Building work that blocked the drain

For many, the dream of expanding their home, adding a new ‘wing’ or turning the old dis-used back end of the house and turning it into a new wonderful area that can make their home that extra bit more special is one of the biggest investments they will make outside of buying a home in the first place.

And while we have all heard stories of building projects that go wrong, there are obviously a lot that go right as well.

And last week, we were on site at a customer in the West End of Glasgow’s home to fix a blocked drain that had flooded their driveway and the ground floor of their home.

The beautiful home had been upgraded last year with a new extension and renovation of the back end of the house.  It had been a big project where the back of the house had literally been taking back to its outer sandstone walls.

The building project had been a success though and the customers were delighted.  However what nobody thought of was that all the builders dust, rubble and concrete dust had been brushed down the drain.  So what happened was that the cement powder mixed into a past, hardened and formed a solid barrier that completely blocked the drain pipe.

So when the heavy rain that has hit Glasgow for the past week or so hit, the water had nowhere to go.  It quickly filled up the remainder of the drain pipe before beginning to flood the driveway and then build up so much that it actually started to flood into the front door of the home.

The West End customer was obviously quite worried when the water began flooding into their home.  They found us on google and we quickly dispatched our drainage team.  We added a couple of sand bags at the front door to help block of the water before inspecting the problem.

We tried the usual jet blasting, pocking and prodding but with no luck.  We used thermal imaging and CCTV camera and eventually found the blockage.

On this occasion, we had to remove some of the monoblock stones of the driveway to access the drain pipe.  When we removed the blocked drain section, we saw the concrete blockage and through a chat with the Glasgow home owner, managed to put two and two together.

We replaced the pipe section with a new piece, replaced the monoblock bricks and began the clean up process.

Thankfully though some quick action taken by the home owner, the interior of the house was not too badly affected and will dry out in time.  The water  drain pipe in the garden now drains away easily though with the forecast for more rain in the next week or so, it make be a while before the garden stops being a bog!

If you have an emergency flood because of a blocked drain – call in the blocked drain professionals in Glasgow.