Drain Unblocking Enschede

Drain unblocking in Enschede: how it works in practice

When a drain is blocked, what you mainly want to know is what happens next and what it will cost. So we'll start with how we work, and then look at what makes Enschede different below ground.

Phone first, tools second

For drain unblocking in Enschede, everything starts with a call to 085 333 4698. We ask which drain has stopped working, since when, and whether you've already tried anything yourself. A few questions tell us a lot. Is it only the cloakroom basin that's slow to empty, or does water come up in the shower drain as soon as you flush the toilet? If it's the latter, the blockage is further down the line and the engineer will bring heavier equipment. If you know where your home's inspection chamber or rodding eye is, mention that too. It saves time hunting for it on site, especially when the chamber is hidden under a planter or paving slabs.

Price estimate and arrival

On the phone, we give you an honest assessment and a price estimate. The engineer only sets off once you've agreed, and is usually with you within the hour. On site, they first work out exactly where the blockage is. Once it's cleared, they check that every drain in the house is running freely again and explain what caused the problem. If there's a bigger problem, such as a broken pipe, you'll hear about it straight away and decide for yourself what happens next.

Sewer unblocking in Enschede: from textile districts to new builds

Like much of Twente, Enschede is built on sandy soil. Rainwater drains away well here, but sand has a downside too. If an old sewer pipe has a crack or an open joint, sand slowly washes in. It settles in the bends and, together with grease and paper, forms a hard layer. So when we're called out for drain unblocking in Enschede, we regularly find a thick layer of sand in older outside pipes. What else is lurking in the pipe varies a great deal from one district to the next.

A city centre rebuilt after 1862

Little of the medieval town survived the great fire of 1862. The centre was then rebuilt and has been renewed many times since, so pipes from very different periods can lie under the same street. Around the Oude Markt there are plenty of cafés and restaurants, with homes above and beside them. If a grease trap isn't emptied in time, the fat runs on into the sewer connection and sets hard there. The resident on the first floor sometimes notices before the kitchen downstairs does.

Working-class districts from the textile era

As the textile industry grew, entire working-class districts went up around the mills, Pathmos among them. Many of those homes have since been renovated, but the sewer connection under the front garden or the back path is sometimes still the original. In these terraces, neighbours' drains also sometimes join up before they reach the street, so one blockage can affect two households. A camera inspection shows whether the pipe has sagged, cracked or been invaded by roots, before you dig up the garden.

Post-war flats and housing blocks

After the war, the city mainly grew southwards. The Wesselerbrink, built in the 1960s and 1970s, has many blocks of flats whose collector pipes run a long way under the buildings before reaching the street sewer. Over such a long run with little fall, grease builds up easily. In Velve-Lindenhof and Deppenbroek there are terraced houses and housing blocks where several homes share one soil stack, so a blockage on the second floor can back up into the neighbours' home downstairs.

Roombeek and De Eschmarke: young, but not trouble-free

Roombeek was hit hard by the fireworks disaster of 13 May 2000, and an almost entirely new district rose in its place. Since the rebuild, the stream that gives the district its name has flowed above ground again. De Eschmarke is another young residential area. Both have plastic pipes with an accessible inspection chamber, and blockages here are mainly down to what goes down the drain: wet wipes, sanitary pads, cat litter and grease.

Rainwater in Enschede: from gutter to soakaway crate

On sandy soil, it makes sense to let rainwater soak into the ground instead of sending it to the sewer. You'll see that in many of Enschede's streets. It works well, as long as everything stays clean.

Downpipes disconnected from the sewer

In newer streets, rainwater often no longer goes into the sewer but into a gravel soakaway, a soakaway crate or a wadi (a shallow grassed basin). If leaves, sand and moss wash in year after year, the system silts up and water is left standing around the downpipe or on the patio. A camera shows us whether the blockage is in the pipe itself or further along in the crate. We then jet the pipe clean at high pressure.

Leaves, moss and the leaf guard

In leafy districts such as Boswinkel and Stroinkslanden, and in the streets around the Volkspark, plenty of leaves blow into the gutters every autumn. They gather in the leaf guard or in the bend at the foot of the downpipe. With the first heavy shower, the gutter then overflows, often down the wall of the house or over the edge of the roof. Sometimes there's a bird's nest in the outlet. The engineer clears the pipe from the top and from the bottom and checks that the water can run freely into the ground or the sewer again.

Emergency drain unblocking in Enschede: student houses, toilets and smells

Some call-outs come up so often in Enschede that we could almost describe them in our sleep. Here's how to deal with them.

A greasy kitchen drain in a student house

Enschede is a student city: around the University of Twente and Saxion, five or more housemates often share one kitchen. People cook in shifts, frying oil occasionally goes down the sink and nobody feels responsible for the sink strainer. As a result, the kitchen drain blocks up faster than it would in a family home. In a house like that, report a blockage to the landlord or property manager first. If that gets you nowhere and the sink is full of water, just call us yourself. The engineer clears the pipe with a machine and then flushes it through.

One toilet, and it's blocked

Many terraced houses and student houses have just one toilet. If it's blocked, it can't wait until Monday. Don't flush again, not even to see whether it's getting better, or the bowl will overflow. You can try a plunger, as long as you're gentle. If that doesn't work, the engineer uses a toilet auger or a small machine, without having to take the toilet off.

A sewer smell, even though everything drains

A drain that smells but isn't blocked often has a dry trap. That tends to happen in a room that has stood empty all summer, in a guest bathroom or with a floor drain in the garage. The water in the trap evaporates, and sewer smells can then get straight into the house. Run some water into every drain and basin. If the smell lingers, a loose coupling or a blocked vent pipe could be the cause; the engineer will get to the bottom of that on site.

Your own pipe or the municipal sewer?

If you own your home, the drains inside it and the sewer connection on your own property are your responsibility. At the property boundary or the rodding eye, responsibility usually passes to the municipality, which manages the sewer under the public road. The exact boundary can differ from one municipality to another. If you rent, the landlord usually arranges repairs to shared pipes. If the camera shows that the blockage is on the street side, you can use the footage when you report it to the municipality.

How much does a drain unblocking company in Enschede charge?

Our prices for unblocking start from €129. The call-out charge comes on top, as it isn't included in the starting price. In the evening, at night and at weekends, the engineer works at an out-of-hours rate. If the job is bigger, for example a complete clean of the outside pipe followed by a camera inspection, ask for a quote. Here too, you get a price estimate up front. Customers rate us 5/5 based on 48 Google reviews.

Our services in Enschede, from toilet to downpipe

Afvoer Ontstoppen does one thing: clearing blockages. We tackle blocked drains in Enschede across the whole city, from the centre to the German border at Glanerbrug. Toilet unblocking is a job that can't wait, especially in a house with only one toilet. In student houses and flats, we're often called out to a blocked washbasin, where hair, toothpaste and shaving residue have built up in the trap.

In heavy downpours, the downpipe sometimes overflows or water is left standing on a flat roof. That's when downpipe unblocking is the answer: we remove leaves, moss and nesting material and flush the pipe through. If a blockage keeps coming back, high-pressure sewer cleaning is often the lasting solution. If you'd first like to know how we work as a drain unblocking service, that page explains the equipment we use.

Preventing blockages in a Twente home

Most blockages build up slowly. A few simple habits will keep your drains clear for longer:

• Never pour fat or frying oil down the sink. Let it set and put it in the general waste.
• Put a hair catcher in the shower and the bath, especially in a house with several occupants.
• Only flush toilet paper. Wet wipes don't break down, even if the packaging says they will.
• Clean out the gutter and the downpipe's leaf guard every autumn.
• If you hear the drain gurgling or smell sewage, call before the pipe blocks up completely.

While you're waiting for the engineer, don't flush the toilet again and don't pour chemical drain cleaner down the drain. If you live in an older district and the problems keep coming back, have a camera inspection done. A small crack that lets sand in is cheaper to repair than a pipe that has silted up completely.

Beyond Enschede as well

Afvoer Ontstoppen works throughout the Netherlands. A number of cities in the east and north have their own page: you can also call us in Zwolle, Apeldoorn and Arnhem, and further north in Groningen. To see which other cities have their own page, take a look at the overview of our service area.

Blocked drain right now? Call 085 333 4698 for drain unblocking in Enschede. We're available day and night and will send an engineer as quickly as possible.