Drain Surveys in Edinburgh

Most Edinburgh drain surveys we carry out fall into one of three groups. Buyers whose home report or surveyor has flagged drainage and who now have a completion date to work to. Owners of a flat or a house that keeps blocking and who are tired of paying for the same clearance twice a year. And landlords, factors and insurers who need documented evidence of the condition of a shared run.

Edinburgh property makes surveys more useful than average. Much of the city is Victorian tenement and villa stock on original clay pipework, laid in short jointed lengths that have moved over a century. Add mature street trees, back court extensions built over the drainage line and shared runs serving several flats, and there is a lot that only a camera can settle.

We own our CCTV equipment and carry it on the same van as the jetting gear. If the run has to be cleaned before the camera can see anything, we do both in one visit rather than charging for two.

Pre purchase drain surveys for Edinburgh buyers

A home report does not put a camera in the drains. If your surveyor has recommended a specialist drainage inspection, that is what this is. We inspect the private drainage serving the property, record the whole run, and give you a report you can actually use in a negotiation, because it puts a cost against anything we find.

We know purchases run to deadlines, so pre purchase work gets priority in the diary. Tell us the date you are working to when you ring.

What the survey covers

• The full private drainage run from the building to the boundary
• Inspection chambers, gullies and the connection point where accessible
• Cracks, fractures, displaced joints and open joints
• Root ingress and the defect the roots entered through
• Deformation, partial collapse and full collapse
• Standing water showing loss of fall
• Fat, scale and silt reducing the bore

What you get, and how long it takes

A typical domestic survey takes one to two hours on site. Longer shared tenement runs and commercial sites take longer. You receive video footage, still images of any defect, the distance and depth of each defect from the chamber, a plain English explanation of what it means, and costed repair options where work is needed.

If the survey finds a problem

You get the options and the prices, and no pressure. Plenty of what we find is minor and worth nothing more than keeping an eye on. Where a repair is needed we tell you whether a patch liner will do it, whether the run needs full relining, or whether the section has gone far enough that it has to be dug out and replaced. We carry out that work ourselves, so there is no second survey and no second contractor.

Edinburgh drainage questions

Local pages nearby

Helpful guides

• What a CCTV Drain Survey Shows and What It Costs
• Pre-Purchase Homebuyer Drain Surveys Explained
• Signs of a Collapsed Drain