Drain Unblocking North Holland

North Holland: peat, polders and water beneath your drains

Most of North Holland lies below sea level. Between the North Sea coast and the IJsselmeer and Markermeer lie reclaimed lakebeds such as the Beemster, the Purmer and the Haarlemmermeer, and to the south a wide band of peat meadows around Amsterdam and Amstelveen. Only the dunes along the coast and the Gooi around Hilversum stand on sand. On peat and clay the groundwater is high and rainwater hardly soaks away, so the sewers fill up quickly in heavy rain. Peat also settles, so pipes laid straight years ago now have bends and dips where grease and silt collect.

Then there is the building history. The canal ring and the old centres of Haarlem, Hoorn and Alkmaar date from a time before bathrooms; those were added later, with long, flat drains. Around 1900 the cities grew with terraced houses and walk-up flats, after the war came the blocks with shared soil stacks, and from the 1970s the new towns of Purmerend and Hoofddorp with plastic pipes on soft ground. For drain unblocking in North Holland we therefore look first at the type of home and the ground beneath it, and only then at the blockage.

Sewer unblocking by region in North Holland

Afvoer Ontstoppen works in all 44 municipalities of the province. Four cities have their own page with district information; the rest of the province is served from the same phone line.

Amsterdam and Amstelland

In Amsterdam the canal houses stand on timber piles in the peat, with basements just above the street sewer and drains running out with almost no fall. In the walk-up blocks of West and Zuid and in the post-war flats of Nieuw-West and Noord, an entire stairwell shares one soil stack, and on IJburg and in Amstelveen long plastic house connections (laterals) lie in soft ground. The page on drain unblocking in Amsterdam explains our approach district by district.

Haarlem and the coast

Haarlem has an old centre on the Spaarne with narrow, deep houses and rear extensions. The kitchen is often at the back, with a long pipe under the yard to the street, and many of those pipes are still vitrified clay with shifted joints. Towards the coast, in IJmuiden, Santpoort and Bloemendaal, wind-blown sand gets into the outside drain through gullies and downpipes. There is a separate page for sewer unblocking in Haarlem and the surrounding area.

Hoofddorp and the Haarlemmermeer

The Haarlemmermeer is a reclaimed lakebed on clay, and Hoofddorp has grown there rapidly since the 1960s. The pipes are plastic and easy to reach, yet the calls still come in: wet wipes in the toilet, grease from the kitchen and builders' sand left behind in newer estates such as Floriande and Toolenburg. Everything about our drain unblocking service in Hoofddorp is on the city page.

Zaandam and the Zaan area

Along the Zaan stand the well-known timber houses, often right on the water, with drains running out between the floor joists. Around them lie the post-war estates of Zaanstad, such as Poelenburg and Peldersveld, with flats and terraced houses on peat. A house connection that subsides here leaves water standing in the dip until the pipe silts up. See the page on drain unblocking in Zaandam for the approach per district.

The rest of the province

We work beyond these four cities every day too. In Alkmaar, Hoorn and Enkhuizen it is usually old town-centre buildings with little fall; in Purmerend, Heerhugowaard and Castricum, family homes from the 1970s and 1980s with an inspection chamber in the front garden. On the sandy soil of Hilversum, Laren and Bussum tree roots seek out the outside drain, and in Den Helder and on Texel salty air and wind-blown sand call for well-maintained chambers and gullies.

Common blockages in North Holland

Three situations occur more often here than elsewhere. Here is what you can do yourself, and what the engineer does.

The sewer backs up after a cloudburst

Many districts lie below sea level and drain into a combined system that carries rainwater and wastewater together. In a summer downpour it fills up and water comes back through the lowest point in the house: a shower gully on the ground floor, a floor gully in the utility room or the chamber in the garden. Use as little water as possible and wait for the downpour to pass. The engineer checks with the camera that your own pipe is clean and, if it keeps happening, recommends a non-return valve in the house connection.

A slow drain in a building on piles

In old buildings in Amsterdam, Haarlem and Hoorn the bathroom was added later, sometimes on a floor where water was never planned. The drain then runs almost horizontally and hair, soap and grease settle in it. Unscrew the trap over a bucket and remove the first plug; it is often right under the washbasin. If that does not help, the engineer works a thin drain auger through the whole pipe, without opening the floor.

A subsided house connection on peat

In Amstelveen, Zaandam and the peat-meadow villages along the Zaan and the Amstel, the ground sinks slowly while the connection to the sewer stays where it is. That creates a kink or a dip where silt builds up, and the drain blocks again every few months. Recurring blockages in the same spot are the giveaway. The engineer flushes the pipe with the high-pressure jetter and records on camera where the subsidence is, so you know whether a repair is needed.

Our services as a drain unblocking company in North Holland

Whichever drain is blocked, we bring the equipment that suits the job:

• A toilet that overflows or will not flush away: toilet unblocking with a toilet auger or a small machine, including in upstairs flats.
• Grease and food waste in the kitchen pipe: kitchen sink unblocking, including cleaning the trap and the pipe behind it.
• Silt, roots or sand in the outside drain: sewer cleaning with the high-pressure jetter, from the chamber to the street sewer.
• A blockage that keeps coming back: a drain camera inspection shows cracks, subsidence and root ingress.

Who is responsible for which part of the drain?

As a homeowner you look after the drains inside the house and the pipe on your own land, usually up to the inspection chamber or rodding point at the boundary. Beyond that lies the municipal sewer, the municipality's responsibility; the water board manages the ditches, pumping stations and main drainage canals into which rainwater is eventually discharged. In a block of flats the soil stack and the collector pipe come under the owners' association (VvE), and in a rented home the landlord normally deals with the pipes, while a plug in your own trap is often at your expense. Afterwards the engineer tells you where the blockage was, so you can report it to the right party.

Drain unblocking in North Holland: calling, price indication and rates

Call 085 333 4698, at any hour, day or night. Tell us which drain is blocked, whether the neighbours are affected too and whether it has rained hard in the past few days; in this province that says a lot about the cause. You get an assessment and a price indication straight away; once you agree, an engineer is on the way, usually within the hour.

Clearing a blockage costs from €129. The call-out charge is not included and is added separately. Outside office hours, at night and at the weekend we work at an emergency rate. For a larger job, such as cleaning and inspecting a complete house connection under an Amsterdam basement, you can ask for a price. Customers give Afvoer Ontstoppen 5/5 based on 48 Google reviews.

Cities in North Holland with their own page

For four large places in the province we have separate pages with information per district: Amsterdam, Haarlem, Hoofddorp and Zaandam. If you live elsewhere in North Holland, from Den Helder to Hilversum, you call the same number and the same drain unblocking service comes to you; we work throughout the Netherlands. All places with their own page are listed under our service area.

Is the water standing in the shower or the toilet overflowing? Call 085 333 4698 for drain unblocking in North Holland. We are available 24/7 and send an engineer as quickly as possible.