Blocked drains in Winchester

Across Winchester (SO23) it is mostly blocked drains, older brick chambers and clay runs, CCTV surveys and repairs, along with the emergency callouts that go with all of it. Winchester has an old core with genuinely old drainage under it, brick chambers and salt-glazed clay runs that have been altered several times over the years, surrounded by newer housing on modern plastic, so what is under the ground is rarely what the plan says it is. Every job starts with the covers coming up and a look at which chambers are holding water, rather than a price guessed over the phone.

No. Winchester is roughly 11 miles out, which is still a regular call for us, so there is no travel charge on top. On non-urgent work out that far we will often suggest a booked slot rather than a same-hour visit, simply because it means a firm time rather than a hopeful one.

Yes. Winchester has genuinely old drainage under a lot of the centre, so a camera earns its money before anyone digs. Ring and we will tell you what we normally find in the drainage around Cathedral and what your job is likely to involve before anyone gets in the van.

It does, and mainly through age. A good deal of central Winchester is on brick chambers and salt-glazed clay laid a very long time ago, altered whenever somebody extended, and not always recorded. Clay is fine while it is intact but the joints open, roots find them and sections drop. That is why we would put a camera down before digging anything in a town centre property here, rather than after. Newer housing around the edges is ordinary modern pipework and much more predictable.

Yes, and in Winchester it is often the thing worth doing first. The camera runs chamber to chamber with the depth and distance on screen, and you get the recording along with a plain account of what was found and where. That matters when somebody else has to act on it: an insurer, a buyer's solicitor, a landlord or the water company all want evidence rather than a description.

Winchester is around 11 miles from the Southampton base, so an emergency callout there is usually well inside a couple of hours and frequently a good deal quicker. The line is answered at night, at weekends and on bank holidays, and you get a realistic time on the phone rather than an optimistic one.