Drain Unblocking in Edinburgh

Edinburgh drainage is rarely simple. Tenement flats share soil stacks and back-court gullies between six or eight households, so clearing one property's waste pipe often just moves the problem next door. We jet and camera the full shared run instead, which is the only way to be sure the cause has gone.

In the city's restaurants, bars and takeaways the story is almost always fat and grease coating the pipe wall. Jetting strips it back to full bore; rodding only punches a hole through it and buys a few weeks.

We work across the city and out to Queensferry, Musselburgh and the Midlothian edge, and we are used to permit-free, low-noise working where access is tight and neighbours are close.

Blocked drains and toilets in Edinburgh flats

In a tenement, the toilet, bath and kitchen sink in each flat usually feed one shared soil stack that drops down the back of the building into the drain under the back green. When that stack or the drain at its foot chokes, the flat at the bottom suffers first. Water rises in the ground floor toilet or comes back up the shower tray even though the waste causing it came from upstairs. Neighbours higher up may notice nothing at all.

We start by working out whether the problem belongs to one flat or the whole stair. A single slow toilet with every other fitting draining normally points to the pan or its branch. If several fittings in the lowest flat back up together, the shared stack or the drain beneath it is the likelier cause, and clearing it from inside one flat rarely lasts.

Basement and garden flats bring their own trouble. Their fittings sit close to the level of the drain, so even a partial blockage downstream can leave water standing in a floor gully or rising through the lowest toilet. Clearing the run from the outside chamber, then checking the flow from every floor, is the reliable way to fix it. Further out, see our page on drainage in South Queensferry, or for surveys and repairs in the city, our page on drainage in Edinburgh.

Blocked drains on the city's slopes and in its villas

Marchmont and Bruntsfield sit along glacial drumlin ridges, so drains there often run steeply down one side of a street and level out at the bottom. A steep run carries water away quickly but can leave paper and wipes stranded where the gradient flattens, which is where a blockage usually forms. Clearing it from the lower chamber, working uphill, gets to the obstruction without pushing it further down.

The south and west of the city, around Morningside and Corstorphine, have more detached and semi-detached villas. Their drains are usually private to one household, but where trees grow near the drain, roots can be the reason a run keeps blocking. If drain unblocking in Morningside or Corstorphine keeps coming back, it is worth filming the pipe once it is clear; see our drain survey in Edinburgh page.

Gullies after autumn and winter storms

Atlantic windstorms can hit the city between October and April, stripping leaves and blowing grit into yard and back-green gullies. A gully that fills with debris holds water, and the next heavy shower sends it over the top towards the building. Lifting the grate and scooping out what has collected is often enough. If the pot refills and stands full, the blockage is further down and needs rods or jetting. For blocked toilets rather than outside drains, see blocked toilet unblocking, and for plumbing faults inside the flat, our plumber in Edinburgh page.

What we clear in Edinburgh

• Tenement soil stacks and shared back-court drains
• Blocked toilets, showers and kitchen waste
• Restaurant, bar and takeaway grease lines
• Basement and lightwell flooding
• Silted gullies and communal chambers
• Landlord, factor and HMO call-outs

Questions we get asked

More Edinburgh drainage help: CCTV drain surveys, no-dig repairs and emergency plumbing.