soak away – My CMS

Blocked Drains Kent Specialists

Jimmy Bailey — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 20:18:19 +0000

What to do if you have a blocked drain

With the amount of things we wash down our drains without a second thought, it is inevitable that the build-up will cause issues at some point down the line. In many cases, a drain cleaner purchased from a supermarket will suffice, but only for the short-term. Here, we will explore more about what to do if you have a blocked drain. There are various non-professional options that you can explore, from hiring equipment from a tool store to trying to use a plunger to move on whatever is causing a block. However, in the majority of cases, it’s easier and much more time-efficient to call in the professionals. Blocked Drains Kent – calling in the professionals There are many benefits that you do not even think about when choosing a professional to come and unblock your drains. Many times, people automatically rule out professional plumbers in Kent as they feel it will be too expensive, but here’s why this isn’t always the case: 1) Sink un-blockers cost about £5 per use and only temporally fix what is likely to be an on-going issue. If you use one bottle every two months that is £30 you’re spending on drain cleaning products. 2) Taking on the issue yourself will take up your time, more time than it would take a professional. This is time you could be doing other things with. 3) Taking on work by yourself could mean you cause damage to the drain, which may require professional drain repair or another service like drain cleaning. Why should you choose DT Facilities Kent? As leading Kent plumbers, DT Facilities is one of the leading blocked drains Kent specialists. A cost-effective company with over 15 years of experience in this industry, DT Facilities also offers a number of other services as well, which means they can be your home maintenance company in Kent.

Cctv drainage subsidence survey

Jimmy Bailey — Mon, 18 Nov 2013 08:26:44 +0000

Subsidence is one of them words no one wants to hear from a building surveyor, but if you find your property does have subsidence, the general first thing to look for is drainage in the area of damage to the property. We get calls from building surveyors asking for detailed CCTV subsidence surveys on the drainage system. These differ slightly from a normal cctv survey or even our full home buyer pre purchase survey. They include surveying all the accessible drainage like the home buyer drain survey but also on request we break into the rain water system to check the drain runs to the soak-aways. We also check the drainage within five metres of the cracking to the property with a water test on any drainage. This is to check if the drainage is leaking into the foundations of the area of damage. Quite often we find cracks, roots or breaks to the pipe work on subsidence surveys, which in turn means a very large amount of water is running under the property and washing away soil creating easy movement for the building. Sometimes this is down to poor installation but on most occasions the older properties the cause is minor ground movement. Once the surveyor receives the report they generally approve repairs to the drainage system prior to any work being carried out to the damage on the property.

Building a new soak away in Kent

Jimmy Bailey — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 08:30:09 +0000

As the summer ends and we start to get more rain and a change in the weather, at DT facilities we notice the calls for wasp nest removal fall and a sharp increase in calls for gutters that are over flowing when it rains.

There is the odd occasion the blockage is in the down pipe itself, the next most common blockage is in the pipe work from where the down pipe joins the ground through to the soak away.

But far the most common issue we find when the rain water gutters start to over flow is the soak is not taking the water it should. Soak-away’s suffer from roots that invade from any trees near by growing into them, the moss off the roof of the property and then just general mud washes into the system.

Building a new soak-away

Once it’s been established that a new soak away is needed, the only means of repair is excavation.

This means renewing the bottom bend underground where the down pipe connects, then a further five metres of new pipe work, all ran into a new soak away. Soak-away’s normally are made up of stone/shingle or some install large crates. Once the new system has been installed the ground surface is re instated and left clean and tidy.

All access spoil are removed from site.

With a new installation, depending on the location of the soak away, there should be a 20-30 year life expectancy at a minimum. Some soak-away’s last 100 years or more.

Excavate and prepare

Filling the soak-away with shingle

Replace the turf and clean up site

Rain water flood in Canterbury

Jimmy Bailey — Sun, 20 Oct 2013 15:36:27 +0000

We was called to this site for a rain water flood in Canterbury. The management company that called us advised us when it rains the gutter over flows.

We sent one of our drainage contractors to the site to find a huge flood in the garden area, we were unable to unblock this as the soak away was heavily silted up causing the water to back up. The following day a dig team was allocated to excavate and replace the pipe work to a new soak away which consisted of a hole of one meter by one meter by one meter and a trench from the rain water down pipe to the new soak away a new 110mm upvc drain pipe was re layer from the outlet to the soak away.

The soak away was then filled with one tone of shingle and sealed with a plastic membrane before backfilling with soil and re laying the turf the area was the made good clean and safe taking any unwanted soil away to dispose of. After the area was clean and the job was complete the soak away was tested with mains pressure from the hose pipe on site and was running away as it should be, leaving no flood in the customers garden.