Blocked Drains in Barnet

Barnet's drainage is older than most of North London realises. The Victorian and Edwardian terraces around New Barnet and East Barnet still commonly run on original salt-glazed clay pipe, which cracks at the joints and lets tree roots in. Once roots are established they catch fat, wipes and debris until the run closes entirely. The 1930s semis across EN4 tend to have better pipework but shallow, badly-fallen runs under later extensions, where the gradient is too slack to self-clear. Flats and conversions around Whetstone and N20 bring shared stacks, where the blockage causing your problem is often nothing you put down the drain.

We start with a CCTV survey rather than jetting blind. It costs a little more time up front and saves a great deal of money later, because it tells you whether you have a soft blockage that will clear in twenty minutes, a root mass that needs cutting, or a collapsed section that no amount of jetting will fix. You see the footage yourself.

The question that catches most Barnet homeowners out is who actually pays. Since 2011 the shared lateral drains and sewers serving more than one property have been the water company's responsibility — Thames Water across all of Barnet. The pipework inside your boundary serving only your house is yours. If our survey shows the blockage is on a shared run, we will tell you and you should call Thames Water, who will clear it at no cost. We would rather lose the job than charge you for something you are entitled to have done free.

Every clearance is priced before we start, and we tell you if what you actually need is a repair rather than a clear.

Barnet's mix of Victorian terraces, post-war semis and modern flats means heating systems vary enormously across the borough. Our engineers know the area's housing stock inside out, from rear-extension combi installs in EN5 to large family system boilers in Hadley Wood.

Areas of Barnet we cover: High Barnet, New Barnet, East Barnet, Hadley Wood, Cockfosters.