Drain Unblocking Almere

Drain unblocking in Almere: a young city on shifting ground

Almere has no centuries-old canal houses or medieval sewers. Even so, drains here get blocked just as readily as in an old city, only for different reasons. Knowing the cause means the unblocking can be targeted, and it helps stop the same pipe blocking up again six months later. That's why, when it comes to drain unblocking in Almere, we always look beyond the trap.

Polder soil that is still settling

Zuidelijk Flevoland (Southern Flevoland) was drained in the late 1960s. The ground is made up of layers of clay and peat that are still compacting. Homes in Almere stand on piles and stay put, but gardens, paths and streets are slowly sinking. Over time, this pulls the sewer connection (the stretch of pipe between your home and the municipal sewer) out of line. A dip forms where water collects, or a coupling slips partly apart. The result is a drain that gets slower and slower, until eventually the water comes back up in the shower drain or the crawl space.

What you can see from outside

A sinking garden is often visible before the drains start causing trouble. Look out for a garden path that has pulled away from the wall of the house, a gap under the back door threshold or a manhole cover that suddenly sits higher than the paving around it. A chamber right next to the house is, in effect, held up by the pipe and the building, so it often sinks less than the paving does. If you see signs like these and your drain is getting slower, a camera inspection makes more sense than unblocking it again and again.

Four types of home, four types of blockage

In a city built in just a few decades, the type of home tells you more than the age of the neighbourhood. If you have a blocked drain in Almere, it makes a big difference whether your home is on a woonerf (home zone), in a terraced row, in a block of flats or on a self-build plot.

Home zones with long garden drains

Almere Haven has homes that are around fifty years old. Neighbourhoods such as De Werven and De Wierden are made up of home zones and small courtyard clusters, where the sewer connection often runs a fair distance under gardens and shared ground before it reaches the main sewer. The longer that pipe, the more room there is for subsidence, or for a joint that shrub roots can grow through. We see the same picture in the Stedenwijk, one of the older neighbourhoods of Almere Stad.

Terraced houses from the 1980s and 1990s

The Kruidenwijk, the Regenboogbuurt and the Stripheldenbuurt have long rows of family homes. The original kitchens and bathrooms have often been replaced, but not the pipes beneath them. Narrow waste pipes, sharp bends and years of built-up grease are a familiar sight here. If a new walk-in shower with a narrow channel drain is connected to that old pipe, the water can start draining more slowly within just a few months.

Flats around the Weerwater

In the centre of Almere Stad, around the Weerwater lake, many people live in blocks of flats, often above shops and restaurants. There, dozens of kitchens and bathrooms drain into just a few soil stacks. A single household flushing away frying fat or wet wipes can cause a blockage that affects the neighbours too. So when we carry out drain unblocking in Almere Stad in a building like this, we start at the lowest point of the pipe. That way the whole soil stack is clear again, not just your own connection.

Self-build plots and young neighbourhoods

In new builds, building debris, sealant or mortar is sometimes left behind in the pipes, only causing problems a few years later. In the Homeruskwartier and in Oosterwold, many residents had their homes designed to their own specifications. As a result, every house has its own pipe layout, with rodding points that aren't always where you'd expect them. In the Columbuskwartier and in Vogelhorst the pipes are modern, but drains there still get blocked by grease, hair and wet wipes.

Water in and around the city: canals, lakes and downpipes

Almere is criss-crossed by canals and ditches, lies on the shores of the Gooimeer and the IJmeer, and has lakes such as the Weerwater and the Noorderplassen within the city limits. All that water also plays a part in blockages.

Rainwater and waste water kept separate

Almere was built at a time when new neighbourhoods were increasingly given separate pipes for rainwater and waste water. The rainwater then flows into the canals and lakes rather than to the treatment works. For you, that means a blocked downpipe usually has nothing to do with a blocked toilet, and vice versa. It also means that a downpipe connected to the wrong pipe can overload the house's drainage in a cloudburst. The engineer can tell how your home is connected from the inspection chambers around it.

Cloudbursts and overflowing garden drains

In a heavy summer downpour, gutters, downpipes and garden drains have to handle a lot of water in a short time. In leafy areas such as the Faunabuurt, the leaf guards fill up quickly in autumn. The water then pours over the edge of the gutter or comes up out of the drain on the patio. A downpipe that overflows every time it rains is often blocked in the bend at the bottom or in the underground connection. Just ask, and we'll deal with that on the same visit when we come out for drain unblocking in Almere.

Blocked sewer in Almere: where does your pipe end?

If the blockage isn't in the house but in the pipe to the street, you'll want to know who is responsible. That depends on exactly where the blockage or the subsidence is.

Plot, pavement and street

In most Dutch municipalities, the pipe within your plot is the homeowner's responsibility, while the section under the pavement and street belongs to the municipality. Exactly where the line is drawn, and what the rules are, varies from one municipality to another. In Almere, the dividing point is often marked by an inspection chamber by the front wall or at the property boundary. With the camera, the engineer can pinpoint how many metres along the pipe the kink or blockage is, so you know whether you need to involve the municipality.

Rented home or flat

If you rent from a housing association or a private landlord, report the blockage to them as well; your tenancy agreement determines who pays. In a block of flats, the soil stack usually counts as one of the communal parts managed by the VvE (owners' association). If water is coming up in your home that you didn't put down the drain yourself, the problem is almost certainly in that shared pipe, and it's wise to call the property manager straight away.

From shower drain to gurgling sink: calls we often get

Water coming up out of the shower drain downstairs

In a family house, the downstairs shower drain is often the lowest point in the whole system. If the sewer connection is blocked, water from the washing machine or dishwasher comes up there. That means the blockage is somewhere between the house and the street; it has little to do with a dirty shower drain. Switch off the appliances, stop flushing the toilet and put towels around the drain.

A gurgling sink in a new-build home

If you hear a gurgling sound from the kitchen sink after flushing the toilet or emptying the bath, air is being sucked through the trap. That can be caused by a blockage starting to form, but also by a vent that isn't working properly. The engineer first checks whether the pipe is clear and will tell you honestly if the problem lies in the venting.

A toilet that flushes more and more slowly

If the water in the bowl drains away only slowly after flushing, there's often a partial blockage of wet wipes or too much paper in the pipe. In Almere, a sagging connection can add to the problem. Don't wait until the toilet blocks completely on a Sunday evening; call as soon as you notice it getting worse.

One phone call, then the engineer

You can call at any time: 085 333 4698 is answered 24 hours a day. On the phone, we'll ask which drain is blocked, which part of the city you live in and whether water is already coming up. With that information, we can judge whether it's a local blockage, such as a trap full of hair, or a problem in the sewer connection.

You then get a price estimate before anyone has set off. If you're happy to go ahead, we book an engineer in as soon as possible; in Almere that's often the same day, and in an emergency usually within the hour. On arrival, the engineer first assesses the situation, clears the pipe and then checks that everything is flowing freely again. As a drain unblocking company in Almere, we think that last step matters just as much as the unblocking itself. So you'll also be told what caused the problem and whether any follow-up is needed.

Drain unblocking in Almere: costs for small and large jobs

A standard unblocking job starts from €129. The call-out charge isn't included in that price. Outside office hours, at weekends and on public holidays, we charge an out-of-hours rate. For larger jobs, such as a sagging sewer connection that needs cleaning and inspecting over several metres, ask us for a quote first. In every case you get a price estimate up front, so the decision is yours.

Blockages we clear in Almere

Afvoer Ontstoppen specialises in everything to do with drains and sewers. Leaking taps and water pipes aren't our line of work; we come out when water won't drain away. In Almere, that mainly means:

• a toilet that won't flush or is overflowing: toilet unblocking;
• a kitchen waste pipe full of grease in a flat by the Weerwater: kitchen sink unblocking;
• a shower drain or bath waste full of hair and soap residue: shower drain unblocking;
• a sagging or silted-up sewer connection: sewer cleaning with the high-pressure jetter;
• a downpipe that overflows in a cloudburst or sends water down the wall of the house: downpipe unblocking.

Not sure what's causing it? A drain camera inspection will tell you. The camera shows whether there's subsidence, a fracture or a loose coupling in the pipe. For homes in the older parts of Almere, it's often the quickest way to find out whether cleaning is enough or more work is needed.

What you can do yourself, now and later

While the water is still standing

Turn off any taps that drain into the same waste pipe and don't flush the toilet again. If water is coming out of the shower drain, move anything that could get wet up off the floor. Open the garden inspection chamber if you can do so safely: if it's full, the blockage is further towards the street. Don't reach for harsh drain cleaners; they attack pipes and rubber seals and make the job more dangerous for the engineer.

Looking after a polder home

The drains in a polder home benefit from regular maintenance. Keep the leaf guards on your downpipes clean, and let fat from the pan cool before putting it in the general waste. Put a hair catcher in the shower and keep an eye on the paving around the inspection chamber. Sunken paving there often points to a sewer connection that has sunk along with it, and that's something you'd rather spot early than only once the water starts coming back.

Around Almere and further afield

In Amsterdam, and a little further on in Zaandam, you can just as easily call us for a blocked drain or sewer. We also clear blockages in Utrecht, Amersfoort and Zwolle. We work throughout the Netherlands; the page on our service area lists a selection of cities that have their own page.

Something not draining right now? Call 085 333 4698 and let a specialist take care of drain unblocking in Almere, even at the weekend or in the middle of the night.