0800 772 33 99 — we cover B64 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 Cradley Heath

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

Settling who owns what. Shared drainage produces a great many arguments about who pays. A recorded survey turns opinion into evidence.

No record of where anything runs. For a good many properties here the site plan the survey produces is the only accurate drawing of the drainage that has ever existed.

All the reasons a CCTV survey gets commissioned

Why drains fail in Cradley Heath

Ground conditions decide what fails in a drain and how often, and they vary street by street. Here is what we are working with.

Short, shallow and very often shared. The terraces here are tight together and the drainage serving them is short, shallow and frequently shared between several houses. That combination makes blockages more frequent and harder to attribute to any one property.

Coal and fireclay directly beneath. Worked at shallow depth across the whole area, leaving ground that has settled unevenly for well over a century. Stepped joints follow, and each one catches solids.

Steep ground down to the Stour. Falls change sharply across short distances, so deposits accumulate in the flat sections rather than where the problem is noticed.

All of it shows up on camera and none of it shows from a manhole cover, which is the practical reason a survey is worth more here than an opinion.

Who pays

Shared runs are the rule here rather than the exception, and since 2011 they have been Severn Trent’s. It is worth establishing that before anyone pays a bill.

Areas we cover

Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Overend, Reddal Hill and Windmill End — B64.

Clay, pitch fibre or plastic in Cradley Heath

On Cradley Heath property, and particularly around Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Overend, this is the usual picture.

CCTV view looking along a drain through several pipe joints receding into the distance

A camera settles what you have in about a minute, and the answer changes what any future work costs.

Clay is the default assumption on older Cradley Heath property. It is rigid and brittle: it does not rot, but it moves at its joints, and that is where roots get in.

Pitch fibre is the one that catches buyers out. Coal tar impregnated wood fibre, light and quick to lay, and it loses its round shape under load. There is no single joint to point at – the deformation runs for metres.

Plastic turns up on later runs and extensions. It is often spliced into an older clay system partway along, and our reports carry a specific code for exactly that change of material.

Getting to you

In Cradley Heath – B64 – this is one of the questions we are asked most, and the answer is usually the same across Cradley Heath and Old Hill.

We work out of Castlecroft in Wolverhampton, and Cradley Heath 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.

What we need on site in Cradley Heath

On Cradley Heath property, and particularly around Cradley Heath, Old Hill, Overend, this is the usual picture.

A few practical things that make the difference between an hour and half a day.

Somewhere to park within reach of the run. The hose and the camera reel both have a working length.

An accessible chamber. Buried or paved-over covers are common on older Cradley Heath property and finding one is part of the job, but knowing where it is saves time.

Water and power are not needed – the van carries both.

Clear the area if you can. Bins, planters and parked cars over the covers are the usual delay.

New build and warranty issues in Cradley Heath

In Cradley Heath – B64 – this is one of the questions we are asked most, and the answer is usually the same across Cradley Heath and Old Hill.

Newer housing is not automatically well drained. Drainage goes in early in a build, gets driven over by everything that follows, and settles for years afterwards.

The common findings on recent estates are debris left in the run from construction, sections laid without consistent fall, and connections made after the original work that were never recorded.

Warranty periods are finite. A survey inside that window is worth considerably more than one outside it, because it turns “something is wrong” into a documented, coded, positioned defect that somebody else has to answer for.

Common questions

Four houses share our drain — who is responsible? Almost certainly Severn Trent, since 2011. A survey and a site plan is what proves it.