24/7 emergency drainage

0330 133 1625
AVAILABLE NOW · Emergency drain engineers · Call for a fast response
Call Now

Drain Repairs & Relining in Dorchester

Repairing damaged runs — in many cases without digging up the ground above them.

Call 0330 133 1625 Request a quote

When does a drain need repairing, not just clearing?

A drain needs repairing when the pipe itself is damaged: it keeps blocking in the same place, leaks into the ground, lets roots in, or has partly collapsed.

The signs tend to build slowly:

  • Blockages that return to the same spot after every clear
  • A drain smell outside with no blockage to explain it
  • Damp patches low on a wall beside a drain run
  • A sunken patch of lawn, a dip in paving or a cracked path along the line of the pipe
  • Rats in the garden or the house
  • Gurgling and slow drainage that never quite goes away

Clearing restores flow. If the pipe is broken, flow is all it restores, and the next blockage is already forming at the break.

What causes drains to crack, break and collapse?

Most drain damage comes from age, roots, ground movement, heavy loads on the surface, or earlier building work disturbing the pipe.

Clay pipes and mortar joints become brittle over decades. Roots find a hairline gap at a joint and widen it as they grow. Ground that shrinks and swells with the seasons moves the pipe with it. Vehicles on a drive laid over a shallow pipe can crack it. Extensions, fence posts and new services get dug in beside existing runs, and the pipe is sometimes damaged without anyone noticing. Pitch fibre pipe, common in homes from the post-war decades, can deform under the weight of the soil above it. Once a pipe leaks, water washing soil away from around it speeds up the damage.

What is drain relining and how does it work?

Drain relining is repairing a damaged pipe from the inside by installing a resin-soaked liner that hardens in place, forming a new pipe within the old one.

The method is known as cured-in-place pipe, or CIPP. The run is cleaned first, so the liner bonds to a sound surface. A flexible tube soaked in resin is fed in from an access point, then inflated so it presses against the old pipe wall. Once the resin cures, the liner is rigid and continuous, sealing cracks and open joints along its length. Branch connections are reopened from inside with a cutter. Nothing above the pipe has to be lifted, and avoiding the dig and the reinstatement is often where most of the saving lies.

Patch repair or full relining?

A patch repair lines a short section around a single defect; a full reline lines the whole run between two access points. Which one you need depends on how many defects there are and how far apart.

A patch suits one cracked pipe, one open joint or one point of root entry in an otherwise sound run. It is quicker and costs less. A full reline suits a run with several defects, general deterioration along its length, or joints that are all starting to fail. Patching every fault separately on a run like that often costs more than lining the lot, and leaves the joints in between to fail next. The survey footage usually makes the choice obvious, and we show you why we have recommended one over the other.

When digging is the honest answer

Lining is not suitable when a section has fully collapsed, a pipe has lost its shape badly, joints have shifted so far out of line that a liner cannot pass, or the fall is wrong.

A liner follows the pipe it sits in. If that pipe has a sag, the liner has a sag too, and the low point keeps collecting waste. If the pipe has caved in, there is nothing for a liner to go through. In those cases the damaged length has to be excavated and replaced, and we will tell you so rather than line a pipe that cannot hold a liner's shape. Where only one section is beyond lining, the rest of the run can often still be lined, so excavation is kept to the smallest area possible.

How we repair a drain, step by step

Every drain repair we carry out in Dorchester starts and ends with a camera: the run is surveyed to specify the repair, and surveyed again afterwards to prove it worked.

  • We survey the run and show you the footage, marking where each defect is.
  • We recommend a repair, explain why and agree a fixed price before starting.
  • The pipe is cleaned and any roots or deposits are cut back to the wall.
  • Damaged pipe is lined, patched or excavated and replaced, depending on what the survey showed.
  • Branch connections are reopened and the run is tested with water.
  • A second survey records the finished repair, and you get both recordings.

If something unexpected turns up partway through, work pauses until you have seen it and agreed what happens next. You should never have to take a repair on trust.

How long does a drain repair take?

A single patch repair is usually completed in one visit, often within a few hours; a full reline of a typical domestic run is commonly done within a day.

Longer runs, several separate sections, heavy root cutting or difficult access add time. So does curing: the liner must be left to harden before water goes back through it, and the time depends on the resin and curing method. Excavation takes longest, because the ground has to be opened, the pipe replaced, backfilled and the surface put back. Where a repair will run over more than a day, we tell you beforehand which fittings will be out of use and for how long.

How long does a relined drain last?

A properly installed liner is designed to last for decades, and it removes the joints that roots and leaks exploit, so a relined pipe usually outlasts the clay pipe it sits inside.

Its life in practice depends on the condition of the host pipe, how well the run was cleaned before lining and what goes down the drain afterwards. A liner is not immune to abuse: heavy fat build-up and repeated aggressive jetting will shorten its life like any pipe. The after-survey matters here too. It is your record of the finished repair, and a reference point if anyone ever needs to check the run again in future years.

How much does drain repair or relining cost?

The cost of a drain repair depends on the type of repair, the length of pipe affected, the pipe diameter, the depth and the access. As a guide, a patch repair to a single localised crack usually costs £200 to £400, and relining a typical house drain run £500 to £1,500, which works out at roughly £70 to £150 per metre depending on the pipe diameter and access. A fixed price is settled with you before work begins.

The main factors:

  • Patch repair, full reline or excavation
  • How many metres need lining, and how many separate defects
  • Pipe diameter and the number of branch connections to reopen
  • Depth, and what the surface above is made of if digging is needed
  • Root cutting or descaling needed before lining

Lining is priced largely by length, so a single patch costs far less than a full run. If the job changes once work is under way, we stop and agree the new price before continuing.

Who is responsible for repairing a drain?

Repairs to pipework used only by your home, inside your boundary, are your responsibility; shared drains and public sewers are normally the water company's to repair.

Since 1 October 2011 the water companies in England and Wales have owned shared private sewers and the lateral drains running from a property boundary to the sewer. For homes in Dorchester that is Wessex Water, who should repair a defect in those pipes at no charge to you. The survey footage is usually what proves where a defect sits. Manhole covers and chambers on your land that serve only your property are yours. In a rented home, repairing the drains normally falls to the landlord. If the defect turns out to be on the water company's side, we say so before any money changes hands.

Is drain damage covered by home insurance?

Some buildings policies cover accidental damage to underground pipes, but many exclude wear and tear and gradual deterioration, so cover depends on your policy and on what caused the damage.

A pipe broken by a vehicle or by a sudden collapse is more likely to be accepted than one that has cracked slowly with age. Roots are treated differently from one insurer to the next. Before agreeing a claim, an insurer will usually want to see what failed and why, and a verbal description is worth little at that point. Survey footage is the evidence they ask for. Call your insurer before repair work starts, as some want to appoint their own contractor or see the damage first.

What to do while you wait for a drain repair

Use as little water as you reasonably can, keep children and pets away from any escaping waste, and call straight away if sewage is backing up inside.

A collapsed or badly broken drain should not be left for long. Waste escaping into the ground softens it, washes soil away from around the pipe and can work towards foundations, and every flush adds to it. Do not try to dig down to the pipe yourself, or push rods hard into a run you suspect has collapsed, as both can make the damage worse. It is safe and useful to lift a light chamber cover and note whether the water is standing or moving. If waste is surfacing in the garden or coming up indoors, treat it as urgent and call 0330 133 1625.

Stopping the same fault coming back

A repaired drain stays sound when the cause of the damage is dealt with as well as the damage itself.

  • Where roots caused it, line the whole affected length rather than just the worst joint, and think twice before planting trees near the line of the run.
  • Where a drive is laid over a shallow pipe, check the pipe is protected before heavy vehicles use it.
  • Before any building work, find out where the drains run so they are not damaged or built over without agreement.
  • Keep fat, wipes and building waste out of the drain.

If a drain has been repaired once, a camera check a few years on is a sensible way to confirm the rest of the run is holding up.

Covering Dorchester & the local area

We provide repairs & relining throughout Charminster, Martinstown, Crossways, Puddletown, Broadmayne, Poundbury and the surrounding area. Call 0330 133 1625 for a free, no-obligation quote.

How it works

Simple, transparent process

  1. 1

    Tell us what’s happening

    Call and describe what you’re seeing — a slow sink, a gurgle, a smell or standing water. It usually tells us a lot before we arrive.

  2. 2

    We find the cause

    We clear enough to get flow back, then work out why it blocked — because a drain that blocks twice has a reason.

  3. 3

    A price before the work

    If it needs more than a clear — a repair, a lining, a survey — you get the price and the reason before we start it.

  4. 4

    You see the evidence

    Where we survey, you get the footage. Where we repair, you see the before and after.

Don't let it get worse

Get expert help right now

Tell us what the drain is doing and we will explain what is likely causing it and what the work involves.

Call 24/70330 133 1625

Other services

Emergency Unblocking

A drain that has stopped completely, water backing up or sewage escaping — the jobs that cannot wait until Monday.

Learn more

Blocked Sinks

Kitchen sinks, basins, baths and showers draining slowly or not at all.

Learn more

Drain Cleaning

Clearing build-up before it becomes a blockage — for properties that keep having the same problem.

Learn more

Repairs & Relining: common questions

Will I have to dig up my garden or patio for a drain repair?
Often not. Where the pipe still holds its shape, lining is done entirely through existing access points, and the surface stays untouched. Digging is needed only where a section has collapsed or lost its shape. If that is the case, we agree beforehand exactly what will be lifted and how the surface will be put back, so you know what to expect before any ground is opened.
Is relining better than digging up and replacing the pipe?
Where the pipe is suitable, relining is usually quicker, less disruptive and cheaper, because the ground above is left alone, and it removes the joints that let roots and leaks in. Replacement is better where a section has collapsed, has a sag or has shifted badly, because a liner copies the shape of the pipe around it. Many repairs use both: lining most of a run and replacing one short section.
Does relining make the pipe smaller?
Slightly. The liner adds a thin wall inside the old pipe, so the internal diameter is reduced by a few millimetres. In practice flow is rarely affected, because the liner is smooth and joint-free, while the old pipe had rough joints and lips where waste could catch. For a standard domestic drain the difference is not something you would notice in use.
Can pitch fibre pipes be relined?
Often, yes. Pitch fibre that has blistered or lost some of its shape can usually be re-rounded with a specialist tool and then lined, which gives it a rigid new wall. Where the pipe has deformed too far, delaminated badly or collapsed, that section needs replacing instead. A camera survey is the only reliable way to tell which applies to your run, as condition can vary from one length to the next.
Will relining stop tree roots getting back into my drain?
Yes, for the length that is lined. Roots get in through joints and cracks, and a liner forms one continuous wall with no joints for them to exploit. The roots already inside are cut out first. Roots can still enter an unlined section further along the run, which is why we look at the whole length on camera before deciding how much of it to line.
Do I need to be in while you reline the drain?
Someone needs to be available to give access and to agree the work before it starts. During lining and curing, no water can go into that run, so nobody should use the sinks, baths, toilets or appliances that drain into it until we say so. If you are not able to stay in, we can talk through the timing in advance so you know when the drains are back in use.
Can a collapsed drain cause subsidence?
It can contribute to it. A broken drain leaking for a long time can wash fine soil away from under a foundation or soften the ground it sits on, and insurers investigating subsidence often check the drains for that reason. Not every crack in a wall is caused by drains. If you have both cracking and a suspected drain defect, a camera survey shows whether the drain is part of the picture.
Can a broken drain cause damp in the house?
Yes. A drain leaking close to the house can keep the ground saturated against the wall, which shows as damp low down, often near where a drain run or gully meets the building. It is easy to blame on rising damp or a gutter. If damp sits beside a drain run and the drain has a history of trouble, check the drain before paying for damp treatment.
Can I still use the toilet if my drain has collapsed?
Use it as little as possible. If waste is still getting through, an occasional flush may be manageable for a short time, but every use sends more water into the ground at the break. If the toilet is slow to empty, the bath is backing up, or a chamber outside is filling, stop using water altogether and call, because the next flush can bring waste up inside.
Does a collapsed drain always smell?
No. A collapse well below ground or under a building can leak for a long time without any smell reaching the surface, especially in soil that absorbs the waste. Smell is more likely when the break is shallow, near a chamber or close to an airbrick. So the absence of a smell is no reason to rule out a broken drain if there are other signs, such as repeat blockages or subsidence.
Can a broken manhole cover be replaced on its own?
Yes. A cracked, rocking or missing manhole cover can be replaced without any other work, as long as the frame is sound. If the frame has come loose or the top of the chamber is crumbling, it needs rebedding first, or a new cover will rock again. A broken cover over a deep chamber is a trip and fall risk, so keep people away from it until it is fixed.