0800 772 33 99 — we cover B68 and B69 from our base in Castlecroft, Wolverhampton.

Two things, both from the same van: clearing a drain that has blocked, and putting a camera down one to find out why.

What we do in Oldbury

Blocked drains — cleared with high-pressure jetting rather than rods. Drain unblocking

CCTV drain surveys — graded, MSCC-coded, site plan and full video, report back the same day by NADC-certified surveyors. CCTV drain surveys

No repairs, no excavation — so no reason to find work that isn’t there.

Why people here ask for a survey

Commercial and industrial drainage. Yard drainage, interceptors and surface water systems are often altered over the years without anyone recording it.

Diverting a sewer. Where a public sewer crosses the plot and the build cannot avoid it, a diversion under section 185 of the Water Industry Act is the route – and Severn Trent will not consider one without a survey and a plan showing what is there now.

All the reasons a CCTV survey gets commissioned

Why drains fail in Oldbury

Most recurring problems here trace back to ground conditions rather than to anything that was put down the drain. This is why.

Extensive made ground. There is a great deal of infilled ground across Oldbury, and drainage laid across fill continues to settle long after the surface looks finished.

Shallow coal as well. The South Staffordshire coalfield underlies the area and was worked close to the surface, which is the second reason displaced joints are so common here.

Terraces and estates in roughly equal measure. The older streets around Rood End and Langley run on short-length Victorian clay; the post-war estates towards Warley and Tividale bring pitch fibre, which deforms rather than cracks.

Which is why we would rather put a camera down the run than tell you what is probably wrong with it.

Who pays

Shared drainage and anything past your boundary transferred to Severn Trent in 2011 – worth checking in the terraced streets, where one run often serves several houses.

Areas we cover

Brades Village, Bristnall Fields, Langley, Londonderry, Oldbury, Rood End, Tividale and Warley — B68 and B69.

Getting to you

Oldbury covers a fair spread of housing, from Brades Village, Bristnall Fields, Langley, and this applies to most of it.

We work out of Castlecroft in Wolverhampton, and Oldbury is close enough that the constraint on timing is the diary rather than the drive.

Ring and we will give you a straight answer on when, and a price before we set off.

Recently built property in Oldbury

In Oldbury – B68 and B69 – this is one of the questions we are asked most, and the answer is usually the same across Brades Village and Bristnall Fields.

We survey a good deal of newer housing, and the reason is usually a warranty deadline rather than a blockage.

Drainage laid during construction is not always laid correctly, and the problems tend to surface once the ground has settled – by which time the question is whether it is still covered. A graded report with each observation positioned in metres is what makes that conversation possible.

Same drain, same spot, every few months

What holds for Brades Village and Bristnall Fields holds across the rest of Oldbury. B68 and B69 are the postcode districts involved.

CCTV view inside a drain showing debris resting in the bottom of the pipe, partly obstructing the bore

That pattern is worth taking seriously, because it rarely resolves itself.

The three usual causes are a joint that has moved and now catches everything passing, a section that has settled and no longer falls towards the sewer, or roots holding a joint open. All three are visible on camera and none of them are fixed by clearing.

Worth checking before you pay for anything: repeat blockages near a boundary are very often on the lateral drain, which since 2011 has belonged to Severn Trent rather than you.

Drainage for business premises

The commercial version of a blocked drain is rarely just a blocked drain – it is a closed kitchen or a yard that cannot be used.

Grease, silt and volume are the three differences from domestic work, and all three respond better to a scheduled jetting and survey than to being left until they stop the site. We work on Oldbury commercial premises on both bases.

Common questions

Can you survey commercial and industrial drainage? Yes, and around Oldbury a good deal of what we do is exactly that – yard drainage, interceptors and surface water systems that have been altered without anyone recording it.