Blocked Drains

[wilksj01]

Help!

I have two gutters in my yard and they have both began to overflow. This occurred recently when our plumber left the plasterboard in the garden whilst he was ripping out the shower. It rained heavily and some of the plaster ended up in the gutter. Anyway, they have now begun to overflow anytime it rains heavily or I use the washer etc.

I called out a local company who plunged the grids then used a jet wash which cleared things up a bit, they also removed any of the gunk sitting in the grid, however they have said they think there may be a blockage further down the yard which means digging it up to get to it.

I've contacted my insurance company who say they will not pay out as it is not classed as accidental damage.

Has anyone had any experience with unblocking external drains and/or what effect plasterboard has down their also if there is anything I can put down there that may dissolve the plasterboard?

Any help would be appreciated.

[kalniel]

Wouldn't water dissolve plasterboard?

[Webby]

If it connects to the sewer (which if it overflows when you have a shower) it probably does then ring the water board and get them to come out and clean it for you after all if it connects to the sewer it is their pipe not yours!

[merdat]

The water board will clear out the' buchan trap ' ( big ubend before it goes into street sewer). Had this done quite a few times as the trap kept blocking. If it is before the trap then you will need to get some rods ( B&Q) and if you can't clear the blockage with them then you will have to dig down to see what is causing the obstruction. Other way of achieving this is to use a fibre optic cable with an inspection camera on the end to find the obstruction, various firms have these.