Drain Unblocking Den Bosch

Den Bosch city centre: living beside and above the water

Few Dutch cities have as much water between and beneath their houses as 's-Hertogenbosch. The Binnendieze winds through the centre, partly in the open and partly under buildings and streets. The houses around the Sint-Jan cathedral and the Markt are centuries old and have been altered countless times over the years. Bathrooms have ended up in the attic, kitchens in an extension at the back, and the waste pipe has to find its way past cellars and crawl spaces.

For drain unblocking in Den Bosch, that means taking a good look first. In a city-centre building, the blockage often isn't where the problem shows up. The engineer follows the pipe with a drain snake or a camera and works towards the blockage from the nearest access point. That way, nobody has to open up a floor or wall unnecessarily.

Restaurants and cafés around the Korte Putstraat and the Markt

The city centre is full of restaurants and cafés, from the Korte Putstraat, the well-known street for eating out, to the packed café terraces around the Markt. Many have flats above them. Grease from commercial kitchens builds up in shared pipes if a grease trap isn't emptied in time. In the cold pipe it sets into a hard layer that a drain snake can barely get through, and that's when the high-pressure jetter is needed. Because we work 24/7, we can do the job after closing time, so the kitchen can open as normal the next day.

Living above a shop

Flats above shops in the Hinthamerstraat, the Vughterstraat and the streets around the Markt sometimes share a drain with the business on the ground floor. A blockage in the flat upstairs can then back up into the shop or restaurant below. So when we're called out for drain unblocking in Den Bosch at addresses like these, we agree beforehand who can open which rooms, so the engineer isn't left standing at a locked door.

Sewer unblocking in Den Bosch: from Muntel to De Groote Wielen

Beyond the old fortified town, Den Bosch grew in stages, and that shows in its sewers. The usual culprit in one district is something we hardly ever come across in the next.

Muntel, De Vliert and the Graafsewijk

In Muntel, De Vliert and the Graafsewijk, the pipes are often still made of vitrified clay or concrete. They're sturdy, but after decades the joints between the sections can shift. Tree roots never fail to find those gaps. The result is a sewer connection that silts up faster and faster, and the first warning sign is a toilet that's slow to empty or an inspection chamber in the garden where the water won't go down.

Boschveld and Hintham: old and new side by side

Boschveld is a post-war district that has been renewed step by step in recent years, with a mix of demolition, renovation and new build. In a renovation, everything indoors is often replaced, while the old pipe under the front garden stays put. And it's exactly where new plastic meets old clay that a ridge or gap tends to form. In Hintham, a former village on the east side, an old centre sits next to post-war terraces, so the type of pipe varies from street to street.

Maaspoort, Empel and Engelen: close to the Maas

In the north, the city borders the river Maas and the ground is river clay. Maaspoort is a newer residential area with many family homes and inspection chambers that are usually easy to reach. Empel and Engelen are villages with an old centre and newer housing around it. Clay holds water and slowly compacts, so gardens and driveways can sink relative to the house. A sewer connection that sinks with them develops a dip where dirt settles. On top of that, the old village centres have garden pipes that run for many metres.

Village centre and lakes: Rosmalen and De Groote Wielen

Until the municipal merger, Rosmalen was a municipality in its own right, and it has a village centre surrounded by large housing estates. De Groote Wielen is a young district built around large lakes, with plastic sewer pipes. In new homes like these, a blockage is rarely down to wear. Wet wipes, cat litter and frying fat are the usual suspects, along with building debris in the first few years after completion. The location of the rodding eyes is often shown in your home's handover documents.

Water from above and below

The Dommel and the Aa meet in Den Bosch and flow on to the Maas as the Dieze. Directly south of the ramparts lies the Bossche Broek, a low-lying, wet area. In a setting like this, the sewer fills up quickly in heavy rain, and you notice it indoors.

When the sewer backs up

In a heavy thunderstorm, the sewer has to handle a lot of water in a short time. If your shower drain or cellar floor is low, sewage can back up through the lowest point in the house. A rule of thumb: if the water only comes up during or just after a downpour, the cause is usually in the street. If it also happens in dry weather, there's a blockage in your own pipe. A non-return valve can protect you against the first scenario, and the engineer will be happy to look at whether one makes sense for your home.

A cellar sump or pump that can't keep up

Some city-centre buildings have a cellar or a basement flat. If the drain down there is lower than the street sewer, the water has to be pumped up. If the pump sump gets blocked with sand, grease or dirt, the pump cuts out or runs without shifting anything, and the cellar slowly fills up. The engineer clears the sump and the pipe beyond it. We don't replace pumps, but we will tell you if the pump itself is the problem.

Drain unblocking in Den Bosch: three emergencies that keep coming back

A few call-outs come in remarkably often in this city, sometimes even at predictable times of year.

Carnival: toilets and kitchens working flat out

Around carnival, when the city goes by the name of Oeteldonk, kitchens and toilets in the centre work overtime. The cafés are packed, residents have friends staying, and more paper and grease get flushed away than at any other time of year. A pipe that was already partly narrowed then gives up. We answer the phone day and night throughout carnival as well.

A greasy kitchen sink in the Paleiskwartier

In the flats near the station, kitchen waste pipes often run horizontally for quite a distance to the service shaft, with little fall. That gives grease and starch time to stick. If the kitchen sink is blocked, the problem usually lies past the trap, in that horizontal section. Unblocking the sink then calls for an electric drain machine. If several neighbours have slow drains too, report it to the VvE (owners' association) as well.

The washing machine makes the shower drain overflow

A washing machine pumps out a lot of water in a short time. If the shared drain is already half blocked with hair and lint from the machine, that water can't get away fast enough and comes up in the shower drain next to it. Switch the machine off, scoop the water out and hold off on any more washing until the pipe is clear. The engineer cleans the drain right past the point where the two pipes join.

How we help as a drain unblocking company in Den Bosch

Afvoer Ontstoppen deals with every kind of blockage, inside and outside the house. A job we do a lot in Den Bosch is kitchen sink unblocking: grease deposits, coffee grounds and starch from pasta and rice combine to form a tough layer in the kitchen pipe. In bathrooms with a small handbasin or a double washbasin, washbasin unblocking is often a matter of thoroughly cleaning the trap and the pipe behind it.

With pre-war sewer connections, we often start with a camera inspection of the sewer. That tells you whether roots, subsidence or a fracture are involved. If needed, we follow up with sewer cleaning using the high-pressure jetter. To find out how our drain unblocking service works and what equipment the engineer brings along, have a look at that page.

Where your pipe ends and the municipal sewer begins

As an owner, you're responsible for the drains in your home and for the connection on your own property, usually up to the property boundary or an inspection chamber close to it. The sewer under the pavement and the street generally belongs to the municipality, although the exact boundary differs from one municipality to another. If you rent, the landlord usually pays for repairs to shared pipes, and in a block of flats that falls to the VvE. With camera footage, we can show which side of the boundary the blockage is on, so you know whose door to knock on.

Calling us and what it costs: drain unblocking in Den Bosch

What happens when you call

Call 085 333 4698 at any time of the day or night. We ask a few specific questions: which drain, which floor, how long has it been going on, and have you tried anything yourself? From that, we can often already tell where the blockage is likely to be. We give you a price estimate straight away and tell you roughly when the engineer will arrive, which is usually within the hour.

On site, the engineer first looks for the cause. They explain what they're going to do and only start once you've agreed. When the drain is clear, they test every drain in the house and give you tips to stop it happening again.

What you pay

Unblocking starts from €129, and the call-out charge is not included. In the evening, at night and at weekends, an out-of-hours rate applies. For larger jobs, such as cleaning a long pipe or a full inspection, you can ask for a quote. Whatever the job, you get a price estimate up front. Customers rate us 5/5 based on 48 Google reviews.

First aid for a blockage

Got a blocked drain in Den Bosch and waiting for the engineer? There are a few things you can do in the meantime to limit the damage:

• Turn off the tap and don't flush the toilet again.
• If the shower tray is overflowing, bail out the water with a bucket and keep the floor dry.
• Don't use supermarket drain cleaners: they rarely shift a hard blockage and they make the engineer's job dangerous.
• Clear the area around the inspection chamber and under the kitchen sink, so the engineer can get straight to work.

To prevent new blockages, let fat set in an old jar, use a strainer in the kitchen sink and don't put wipes or cotton buds down the toilet. If there are large trees in your garden or street, have the sewer connection inspected every now and then.

Beyond 's-Hertogenbosch

Afvoer Ontstoppen works throughout the Netherlands, and a number of nearby cities have a page of their own. To the south-west we cover Tilburg and Breda, and to the south in Eindhoven. Heading east, we work in Nijmegen, and heading north in Utrecht. The page listing all our locations shows which cities have their own page; if you live somewhere else, we'll come out to you just the same.

Water standing in the shower or toilet right now? Call 085 333 4698 for drain unblocking in Den Bosch, day or night.