We survey across B1 to B48 from our base in Castlecroft, Wolverhampton. Every section graded, every defect coded to MSCC, a site plan, the full video — and the report back the same day, by NADC-certified surveyors.
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Why drains fail in Birmingham
Ground conditions decide what fails in a drain and how often, and they vary street by street. Here is what we are working with.
Victorian terraces, and a great many of them. Birmingham’s inner suburbs – Sparkhill, Handsworth, Balsall Heath, Small Heath – are short-length salt-glazed clay laid in the 1880s and 90s, with a joint every metre or so and runs shared between whole rows. Every joint is an opportunity for a root, and the mature street trees of Moseley, Kings Heath and Harborne supply plenty of them.
A city rebuilt on top of itself. Clearance, redevelopment and infill mean large areas of made ground where drainage crosses fill that keeps settling. On camera that shows as dips holding water and joints that have stepped, on runs whose fall bears no relation to the original design.
That is the reason a repeat blockage here is worth looking at properly rather than clearing again – the cause is usually structural and it is usually visible.
Why people here ask for one
Most often it is buying a property, or settling who owns a shared run. All the reasons a survey gets commissioned
Areas we cover
Bournville, Edgbaston, Erdington, Hall Green, Handsworth, Harborne, Kings Heath, Moseley, Northfield, Selly Oak, Sparkhill and Yardley — B1 to B48.
Birmingham sits inside our survey radius but outside our drain unblocking radius, so we cover it for planned survey work rather than emergency call-outs.
A question we get asked here
Do you cover all of Birmingham? We cover the city for survey work. Note that our unblocking service runs to a tighter radius – see areas we cover.
What it costs
We cover B1 and B48, and this comes up often enough on Birmingham property to be worth setting out properly. Bournville and Edgbaston see it as much as anywhere.
You get a price on the phone before we come out, so there are no surprises when we arrive.
We do not carry out repairs, relining or excavation. That is worth knowing when you are comparing quotes, because most firms who survey your drains also quote for fixing them
- and when a survey says a section is failing, they are the ones who benefit. We are
not, which is also why we are comfortable telling you when a survey comes back clean.
If the blockage turns out to be on Severn Trent’s side of the boundary, we will say so rather than invoice you for it.
Getting to you
We cover B1 and B48, and this comes up often enough on Birmingham property to be worth setting out properly. Bournville and Edgbaston see it as much as anywhere.
We work out of Castlecroft in Wolverhampton. Birmingham is within the area we survey, though outside the radius we cover for emergency unblocking.
If you need a survey here, ring and we will book it in. If you need a drain cleared today, we will tell you straight rather than take the job.
Why it only floods when it rains
Around Bournville, Edgbaston, Erdington the housing is old enough for this to matter, and B1 and B48 is where we see it most.
A drain that copes all week and backs up in a downpour is usually telling you about capacity rather than a blockage.
On combined systems, common across older Birmingham property, roof and yard water shares the pipe with everything else. Lose part of the bore to silt, roots or a displaced joint and the run still copes with normal flow – until the rain arrives.
Our surveys record water levels at intervals for exactly this reason: a section holding water where it should be running is a finding, not a detail.
The 2011 transfer, and what it means for you
In Birmingham – B1 and B48 – this is one of the questions we are asked most, and the answer is usually the same across Bournville and Edgbaston.
Most people still assume every pipe on their land is theirs. Since October 2011 that has not been true.
Pipes serving more than one property, and the length of your own drain beyond your boundary, belong to the sewerage undertaker – Severn Trent here. Deeds and old plans frequently still show the pre-transfer position, so they are not a reliable guide.
A survey will not tell you who owns a pipe, because ownership is a legal question. What it does is establish the facts the question depends on: where the run goes, where it crosses the boundary, and where anything else joins it.
Why drains block, and what they block with
It varies street by street in Birmingham, but B1 and B48 follows a recognisable pattern and Bournville and Edgbaston are typical of it.
We can usually tell you on the phone what is likely to be in there, because the list is short.
Wipes. The most frequent single cause, and the most avoidable.
Nappies and sanitary items, which expand rather than break down.
Congealed fat, particularly on the older shallow runs common across Birmingham.
Tree roots, entering through a joint that has already opened up – which makes it a pipe problem wearing a gardening disguise.
Something wrong with the pipe itself. Repeat blockages in one spot mean a defect, and that is a camera job rather than another clearing.
Nearby: Solihull · Sutton Coldfield · West Bromwich Coverage: Areas we cover across the West Midlands
Talk to the person who will do the work.
Surveys across the West Midlands, south Staffordshire, east Shropshire and north Worcestershire. Unblocking closer to home.