Blocked drains in Caerphilly, cleared properly.

Local knowledge

Shared drains on sloping ground in Caerphilly

Caerphilly's terraced streets were built along the contours, which changes how blockages behave. Where a row of houses shares one lateral drain running downhill, a blockage part-way along the run backs up into the lowest property first. The household that gets the flooded gully is very often not the household whose drain caused it, something worth knowing before neighbours fall out over it.

That same shared pipework is usually Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water's responsibility rather than yours. Since the October 2011 transfer, drains serving more than one property, and pipe runs beyond your own boundary, generally sit with them. I will identify where the blockage actually is before any work starts, and if it turns out to be on their side I will tell you to call them instead of me.

Older Caerphilly properties frequently still have an interceptor trap at the boundary, a U-bend in the main drain run, fitted to stop sewer gases coming back up the line. They catch wipes, rags and building debris reliably, and they are a common cause of a drain that blocks in the same place every couple of years. A camera survey will show whether you have one and whether it is still doing more good than harm. Highway drainage around the town is Caerphilly County Borough Council's.