Drainage maintenance and upkeep

The importance of keeping healthy drains in and outside your home

Maintaining your drains both inside and outside the home can help to avoid blockages, bad smells and a costly repair, or even replacement. Your drain system can get clogged with nasty things that can not only cause blockages, but also breed germs and bacteria. If you fail to clean and maintain your external drains, they can back up and cause flooding around your property and that of your neighbors.

Here are our top tips for keeping a healthy drainage network in and outside your home:

• Don’t put things down your drains that don’t belong down there! The only things your drains are equipped to deal with are human waste, toilet roll, shower and kitchen sink waste in the Foul system. Surface/rainwater via the Surface Water system. Do not put wet wipes down your toilet even if they claim to be flushable!
• Do not pour fats oils and grease (FOG) down your sink or toilet. Instead pour fats and oils into a sealable disposable container or, at the very least, use a kitchen towel to collect/wipe them up and dispose of it with your general waste.
• In the bathroom use a shower strainer. Keeping as much hair out of your drains as possible is beneficial to both your internal plumbing and external drainage.
• If possible, avoid building over manholes on your property. If you’re lucky, you may never need to access your manhole. However, in the event of needing drainage maintenance they could be vital, and if built over can cause a whole host of issues and expense.
• Clear out your gully drains should they begin to fill up with rubbish/leaves. Excess waste and leaves can often get caught in the grate of your outdoor gully drains (usually located at the base of external rainwater downpipe(s) and outside the kitchen to collect sink/washing machine waste). Keep your gullies as clear as possible to avoid unnecessary blockages.
• Have a CCTV survey carried out on your drains. A CCTV survey of your property’s drainage could reveal potential issues and allow you to act before these problems start to become noticeable within the home. Here at Drainage 2000 we have a team of engineers who specialise in CCTV reporting.

Can we help?

Drainage 2000 are a team of drainage specialists, should you require any of our services then please contact the office on 01246 456 300 or info@drainage2000.co.uk and a member of our team will be happy to help.