Symptom to cause
Shower drains slowly but clears: hair and soap in the trap. Genuine maintenance, not a fault.
Drains slowly again within weeks: insufficient fall on the waste run, so solids settle instead of being carried away.
Gurgling from the basin when the bath empties: air being drawn through the trap, usually a venting problem on the stack.
Persistent drain smell with free flow: a dried-out or siphoned trap, or a missing seal at the waste connection.
Fixes that last
Re-running the waste with correct fall and fewer tight bends, which usually happens naturally during a refurbishment when the floor is up anyway.
Fitting an air admittance valve where venting is the cause of siphoning and gurgling.
Replacing shallow or non-compliant traps with the correct seal depth for the appliance.
The refurbishment advantage
If a bathroom is being refitted, drainage faults are cheap to correct while everything is exposed and expensive to correct afterwards. We check waste runs as standard at survey rather than reconnecting to a bad arrangement.
Frequently asked questions
Do you do drain clearing as a standalone job?
We deal with internal bathroom waste pipework and traps. Main drain or sewer work outside the property is a drainage specialist's job and we will say so.
Are chemical drain cleaners safe?
Occasional use is generally fine, but repeated use on an underlying pipework fault just delays the real repair and can damage older joints.
Why does the smell come back in summer?
Traps dry out faster in warm weather, especially on rarely used appliances. Running the tap weekly refills the seal.
Can a wet room drain slowly?
Only if the falls were formed badly or the drain body is undersized. Correct fall formation is a core part of how we build wet rooms.
Next step
Booking a refurbishment? We will correct waste falls while the floor is open, at no drama later.
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