Blocked outside drain or overflowing manhole? Cleared at a price agreed first
A blocked outside drain, gully or manhole? We check whose pipe it is first, then clear it at a fixed price.
- Outside drains cleared from £80
- No call-out fee
- You get a fixed price agreed before any work starts
- If we can't clear it, you don't pay
- An engineer usually within 60 minutes around Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch
Signs of a blocked outside drain
Most people notice one of these first.
Water sitting in the gully or spilling over the grid
A gully is the small opening under a grid where your kitchen waste pipe, washing machine or a downpipe empties. If the water in it stays high or spills over when you run the sink, the gully or the pipe just past it is blocked.
A blocked manhole that is full or lifting
A manhole (also called an inspection chamber) is the access point with a solid cover where underground pipes meet. When the pipe leaving it blocks, waste backs up into the chamber. Water seeping round the cover, paper on the ground or a cover rising all mean the outside drain is overflowing, and it needs clearing today.
Trouble indoors that starts outdoors
Slow toilets, a gurgling plughole, or the downstairs toilet rising when someone upstairs pulls the plug. When several fittings misbehave at once, the blockage is usually in the underground pipe they share.
A smell by the back door
A steady sewage smell often means waste is standing where it shouldn't. A gully that has dried out and lost its water seal smells too, and that's a far cheaper fix.
Is it your drain, a shared drain or the public sewer?
This decides who pays. You look after pipes that only serve your home, up to your boundary. Since 1 October 2011, pipes shared with neighbours, and your own pipe once it leaves your land (the lateral drain), have usually belonged to the water company. Across most of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch that's Wessex Water. Across most of Hampshire it's Southern Water. Our guide to who is responsible for blocked drains covers landlords, tenants and flats.
Lift the cover and look
A minute looking into a manhole beats any guesswork. Only do it if you feel able to.
Before you lift a cover: only lift covers inside your own boundary, never in a road or pavement. Covers are heavy and the edges can be sharp. Wear gloves, lever one edge up with a flat spade or a large screwdriver, and slide the cover aside rather than lifting it with your back. Keep children and pets well away. Never lean in or climb down, and never leave an open chamber unattended. If a cover is cracked, rusted in or won't budge, leave it for us.
What you see tells you where the blockage is:
- This chamber is full, the next one towards the road is empty. The blockage is in the pipe between them. If only your home uses that pipe, it's yours to clear.
- The chamber is empty, but a gully or sink is backing up. The blockage sits between the house and the chamber, on your pipe.
- Every chamber is full up to your boundary, and the neighbours have trouble too. The blockage is probably in a shared or public sewer. Ring the water company first, because they clear their own pipes free. Our Wessex Water blocked drain guide shows how to report it.
- There's water in the chamber, but it's moving along the channel at the bottom. That's normal. Look for the problem at a gully instead.
Not sure what you're looking at? Send a photo of the open chamber with a callback request. If it looks like the water company's pipe, we'll say so before anyone books a visit.
Blocked gullies, manholes and what causes them
Gullies: leaves, silt and kitchen fat
Open grids catch leaves every autumn, and grit washes in off paths and drives. Add fat from the kitchen sink and it sets into a firm plug in the gully trap, the U-bend under the grid that holds water to keep smells down. Gullies in the street are different: road gullies belong to the council's highways team, not to you or the water company.
Manholes: wipes, paper and root ingress
Most manhole blockages start with wipes, kitchen roll and sanitary products that snag on a rough joint and pile up. Older clay pipes add a second cause: root ingress, where roots from trees and shrubs find a cracked joint, grow inside and spread into a mat that catches everything. Cleared roots grow back unless the joint is sealed, so we'll suggest a camera check if we find them.
How we clear a blocked outside drain
- Tell us what you can see
Call or send a photo. A few questions usually show whose pipe it is, and you get a fixed price before we book.
- Find the blockage
The engineer lifts the covers, checks which chambers are full and pins down where the flow stops.
- Clear it with the right tool
Rods shift most gully and manhole blockages. We switch to drain jetting where fat, silt or roots line the pipe.
- Test it properly
We run the taps, flush the toilets and watch each chamber empty.
- Show you the proof
We show you the camera footage before we leave, so you see the pipe running clear and any damage worth knowing about.
Blocked outside drain cost
- Blocked gully or manhole cleared with rodsfrom£80
- Most outside drain blockages£80 to £200
- Fat, silt or roots cleared with the high pressure jetterfrom£150
- Camera look along the run once it's clearfrom£150
Included: finding the blockage, clearing it, testing every fitting and hosing down around the chamber. What changes the price: how far down the run the blockage is, whether rods are enough or the jetter is needed, and whether roots have to be cut out. All prices include VAT. The same price day, night, weekends and bank holidays. Every service is listed on our prices page.
What clearing an outside drain can and can't fix
Clearing fixes a blockage. It doesn't fix the reason a pipe keeps blocking, and we'll tell you which one you've got.
- It can fix: wipes, paper, fat, silt, leaves and light roots, and a gully that has lost its water seal.
- It can't fix: a cracked or collapsed pipe, a joint that has slipped out of line, or roots that keep returning through a broken joint. If the same drain blocks again, a CCTV drain survey shows why, and drain repairs deal with the cause.
- It isn't yours to pay for: a blockage in the public sewer. We'll point you to the water company instead of charging you for their pipe.
Recent outside drain jobs
Gullies and manholes we've cleared lately, with what we found in each one.
Real, dated jobs from the job log appear here: town and postcode district, the problem, what was done, and a photo. Nothing shows until real jobs are logged. Service: blocked-outside-drain.
Our guarantee on outside drains
If we can't clear it, you don't pay. If the same drain blocks again within 30 days, we come back free, unless the new blockage comes from wipes, fat or damage we've already shown you. Read the full terms on our guarantee page.
Outside drain FAQs
What to do if an outside drain is blocked?
Stop running water into it first: no washing machine, dishwasher or baths. Then lift the nearest manhole cover on your property, if it's safe to, and see which chambers are full. That tells you if the blockage is yours or the water company's. If it's yours, call 0800 246 5347 for a fixed price before anyone starts.
Skip the chemical drain cleaners. They rarely reach an outside blockage, and they make the water unsafe for whoever clears it.
Who is responsible for the drains outside my house?
You're responsible for pipes that only carry waste from your home, up to your property boundary. Pipes shared with neighbours, and your own pipe once it passes the boundary, normally belong to the water company, following the transfer of private sewers on 1 October 2011. Road gullies in the street belong to the council.
Who is responsible for a manhole cover on my property?
If the manhole only serves your home, the cover and the chamber are yours to look after. If the chamber collects waste from two or more properties, it's usually part of a public sewer, so the water company maintains it, even though it sits in your garden. Report a broken cover on a shared chamber to them.
Will the water company unblock my outside drain?
Only when the blockage sits in their pipe. Wessex Water and Southern Water clear public sewers, shared sewers and lateral drains free of charge. A blockage in a pipe that serves only your home, inside your boundary, is your responsibility, and they'll ask you to call a drainage company such as us.
How do I know if I have a shared drain?
Look inside your manholes. If a chamber has pipes coming in from a neighbour's side as well as from your house, the drain is shared. Terraced and semi-detached houses often share one run along the back gardens. If you're still unsure, the water company can tell you whether a pipe is theirs.
Can a blocked outside drain clear itself?
Now and then a soft plug of paper breaks up and washes through, but most outside drain blockages get worse. Silt, fat, wipes and roots don't dissolve, and every flush adds to the pile. If a chamber stays full after you've stopped using water, it needs clearing before it overflows into the garden.
Why is my outside drain overflowing when it hasn't rained?
Because the water is coming from inside the house, not the sky. Every sink, shower, toilet and appliance empties into the same underground pipe. When that pipe is blocked below a gully or manhole, your own waste water has nowhere to go, so it rises and spills out at the lowest opening outside.
What does it cost to clear a blocked outside drain?
Most blocked outside drains cost £80 to £200 to clear, starting from £80 for a gully or manhole we can clear with rods. Heavier jobs that need the high pressure jetter start from £150. You'll get a fixed price before any work starts, and there's no call-out fee.
Can tree roots block an outside drain?
Yes. Roots are drawn to the moisture in drains and get in through cracked pipes or loose joints, especially in older clay drains. Once inside they spread into a mat that catches paper and fat. We can cut them out, but they grow back unless the damaged joint is repaired or the pipe is relined.
Outside drain backing up now?
Get a fixed price for your drain
Call 0800 246 5347 or send a photo of the open chamber with a callback request, and we'll tell you whose pipe it looks like and what it costs to clear.