We attend a great many Victorian terraces throughout the capital, and the causes rarely surprise us.
How Victorian terraces are drained
London’s Victorian terraces were built with clay drainage laid in short lengths with jointed connections, usually running under the front garden to a shared lateral or along the rear of the plot. A century and a half of ground movement has opened many of those joints.
What goes wrong
Root ingress at the joints, shared laterals serving several houses, and drain runs built over by later side-return extensions are the three things we find most often.
Our approach
Where a terrace has been extended, a camera survey almost always pays for itself: it shows whether the fault sits under the new floor or out in the garden before anyone lifts a slab.
Signs worth reporting
- Standing water in a yard gully hours after the last discharge
- Two or more fittings affected together, which points at the shared run
- A glugging noise from a plughole when something else empties
- Foul odour around a chamber that keeps coming back
Before we arrive
- Keep water use to nothing, especially washing machines
- Cordon off contaminated ground
- Clear access to the drain covers if you can
- Note which fittings are affected so we arrive prepared
Who pays for the repair
On terraced and converted property, ownership is the first thing to settle. A private drain serving one building is the owner’s; shared runs and anything past the boundary generally are not. We record it so you have something to act on.
What we charge
Every price is fixed before work starts and there is never a call-out charge, at any hour:
- Blocked Drains – Outside drain clearance is a fixed £144 plus VAT.
- Blocked Toilets – A blocked toilet is normally cleared at the fixed £120 plus VAT rate.
- Blocked Sinks – Clearing a blocked sink is a fixed £120 plus VAT.
- Drain Unblocking – Drain unblocking starts at a fixed £120 plus VAT, with no call-out charge at any hour.
- CCTV Drain Surveys – A CCTV drain survey is a fixed £300 plus VAT, footage and written summary included.
- Trenchless Drain Repairs – Trenchless repairs are quoted after a survey, because the length and condition set the price.
- Drainage Installation – Installation work typically runs from £600 to £2,500, fixed after a site visit.
- French Drains – French drain installations are quoted after a site visit.