shops discharging into pipework never sized for the load
- Surface water backing up along the lower riverside streets
Hammersmith work is split between residential streets and mixed-use buildings on the main roads, where a restaurant or shop sits below flats. Those buildings need a clear answer on who owns which section of pipe, and we provide it in writing.
Equipment and what happens afterwards
We survey with a self-levelling colour camera and an above-ground locator, which together tell us not just what a defect looks like but exactly where it is and how deep. That matters, because a repair quote based on a rough guess at position is a repair quote that changes once the ground is open.
You receive the footage along with a written summary describing each defect, its position and how serious it is. We write it so that a surveyor, an insurer or a builder can use it directly. Where a repair is needed we set out the realistic options, including the ones that do not involve excavation.
What cctv drain surveys cost in Hammersmith
A CCTV drain survey is a fixed £300 plus VAT, including the footage and a written summary of what we found. We confirm the figure before any work starts, so nothing changes once the engineer is on site in Hammersmith.
Areas we cover around Hammersmith
Hammersmith sits within our core coverage, taking in W6, W12 and W14 across Hammersmith and Fulham. Average response is 75 minutes, and we operate in Fulham, Kensington, Ealing and Chelsea too, which helps when a drain run is shared between properties in different streets.