SK6 · 6 miles from base
Blocked Drains in Marple
Blocked drains, surveys and no-dig repairs in Marple, Marple Bridge and the surrounding SK6 lanes. Older property, steeper ground, and drainage that behaves differently because of it.
Same day in most cases — allow a little longer than the closer towns.
Local knowledge
Drainage in Marple
Marple sits on the side of the Goyt valley and the ground falls hard towards the river, and every drainage quirk here comes back to that. Steep falls mean water moves fast and solids do not always go with it — a run that is too steep scours the liquid away and leaves the rest behind, which is why some Marple drains block at the bottom of a run rather than the top.
The housing is older on average than the rest of the borough, with a good deal of stone-built and pre-1900 stock, and the drainage under it is correspondingly old: clay, shallow, and laid before anyone was recording where it went. Out towards Mellor and the lanes there are also properties still on private systems and soakaways rather than mains drainage, which is a different job altogether. When we survey in Marple we will normally produce a drain plan as well as the footage, because on a lot of these properties nobody actually knows where the pipes run.
Typical job
The kind of job we see in Marple
- The problem
- Older stone-built properties that back up whenever there is sustained heavy rain and behave perfectly the rest of the year. A drain that is fine for months and then floods is telling you it is taking water it was never meant to take.
- What the camera usually finds
- Camera and dye tracing usually turn up a rainwater downpipe connected into the foul run, often decades ago. In ordinary weather the foul run copes; in a downpour it is carrying the roof as well and simply runs out of capacity.
- How it gets fixed
- Disconnect the downpipe from the foul line, reconnect it to surface water, and clear the silt that has built up behind the surcharge. Frequently no pipework needs replacing at all, because nothing is broken — finding it is the job, not fixing it.
What we do in Marple
If the same drain in your Marple property blocks two or three times a year, jetting is not the answer — the pipe itself is damaged. A camera survey will tell you which, and lining repairs it without digging.
Marple — common questions
Do you produce a drain plan?
Yes, and on Marple properties it is often the most useful part of the survey. A lot of the older housing here has drainage nobody has a record of. You get the footage, a written report and a plan of where the runs actually go.
My drain only floods when it rains heavily. Is that a blockage?
Often it is not. It is usually either surface water getting into the foul system where it should not be, or a run that has silted up and lost capacity. Both are common around here. A camera survey will tell you which, and the fix is frequently cheaper than a repair.
Why does it block at the bottom of the garden rather than near the house?
Because of the fall. Marple sits on the side of the Goyt valley and the ground drops hard, so a lot of runs here are steeper than they ought to be. Water moves fast down a steep run and the solids do not always go with it — they get left behind and gather where the gradient finally eases, which is often well down the garden. It is the opposite of what people expect, and it is why rodding from the house regularly finds nothing at all.
Wondering whose drain it is, or what it costs? Both are answered here.
Blocked drain in Marple?
We cover SK6 and the streets around them — 6 miles from base.