Drainage services
in Folkestone.

Across the country, few causes of blocked drains, pipes and sewers are as widespread as tree root ingress. It keeps tree root removal among the busiest services we offer as a gutter cleaning and drainage company serving Folkestone, Dover and the wider Kent area. Once roots take hold inside a system, the consequences are seldom confined to one issue, with blockages, water leaks, flooding and structural damage all on the cards.

Drain lining and drain descaling resolve the problem in the majority of cases, though more involved drain repairs, excavation included, are occasionally needed to put things fully right. To establish exactly what we are dealing with, we begin with a CCTV drain survey, whichever of the following it happens to be:

• Homebuyer Drain Surveys

• Residential Drain Surveys

• Commercial Drainage Surveys

To arrange a survey, please contact us.

It is precisely this kind of intrusion, among other drainage faults, that leads surveyors to advise a pre-purchase drain survey before anyone commits to buying a property.

Given the breadth of problems invading roots can bring about, from blocked drains through to subsidence, the subject is one we field questions on often. A selection of them is answered below.

Tree Root Intrusion | Your Questions Answered

How do tree roots get into my drains?

A tree's roots, like any living thing, are forever in search of what will keep it alive, and water sits at the top of that list. The condensation that gathers on the outside of a drainage pipe is enough to draw nearby roots towards it, and with water running through your Folkestone pipework almost constantly, those roots soon set about finding a way in.

Their entry points are the cracks, fractures and joints in the pipe, along with the walls and benching of inspection chambers, where the finest root hairs can work their way through. Catching these weaknesses early, by way of routine inspection and small repairs, is therefore vital: a CCTV drain survey reveals the minor cracks, and a drain lining application seals them.

Whatever stage the intrusion has reached, a solution exists, and as specialists in planned and emergency drainage as well as gutter cleaning, we handle the full range of pipework problems.

What happens when the root is inside the pipe?

Neither age nor material spares a pipe from this; fine root hairs find their way into old and modern drainage alike. Having entered, they progress from delicate strands into tap roots and, in time, dense root masses. That mass keeps expanding and steadily narrows the internal bore of the pipe until, if nothing is done, blocked drains and possibly structural damage follow.

Should tree roots, or anything else, leave you with a drainage emergency, our team is reachable around the clock.

How do you perform tree root removal?

Severity dictates the method here, exactly as it does across the rest of our Folkestone services. Where the joints the roots have breached show no significant displacement, cutting the roots away is reasonably straightforward; we then lay a drain lining and, if the situation warrants it, follow up with in-situ drain repairs, cracked pipe repairs or descaling, and we are glad to clean gutters and drains while we are there.

Heavier displacement, or extensive fracturing of the pipe, is a different matter, and excavation can become the only viable route. More often than not that means cutting out the damaged length and fitting a new section in its place, with a CCTV drain survey confirming the soundest approach. Since no two Folkestone jobs are ever quite alike, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to root removal, and we shape our drain unblocking service around whatever delivers the best result.

BP Drains Ltd | Expert Drainage Services

Whether it is clearing blocked drains, cleaning gutters or installing a drainage system from scratch, no job lies beyond our emergency drainage specialists. In Folkestone and every surrounding area, we provide:

• 24/7 Drainage Services

• Drain Unblocking

• Commercial Drainage Surveys

• Residential Drain Surveys

• In-Situ Drain Repairs

• Excavation Repairs

• Cracked Pipe Repairs

• Services to Clean Gutters