Dorking High Street is full of cafes, pubs, restaurants and shops, and every one of them relies on drains that keep running through a busy day. Monster Drainage provides drain clearance in Dorking for local businesses and for homes across RH4 and RH5. Our engineers are available 24/7, so a blocked kitchen drain can be cleared before opening time rather than in the middle of service.
Keeping High Street Kitchens and Shops Running
Fats, oils and grease are the main cause of blocked drains in commercial kitchens. They leave the sink as a warm liquid, cool inside the pipe and cling to its walls, where they trap food scraps and slowly narrow the bore. Coffee grounds, rice and pasta all add to the problem.
When a kitchen drain blocks, we clear the affected length and jet the line to strip the grease from the pipe wall, rather than just opening a narrow channel through it. We will also tell you if the grease seems to be coming from one particular sink or appliance.
Shops and offices tend to face a different problem: toilets used by staff and customers all day, and wipes or paper towels flushed when they should go in the bin. Clearing these quickly gets your facilities back in use.
If you trade from a rented unit, it helps to know whether the drain is yours, your landlord’s or shared with the unit next door. We will show you where the pipe runs and where the blockage was, so you can pass that on.
Why Dorking’s Older Buildings Block Differently
Dorking’s main street follows a ridge of Lower Greensand, and plenty of the buildings along it are far older than the drains that now serve them. Over the years, kitchens, toilets and extensions have been connected into old pipe runs, sometimes with tight bends, runs shared between neighbouring premises or a change of pipe material part way along. Each of these is a place where waste can catch.
Clearing a drain in an older building often means tracing the run first: finding the access points and working out which pipe serves which part of the building. Once that is clear, we can choose the right method and get the water moving without guesswork. Where a run passes under a neighbouring shop or a shared yard, we will explain who else may need to know before we start.
Drain Clearance for Dorking Homes
At home, the same principles apply on a smaller scale. A slow kitchen sink, a gurgling bath or a gully that floods in a storm are all signs that a drain needs clearing. We use rods for a single blockage near an access point, high pressure jetting for grease and silt along the run, and cutting heads where roots have got in.
Whether you need drain unblocking in Dorking because a pipe has stopped completely, or a clearance for one that is simply slow, the visit starts the same way: we lift the inspection chamber and find where the water is standing.
Outside, autumn is the busy season for gullies. Dorking is ringed by woodland and the slopes of the North Downs, and leaves blown into a gully soon rot into a sludge that holds water. Lifting the grid and clearing the trap a couple of times each autumn stops most gully overflows before they start.
Westcott, Brockham and Pixham
We cover the villages around Dorking as well as the town. Pixham sits where the Pipp Brook joins the River Mole, Brockham lies east of the town beside the Mole, and Westcott is a short way to the west.
Homes near the rivers can find that outside gullies and soakaways struggle after long spells of rain, when the ground is already full of water. Clearing silt and leaves from gullies and the pipes they feed helps them cope with the next storm.
Cottages in the villages often have drains that are older than the houses around them and have been extended more than once, so we take care to trace each run before clearing it.
When the Same Drain Keeps Blocking
A drain that blocks again and again is telling you something. It may have a sag where water sits, a cracked joint letting roots in, or a kitchen habit that keeps sending grease down the sink.
A CCTV drain survey after the clearance shows the inside of the pipe, so the cause can be dealt with rather than just the symptom. Survey documentation can be kept for your records.
Questions From Dorking Businesses and Homes
Q: Can you clear a business drain out of hours?
A: We can. Because our engineers work around the clock, drains can be cleared early in the morning, late at night or at the weekend to avoid disrupting trade. Tell us your opening hours when you call and we will plan around them.
Q: Why does grease block kitchen drains so often?
A: Hot fat and oil turn solid as they cool in the pipe. The layer builds up on the pipe wall and catches food waste until water can barely get through. Jetting removes the layer, and keeping fat out of the sink stops it coming back.
Q: Are drains in older buildings harder to clear?
A: They can take longer to trace, because pipe runs have often been altered over the years. Once we know where the access points are and which way the pipes run, the clearance itself is usually straightforward.
Q: What should I do if a drain keeps blocking?
A: Have it cleared properly, then think about a camera survey to find the cause. Repeat blockages usually come from a fault in the pipe or from something going down the drain regularly that should not.
Our Other Dorking Pages
Drain Clearance Along the Mole Valley
Contact Us
Need drain clearance in Dorking, Westcott, Brockham or Pixham? Give Monster Drainage a ring on 08006 546213. You can also send an email to info@monsterdrainage.co.uk. Whether it is a restaurant kitchen or a family bathroom, we will agree a time that suits you and explain the work before we start.