Breakdown
Blocked drains and sewer in Uithoorn
A toilet that will not flush, a shower that stays full, or an overflowing gully.
Reachable
From 07:00 to 22:00, every day
Driving time
usually 45 to 90 minutes
Call-out charge
€ 25 surcharge before 08:00, after 18:00 and on Sundays
In short
How we go about it
A blockage sits in one of three places: in the trap right behind the fitting, in the soil stack inside the house (the vertical pipe all the waste drops into, called standleiding), or in the underground drain between the house and the public sewer. Where it sits decides how it is cleared, and what still drains tells us where to look.
If only the toilet backs up, it is close by. If the shower or the kitchen stands full as well, it is further along and the rodding eye or the gully has to be opened. We work with a drain rod and spring first and with high pressure water second, and for a blockage that keeps coming back with a camera, so you can see the cause instead of meeting it again next month.
The ground here is peat and it settles. A drain laid to fall thirty years ago is not necessarily still laid to fall, and then fat and paper collect at the same spot every time. A camera makes that visible, and it explains why clearing alone is not always enough.
Explained
What to do until we arrive
Do not run anything else on the same pipe: no washing machine, no dishwasher. Do not add more drain cleaner. If you can, find the rodding eye (ontstoppingsstuk), a capped access point in the front garden or the crawl space, and send us a photo of it.
How we clear a blockage
Mechanically first, with a spring through the nearest access point, and only with high pressure water if that fails. That order is deliberate: high pressure on an old settled clay pipe can break more than it clears.
When it keeps coming back
If it is the second time in a year in the same spot, we inspect the line with a camera and you get the footage. That is what tells you whether a repair is worth it or whether a length of pipe needs replacing.
Is there water on the floor?
Call first and read the rest afterwards. Within a minute you know when somebody can be there and what the call-out costs.
Rates
What it costs
The same amounts as everywhere else on this site. There is no separate emergency rate that only gets mentioned at your door.
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Call-out charge | € 45 |
| Hourly rate | € 65 to € 85 |
| Out-of-hours surcharge | € 25 |
| After the first hour | per 15 min |
| Parts | separate |
The call-out charge applies once per visit. The lower hourly rate covers taps and sanitary ware, the higher one high pressure drain clearing and boiler work. The surcharge applies before 08:00, after 18:00 and on Sundays and is a fixed amount, not a percentage. After the first hour time is counted per quarter of an hour, and parts are listed separately.
If it takes longer than estimated. At the door you hear what appears to be needed and roughly what that costs. If it turns out to be more work, you hear that the moment it becomes clear and not afterwards on the invoice. Above € 400 nothing goes ahead without your agreement.
Background
What it usually comes down to in Uithoorn
In Uithoorn and De Kwakel, drain work is usually about the underground section outside the house. Many houses have cast iron or vitrified clay pipe laid in the 1970s, with a rodding eye in the front garden or the crawl space. Vitrified clay is called gres here: short glazed ceramic sections with joints, strong but rigid, so it does not follow the ground when the ground moves. Root ingress at the boundary and settlement of the pipe are the two main causes.
In the kitchen it is almost always fat. Fat sets in a cold waste pipe and then catches everything that passes. A bathroom blockage is more often hair and soap in the trap, cleared in twenty minutes without chemicals.
Supermarket drain cleaner rarely shifts a fat plug, and it does damage older pipes and rubber seals. If you have already poured some in, say so on the phone: it matters to whoever is about to put their hands in there.
Seen enough?
The amounts above are the amounts that end up on the invoice. Calling is fastest; a photo on WhatsApp often saves a trip.
Questions
Questions about blocked drains and sewer
Question not here? Calling is faster than searching; you hear straight away what is possible and what it costs.
What does clearing a blockage cost?
The call-out charge and the hourly rate are on this site, and a straightforward blockage is normally cleared within the hour. If high pressure equipment is needed or a gully has to be dug open, you hear that with a price before we start.
I rent. Do I pay, or does my landlord?
Dutch practice is roughly this: a blockage you could reach yourself is for the tenant, a blockage in the soil stack or in the underground drain is for the landlord. We write on the invoice where the blockage actually was, so that conversation is about facts rather than opinions.
Is the blockage mine or in the public sewer?
If the neighbours are backing up too, it is probably the public sewer and the municipality is responsible. We can establish that at the rodding eye on the boundary: if it stands full there, the problem is on the street side.
Can you come the same day?
Within our window of 07:00 to 22:00 that nearly always works. When you call you hear which time band is realistic for your address, and that is a band and not a promise to the minute.
Service area
Where we come for this
Other problems we fix
Rather not call?
Leave your number and you get a call back. That is fine for work that can wait; with water on the floor, calling is faster.
Request
No emergency? Leave your number
For work that can wait. With water on the floor or no heating at all, calling is faster, because this form is not read continuously.
Is it urgent?
Then call. The phone is answered from 07:00 to 22:00, every day, and you hear straight away when somebody can be there.