Afvoer Ontstoppen: 24/7 help with any blocked drain

One speciality: clearing blockages

Afvoer Ontstoppen is a drain unblocking company with a single focus: getting water that won't drain away flowing again. We don't refit bathrooms, install kitchens or tinker with central heating boilers. We unblock toilets, kitchen sinks, washbasins, showers, sewer pipes and downpipes, and we find out why they were blocked in the first place. You'll notice that focus the moment your bathroom is under water or the toilet won't flush.

Customers rate our work 5/5 based on 48 Google reviews. Below, we go through the house room by room: what usually causes a blockage, what you can safely try yourself, when it's better to call us and what we charge for drain unblocking.

Drain unblocking company or plumber?

When a drain is blocked, many people's first thought is a plumber. That's one option, but a plumber's day is split between taps, water pipes, heating systems and renovations. A specialist drain unblocking company does nothing but clear drains and sewers. That's why the engineer who comes to you uses equipment designed for exactly that job, such as an electric drain machine, a high-pressure jetter and an inspection camera. If a tap is leaking or a water pipe has burst, you're better off with a plumber. If the problem is water that won't drain away, you've come to the right place.

One phone call for an assessment and a price estimate

Call 085 333 4698 and you'll speak to someone who knows how drains work. A few targeted questions give us a good idea of where the blockage is and what equipment is needed. You'll get a price estimate up front and we'll tell you when the engineer can be there. They only set off once you've agreed.

Diagnose first, then unblock

Clearing a blockage is about more than just pulling out whatever is stuck. The engineer looks at where the water is standing, which other drains are affected and how the pipework runs. Only then do they choose a method: a plunger or hand-held drain snake for the trap, an electric drain machine for a blockage deep in the pipe, or a high-pressure jetter for grease and silt along a long stretch of pipe. Afterwards they tell you what they found and how to stop it happening again.

Toilet unblocking when the loo won't flush

A toilet that won't flush is the most urgent blockage of all. If you have a blocked toilet and it's the only one in the house, you won't want to live with it until Monday. Not surprisingly, it's one of the jobs we're called out for most often. Usually there's too much paper, a wet wipe or a toy stuck in the U-bend of the pan or in the waste pipe just behind it.

Toilet blocked? First, stop flushing

If the water rises high in the bowl after flushing, don't flush again. Every flush sends another few litres into a bowl that's already full. Wait a few minutes and see whether the level slowly drops, and whether the washbasin and shower still drain normally. If the water goes down, there's probably a wad of paper stuck in the pan. A toilet plunger, or a bucket of warm water poured into the bowl with a bit of force, will often shift it. Don't use boiling water, though, because the sudden heat can crack the porcelain.

If the water stays put, or the toilet gurgles when someone else is in the shower, the blockage is beyond the pan. Home remedies won't reach it there. Keep the lid closed, put a towel around the base of the toilet and give us a call.

When toilet unblocking needs an engineer

When unblocking a toilet, the engineer starts at the pan. A toilet auger lets them reach the U-bend and the first section of waste pipe without scratching the porcelain. If the blockage is further along, in the soil stack or the underground drain, they carry on with an electric machine from a rodding eye or the inspection chamber outside. Toilets rarely block for no reason. Wet wipes or sanitary towels are often to blame, and sometimes it's a water-saving toilet that doesn't carry the paper far enough along a long horizontal pipe. Our toilet unblocking page explains how we tackle this.

Kitchen sink unblocking and other kitchen drains

The kitchen is where everything that can block a drain comes together: grease, starch, coffee grounds, food scraps and the waste water from the dishwasher. That's why a kitchen drain rarely blocks all at once. It drains a little more slowly for weeks, and then one day the water just sits in the sink.

Kitchen sink blocked by grease and coffee grounds

In almost every kitchen, grease is the main culprit. Frying and cooking fat goes down the plughole warm and runny, cools further along and sets as a layer on the inside of the pipe. Coffee grounds and grains of rice then cling to it, and the pipe gets narrower and narrower. Our kitchen sink unblocking service flushes that layer of grease out of the pipe rather than just poking a hole through it. That keeps the kitchen drain clear for much longer.

Blocked sink and nothing seems to work?

You've tried the plunger, unscrewed the trap and run hot water from the tap down the drain, and the sink is still blocked. In that case the blockage is beyond the trap, in the pipe that runs through the wall or under the floor to the soil stack or underground drain. Under a kitchen island, or with a sink a long way from the outside wall, that can be quite a distance. A short hand-held snake will often just push the grease further along. At that point, unblocking the sink means clearing the pipe with an electric machine and, where necessary, jetting it clean along its full length.

Is it the dishwasher or the drain?

If water is left standing in the bottom of the dishwasher after a cycle, check the filter in the base of the machine first. Food scraps, shards of glass and soaked-off labels collect there, and a full filter holds the water back before it reaches the pump. Also check that the drain hose behind the machine isn't kinked. If all of that is fine, keep an eye on the sink. If water comes up into the sink when the dishwasher pumps out, or the plughole gurgles, it isn't the dishwasher that's blocked but the kitchen drain it's connected to. That's the pipe we'll clear for you.

Shower, washbasin and washing machine

Bathroom and utility room drains get blocked by very different things from kitchen drains: hair, soap residue, toothpaste, limescale and lint from the laundry. You can usually see these blockages coming, and some of them you can sort out yourself with a bucket and a towel.

Shower drain blocked by hair and soap

A shower drain blocks up gradually. Hair gets tangled in the grate and the trap underneath, and soap residue and limescale bind it into a matted plug. So unblocking a shower drain starts with that grate: lift it out, remove whatever you can reach and rinse with hot water from the tap. If the shower still drains slowly afterwards, or the bath fills up as well, the blockage is deeper down under the tiled floor. To see how we clear a shower without damaging the drain or the tiling, take a look at our shower drain unblocking page.

Blocked washbasin? Start with the trap

With a washbasin, the blockage is usually somewhere you can reach yourself: in the trap under the basin or around the plug. Put a bucket under the trap, unscrew it and rinse it out. Then screw it back on hand-tight and run the tap for a moment to check that everything stays dry. If the blockage is further back in the wall, the next step is washbasin unblocking by an engineer. When we unblock a washbasin, we deal with the plug and the overflow at the same time, because hair and soap build up there too.

Blocked washing machine drain

If the washing machine won't pump out and there's water left in the drum, check the pump filter first. On most machines it sits behind a small flap at the bottom of the front panel, and it's where lint, coins and hairgrips get caught. Put a shallow tray and a towel underneath, because water will run out. If the filter is clean but water spills over the top of the standpipe when the machine pumps out, or bubbles up through another drain, then the washing machine drain is blocked. Lint, detergent residue and limescale build up in the trap and the pipe behind it. We clear them with a drain snake or a machine.

Sewer unblocking when the drainage system is blocked

If several drains are blocked at once, or water comes up out of the lowest drain in the house, the blockage is usually further away: in the soil stack, the underground drain or the sewer under the garden. Unblocking a sewer calls for heavier equipment and someone who knows where the inspection chambers are. What's more, a sewer rarely blocks without a reason: grease from the kitchen, wipes, sand or roots in the pipe, or a section of pipe that has subsided.

Water coming up through the shower drain

If you live on the ground floor of a block of flats and water bubbles up when the neighbours upstairs have a shower, the drain is blocked at the point where the soil stack joins the underground drain. Water finds the lowest way out, and that's your shower drain. It's a classic problem in walk-up and deck-access blocks, where the drains of flats stacked above each other all run into a single soil stack. Ask the neighbours to stop using water for a while and give us a call.

Blocked sewer after a heavy downpour

After heavy rain, water sometimes sloshes back up into the toilet or the drain in the utility room. In many older neighbourhoods, rainwater and waste water share the same pipe. If that pipe is already half blocked with grease or roots, the water has nowhere to go during a downpour and the whole sewer seems to be blocked. Sometimes it's actually the sewer in the street that's temporarily overloaded. You'll notice the difference a few hours later: if the water drains away by itself once it's dry again, the sheer amount of rain was probably to blame. If it stays put, there's most likely a blockage in the pipe and it's time to call.

Sewer cleaning and high-pressure drain jetting

Unblocking clears a way through, but anything stuck to the wall of the pipe is often left behind. So when a drainage system keeps silting up, we go for sewer cleaning instead. We clean the pipe from end to end, so that grease, silt and the remains of roots don't get the chance to form a new blockage. After cleaning, we use the camera where needed to check that the pipe really is clean and that no damage was hiding behind the dirt. That's why unblocking and drain cleaning often go hand in hand in a single visit.

Your property, your landlord or the municipality?

Once a sewer is blocked, the next question is usually who should sort it out. As a rule of thumb, the pipes in and under the house and in the garden belong to the owner, while the sewer under the pavement and the street is the responsibility of the municipality (gemeente). Exactly where that boundary lies varies from one municipality to the next; often it's the property boundary or an inspection chamber close to it. If you rent, report it to your landlord as well. In a block of flats, a shared pipe is usually a matter for the owners' association (VvE). If you have an inspection chamber at the property boundary, take a look inside. If it's dry while your drains are filling up, the blockage is on your side. If the chamber itself is full, the problem lies further downstream, often towards the street.

Having the sewer unblocked, or trying it yourself?

A blocked sewer needs a different approach from a slow washbasin. With a washbasin or shower, a plunger or a clean trap often gets you a long way, but a blockage in the underground drain or garden sewer is out of reach of ordinary household tools. Even so, many people try it themselves first, for example with a pressure washer.

Can you unblock the sewer yourself with a pressure washer?

With a sewer jetting hose on a pressure washer you can sometimes flush out a short garden drain yourself, as long as you work from an accessible inspection chamber towards the street. Inside the house, or in an old clay pipe, we advise against it. A pressure washer meant for the driveway delivers too little water to really carry away grease and silt, the hose can get stuck in a bend, and the water you spray into a full pipe will find its way indoors through the shower drain or the toilet. Nor will a pressure washer get rid of roots in the pipe. If in doubt, having the sewer unblocked by a professional is usually quicker and safer than carrying on yourself.

Having the sewer unblocked: how a drain unblocking service works

When you have the sewer unblocked, the engineer first opens the inspection chamber or rodding eye closest to the blockage. With the electric drain machine he makes a way through, so the water standing in the pipe can drain away. Where needed, he then cleans the pipe with high-pressure jetting, and if there's any doubt he uses a camera to check the pipe for damage. Finally he runs plenty of water through and checks in the chamber that everything flows freely. You'll be told exactly where the blockage was. That's useful if you need to agree with your landlord, the owners' association (VvE) or the municipality who pays the bill.

Camera inspection and rainwater drainage

Not every blockage is indoors, and not every blockage is solved for good by unblocking alone. Two of our services focus on what you can't see from above ground: the condition of the pipe itself and how rainwater drains off your roof.

When a blockage keeps coming back

If the same blockage keeps coming back, you'll want to know why. A drain camera inspection shows you on a screen whether there's root intrusion, a sagging pipe or a break. A sagging section collects dirt time and again, however thoroughly the pipe is unblocked. From the footage, we can tell you whether the problem can be fixed with cleaning and a change of habits, or whether a section of pipe needs repairing. And if you're buying an older home, an inspection lets you see a part of the house that normally stays hidden from view.

Blocked downpipe or overflowing gutter

A downpipe usually blocks from the top. Leaves, moss, seeds and sometimes a bird's nest get washed into the pipe with the first heavy shower. You'll notice it when water spills over the edge of the gutter or pours down the front of the house in a stream. At the bottom, the connection to the sewer can silt up with sand and grit washed off the roof. For downpipe unblocking, we first work out where the blockage is: in the gutter, in the pipe or in the drain underground. Then we clear the whole run, so the rainwater doesn't run down the wall and seep indoors.

Blocked drain or just a nasty smell?

A drain can cause problems even when the water isn't actually backing up. A sewer smell in the bathroom or a gurgling toilet often points to something that's still easy to fix. Leave it too long and a small narrowing can grow into a proper blockage.

Smelly drain that isn't blocked

If the water drains away normally but you can still smell sewage, there's usually no blockage in the pipe; instead, a trap has lost its water. That water seal is what keeps sewer gases out. It can dry out after a holiday, or in a floor drain that only gets wet when you mop. A bucket of water solves the problem.

If the smell lingers, take a look at the traps themselves. In the bend and the overflow of a washbasin, a slimy layer of soap, skin oils and hair builds up and starts to smell, even when the drain is running freely. If you mainly notice it near the toilet, the rubber seal between the pan and the waste pipe may have shifted. If the smell comes from several rooms at once while all the traps are full, have someone check that the soil stack's vent pipe is clear. It usually exits through the roof and can get blocked by leaves or a nest.

Gurgling and bubbling when you flush

A gurgling drain is often partly blocked. Air can't get past the blockage properly and sometimes sucks the water seal dry, giving sewer smells free rein. If the toilet bubbles while the shower is running, or the washbasin glugs when the washing machine pumps out, those drains are on the same pipe and the narrowing is probably beyond the point where they meet. Acting early here stops a minor blockage from turning into a flooded bathroom.

Why persisting with DIY often ends up costing more

When a drain is slow, almost everyone reaches for the plunger first, and that's hardly surprising. A plunger or a cleaned-out trap can sometimes deal with a minor blockage in a washbasin perfectly well. But when the blockage is further down, persevering often makes things worse:

• a bottle of chemical drain unblocker rarely works on a blockage in the soil stack and then sits in the pipe as a corrosive liquid;
• a borrowed drain snake can push the blockage further away or damage the inside of an old pipe;
• flushing a blocked toilet again and again leaves the bathroom floor under water;
• a trap that isn't refitted properly after cleaning can leak into the kitchen cupboard without you noticing.

A professional usually clears the blockage quickly and can see at the same time whether something else is going on, such as a sagging pipe. That spares you damage and saves you time, and often money too.

Start safely, know when to stop

If the blockage is confined to one fixture, by all means have a go yourself. When you use a plunger, cover the overflow of the washbasin or bath with a damp cloth so the force goes to the blockage. Cleaning a trap just takes a bucket and a towel. In the kitchen, hot water from the tap with a squirt of washing-up liquid can sometimes shift a layer of grease that's just starting to form. Home remedies such as baking soda and vinegar produce plenty of foam, but rarely clear a real blockage. Stop as soon as you realise you're not getting anywhere: after two or three unsuccessful attempts, if several drains are affected at once, or if water is coming up at the lowest point in the house. If you've already used a chemical drain unblocker, tell us on the phone, so the engineer knows there may be a corrosive liquid in the pipe.

Blocked at night or at the weekend

Blockages don't keep office hours. The kitchen sink fills up on Christmas Eve, the toilet won't flush on a Sunday morning, the drain in the cellar overflows in the middle of the night. That's why our drain unblocking service answers the phone every day of the year, nights and public holidays included, and in an emergency we send an engineer as quickly as possible. They're usually with you within the hour.

Emergency, or can it wait until tomorrow?

Not every blockage needs fixing straight away. If only the washbasin is draining slowly and everything else in the house works normally, it can usually wait until the next working day, so you avoid the out-of-hours rate. It's a different story if the only toilet in the house is blocked, if sewage is coming up in the shower or kitchen, or if water is about to spill across the floor. Then call straight away. Not sure? Describe the situation on the phone. We'll tell you straight whether it can wait, even if that means we don't come until the next day.

What to do while you wait

Stop using the blocked drain and switch off the dishwasher and washing machine. If there's water on the floor, put towels down and move anything that could get wet. If you know where the inspection chamber is in the garden or the crawl space, clear any tiles or pots off the lid in advance. That saves the engineer from having to search for it.

A drain unblocking company near you, wherever you live

If the toilet is overflowing, the shower tray is full of water or the sewer is blocked, you want a drain unblocking company near you that answers straight away and sends someone quickly. Because Afvoer Ontstoppen works throughout the Netherlands, you don't have to find out first which drain unblocking service covers your area. You call one number, give your postcode and town, and we arrange an engineer to come out to you.

How our local drain unblocking service works

The closer the engineer is to you, the less time you spend with a blocked drain. On the phone we don't just ask what's blocked, but also what kind of home you live in: an upstairs flat, a block with a shared soil stack, a terraced house with an inspection chamber in the garden or a detached house with a long garden drain. That way the engineer knows in advance which tools he'll need. Even at night and at the weekend, he's usually with you within the hour.

What should you look for when choosing a drain unblocking company?

You usually call a drain unblocking company when you're in a hurry. That's exactly when it pays to check a few things:

• A clear price estimate up front. With us, clearing a blockage costs from €129, excluding the call-out charge. You'll hear the call-out charge and, outside office hours, the out-of-hours rate before the engineer sets off.
• The right equipment. A good drain unblocking service works with a drain snake, an electric drain machine and a high-pressure jetter, and can look inside the pipe with a camera if the problem keeps coming back.
• No corrosive chemicals. A good drain unblocking service clears the pipe mechanically and doesn't pour caustic soda or acid down your drain.
• An explanation afterwards. You'll hear where the blockage was, what it was made of and how to stop it happening again.

What does drain unblocking cost?

We charge from €129 to clear a blockage. The call-out charge comes on top of that; we'll tell you how much it is on the phone beforehand. Outside office hours, meaning in the evening, at night, at weekends and on public holidays, we charge an out-of-hours rate. If it's hard to say in advance how much work is involved, for example when cleaning an entire sewer run or carrying out an extensive inspection, it's best to ask for a quote first.

What does sewer unblocking cost?

The starting price of €129 also applies to sewer unblocking, plus the call-out charge. What you end up paying depends mainly on where the blockage is and what kind of blockage it is. A blockage that can be cleared with the machine through an accessible inspection chamber is quicker to fix than an underground drain that's full of grease or roots along its whole length and needs high-pressure cleaning. For that kind of work, or for a camera inspection with a report, ask for a quote first. That way you know what's going to happen before the engineer starts.

Why you get a price estimate up front

Nobody likes calling a drain unblocking company without knowing roughly what it's going to cost. That's why you get a price estimate based on your description before the engineer sets off. If the engineer finds there's more going on once they arrive, they'll talk it through with you before carrying on.

Drain unblocking throughout the Netherlands

Afvoer Ontstoppen works throughout the Netherlands: in the big cities, in the towns around them and in villages, from Groningen and Friesland to Zeeland and Limburg. Wherever you are, you call the same number and get the same approach, from the first questions on the phone to the explanation once the job is done. For a number of cities we have a dedicated page with background on the local housing and sewers, such as sewer unblocking in Amsterdam and drain unblocking in Rotterdam. You'll find the full overview on our areas we cover page. If your town isn't on it, call us anyway; we can still help.

Drain unblocking near you

Every city has its own kinds of blockage. In a canal house built on wooden piles, the drains run differently from those in a 1960s block of flats or on a new-build estate with plastic sewer pipes. In pre-war streets there's sometimes still a clay pipe under the garden, and the socket joint between two lengths of pipe is a classic weak spot for roots. In newer neighbourhoods, rainwater and waste water often run through separate pipes, and blockages are mainly caused by what gets flushed away. The engineer who comes to you takes these differences into account before sending a drain snake or hose down the pipe.

Preventing blockages

The best blockage is the one that never happens. A few good habits keep the drains in your home clear for longer, and a little maintenance outside does the same for the sewer and the downpipes.

Kitchen and bathroom habits

• collect frying and cooking fat in a sealed jar or bottle and put it out with the general waste;
• flush nothing but toilet paper, because wet wipes barely break down in the sewer, even the ones sold as flushable;
• fit a hair catcher in the shower drain and clean it every week;
• scrape plates into the bin before they go in the dishwasher, and clean the machine's filter regularly.

Outside and underground

Have the gutters cleared in the autumn so that leaves don't end up in the downpipe. Make sure the lid of the inspection chamber in the garden or by the front of the house stays accessible and doesn't disappear under paving or a planter. If you live in an older home with trees in the garden or along the street, or the same blockage keeps coming back, it's worth having a camera sent down the sewer. That way you'll spot roots or a sagging pipe in time, not when the kitchen floor is already under water.

Got a blockage right now? Call 085 333 4698, day or night.