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How BDS Drainage found and cleared a hidden blockage

If you know Hammersmith, you’ll know it’s one of those busy London areas where the buildings are full of character… and so is the plumbing. Honestly, some of these waste pipes have probably seen more tenants than a West End theatre. So when a customer called us about a blocked sink in their third-floor flat, we knew straight away we weren’t dealing with a simple “bit of food stuck in the trap” situation.

We’ve been unblocking drains since 2009 across London and the South East, and one thing we’ve learnt is this: when flats are stacked on top of each other, a small issue upstairs can turn into a big one downstairs if you don’t sort it quickly.

The problem

When we arrived, the customer explained that water was filling up the sink and taking ages to disappear — sometimes not draining at all. Anyone living in a London flat knows that feeling of dread when water starts rising instead of going down. And for people on higher floors, there’s always that fear it might back up into someone else’s home.

The customer’s main worry? They just wanted the problem solved properly — no guesses, no temporary fixes, and no mess.

They’d tried the usual DIY attempts (as you do), but nothing had touched it.

Work Video

Check the video which shows blocked sink clearing work.

How we traced and cleared the blockage

Step one:
using dye to trace where the sink waste was actually going

Before we even touched the tools, we needed to figure out which pipe the sink was connected to. These older buildings have pipes running in every direction — some original, some added over the decades — and guessing is a sure way to waste time.

So we used water dye.

If you’ve ever used dye in a drainage investigation, you’ll know it’s simple but honestly brilliant. We ran the tap, added the dye, and checked the external manhole outside the building.

Sure enough, the bright colour appeared, telling us exactly which pipe we were dealing with. That narrowed things down immediately.

Step two:
sending a drainage camera into the manhole

Next, we lowered our drainage camera inside the manhole and guided it up towards the pipe carrying the sink waste. On the screen, you could clearly see the obstruction sitting in the line. It wasn’t a pretty sight — but it was exactly what we needed.

This part always helps calm customers down. They get to see the issue, rather than being told, and it builds trust instantly.

The customer even commented on how professional our engineer was, which is always good to hear.

Step three:
clearing the blockage with a high-pressure jetter

With the location confirmed, we pulled out the jetter. A trigger hose connected to a high-pressure water jetter is one of the most effective tools for clearing deeper blockages.

We fed the hose into the pipe through the manhole and began working it gently into the blockage. You could feel it breaking up bit by bit until finally, the flow started returning.

Within moments, water that had been trapped for who-knows-how-long started draining away.

Step four:
proving the job was fully completed

We don’t just unblock drains — we show the customer the result.

So once the pipe cleared, we went back upstairs, ran the sink again, and used dye once more. This time the dye whisked straight through the pipe and into the manhole with no hesitation.

No gurgling, no backing up, no slow draining. Just smooth flow. Exactly how it should be.

That’s when the customer smiled and said they were really happy — especially because the engineer talked them through each step and made it feel easy. That’s the good stuff.

Why this job was important

Blocked sinks in upper-floor flats can create:

  • foul smells
  • potential leaks
  • pressure build-up in the stack
  • problems for the flats below

So finding the blockage quickly was crucial. The tricky part was the access — we had to work from outside using the manhole, the camera and the jetter, rather than through the internal pipework.

It was one of those jobs that looks simple on paper but requires methodical investigation.

Another successful drainage job across Hammersmith

For us, this job sums up what BDS Drainage does best: we arrive, we find the cause properly, we fix it, and we leave the customer feeling relieved.

Since 2009, we’ve been helping customers all over London with blocked drains, CCTV investigations, high-pressure jetting and every kind of drainage issue you can imagine.

When people see we’re highly rated on Google and Trustpilot, they know we take pride in doing the job right the first time.

Call: 020 3675 7174

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