The defect is located on camera before a spade goes in the ground, so the hole is where the fault is, not three exploratory trenches across your garden looking for it.
14 years in the trade · fully insured · City & Guilds qualified · answered 24 hours a day
Some drainage problems cannot be cleaned away. A pipe that has cracked, dropped, opened at a joint, deformed or collapsed will keep blocking however thoroughly it is jetted, because the defect itself is what catches everything passing through. At that point clearance buys weeks, and repair is the only thing that ends it.
So Drainage Solutions repairs and replaces failed below-ground drainage across Southampton, Romsey and the surrounding Hampshire towns. Every repair starts with a CCTV survey, because the two things that determine cost are what is wrong and exactly where it is. Locating the defect precisely means one accurate excavation rather than a series of hopeful holes, and it means you know before we start whether a no-dig repair would do the same job for less disruption.
Where excavation is genuinely needed, it is done properly: the run exposed, the failed section removed, new pipework laid to the correct fall on a proper bed, haunched and surrounded, the connection tested, then backfilled in compacted layers and the surface reinstated. A drain repair that is backfilled carelessly settles within a year, and that is how a repaired driveway ends up dipping over the trench.
A broken drain does not just fail to carry water away, it discharges it into the ground at the point of the defect. Every flush, every washing machine cycle and every rainfall event puts water into the soil surrounding the pipe. That washes fine material out of the bedding, creating a void under and around the run.
The pipe then loses support and settles further, which opens the defect wider, which increases the leak. It is a loop that accelerates. Above ground it shows up as a dip in a lawn, a sunken paving slab, a crack in a path, or in serious cases movement in a wall or an outbuilding footing near the line of the drain.
Escaping water carries away the soil supporting the pipe and anything above it. Voids under driveways and paths are how a drainage defect becomes a collapsed surface.
A leaking run close to a foundation, a wall or an outbuilding can undermine it. Repairing the drain then becomes the cheap part of a much larger job.
Every clearance on a structurally failed run is temporary by definition. The money spent on repeated visits is money not spent on the repair that would have ended it.
A short fractured section repaired now is a small, contained hole. The same run left for two more winters can mean replacing several lengths and reinstating a much larger area of surface.
A known drainage defect discovered during a buyer's survey stalls transactions and invites a reduction far larger than the repair itself would have cost.
CCTV inspection of the run, the defect identified and its position and depth established, so the excavation is aimed rather than exploratory.
You are shown what is on screen and told honestly whether a patch repair or a full reline would resolve it without digging, or whether excavation is genuinely required.
Services checked, the working area protected and set out, surfacing lifted carefully and set aside where it can be reinstated, spoil managed away from the working face.
The run is exposed, the failed section removed, and new pipework laid to the correct fall on a proper bed, then haunched and surrounded so the pipe is fully supported.
The repaired run is flushed, watched flowing, and the camera goes back down so you can see the finished pipe before anything is covered up.
Backfilled in compacted layers to stop future settlement, the surface reinstated, spoil and waste removed by us, and the site left clean.
Locating the defect on camera before excavation means the ground is opened where the fault is, which keeps both the disruption and the reinstatement small.
If a patch repair or a reline solves it, you are told that. Excavation is proposed when it is the right answer, not because it is the bigger job.
A properly repaired run stops the cycle of repeat clearances, ground saturation and worsening defects.
New pipework laid to fall on a proper bed and fully surrounded is what stops the repaired section becoming the next problem.
Compacted backfill in layers rather than tipped spoil, so the surface above the trench does not sink over the following winter.
Survey, jetting, vacuuming, repair, excavation and waste removal from one firm, no coordinating separate contractors around one hole in the ground.
What is wrong with the pipe determines the repair. These are the defects we most often excavate for across Hampshire.
The pipe has lost its shape entirely and the run is obstructed by its own material and the surrounding soil. Common on old vitrified clay under vehicle loading and on degraded pitch fibre. A collapse cannot be lined or cleared; the section is excavated and replaced.
Longitudinal cracks and circumferential fractures let water out and roots and soil in. Where the pipe still holds its shape, a patch liner may well be the better answer. Where it does not, or where the fracture is at a junction, excavation is the reliable fix.
Short jointed clay runs move as the ground moves. A step at a joint catches everything passing and an open joint invites root ingress. Excavation and re-jointing gives a permanent result where lining is not appropriate.
Pitch fibre pipework, used widely in the middle of the last century, delaminates and collapses into an oval over time. It is at the end of its service life on most properties that still have it, and replacement is usually more sensible than repeated repair.
Roots enter through a defect and then widen it as they grow. Cutting restores flow temporarily; the lasting fix is repairing or replacing the entry point so there is nothing left to grow into.
Inspection chambers fail too: benching breaks up, brickwork spalls, covers collapse and old chambers get built over. Rebuilding a chamber, or forming a new access point, restores the ability to maintain the system at all.
Extensions, garden rooms and driveway alterations often require a new connection into an existing run, or re-routing a run away from a proposed structure. Both are excavation work, and both need the fall and the connection detail right first time.
Block paving is lifted and relaid, slabs are set aside and reset, and concrete and tarmac are cut cleanly and made good. What matters underneath in every case is compacted backfill in layers; that is what determines whether the surface is still level in two years.
Domestic work is usually a short section in a garden, path or driveway. Commercial work brings vehicle loading, deeper runs, larger bores and access constraints, and is planned around keeping the site operating where that is possible.
Based on Cutforth Way in Romsey, covering Southampton, Romsey and the surrounding towns and villages. If your postcode is not listed, ring and ask; it is usually still within reach.
It comes down to what has failed, how deep it sits and what is on the surface above it. That is why the camera goes down first: the survey turns an open-ended job into a defined one, and you are told what is involved before anything is agreed.
A single failed section at ordinary depth in an accessible spot is often completed within a day or so, including reinstatement. Deeper runs, multiple defects, or work under concrete or a driveway take longer, and you are given a realistic picture before we start.
Often, yes. Where the pipe holds its shape, patch repairs and relining resolve fractures, open joints and root entry points without excavation. The survey is what determines which is appropriate, and you are told honestly which applies to your run.
The defect is located on camera and its position and depth established before any ground is opened. That is the difference between one accurate excavation and several exploratory trenches.
Yes. Surfacing is lifted carefully where it can be reused, the trench is backfilled in compacted layers rather than tipped, and the surface is reinstated. All spoil and waste is taken away by us.
Not where the backfill is compacted in layers as it goes back in, which is exactly why that step matters. Settlement over a repaired trench is a symptom of a trench filled carelessly.
Many policies cover damage arising from a drainage failure, and some cover the repair itself. Insurers generally want the cause and location documented, which is what the CCTV survey provides. We can supply the footage and findings for your claim.
The run is flushed and watched flowing, and the camera goes back down so you can see the finished pipework before the trench is closed. You see it, not just hear about it.
Yes: yards, car parks, estates and managed sites, planned around keeping the site operating wherever the situation allows.
The business is fully insured, City & Guilds qualified and WJA qualified for jetting work, with 14 years in Hampshire drainage.
Start with a survey so the repair is aimed at the right place. Ring any hour, or send your postcode and what you are seeing.
Call 07940 156407A camera down the run turns a guess into a fact: you find out exactly what is wrong, where it is, how deep it sits, and what it genuinely takes to put right.
Read moreA new structural lining cured inside the existing pipe: cracks sealed, open joints closed and root entry stopped, with no excavation and nothing to reinstate afterwards.
Read moreOne visit that clears the blockage, shows you what caused it on screen, and leaves the run flowing before we pack up, so you are not paying for the same drain twice.
Read moreSee all drainage services, the areas we cover or get in touch.
