What to Do if Your Outside Drain is Blocked With Mud

Need help clearing blocked drains? Call us on 0800 161 864 today!

If your outside drain gully is clogged with mud, you can try these things to clear it.

First, remove any leaves and debris

You can try to clear the blockage yourself. If the blockage is not too solid, you can remove the gully cover and scoop out the mud, wearing gloves with your hands,or a trowel. If the mud is too stiff, you can use a  sturdy old drain rod to loosen the mud.

❌ If you’re not able to clear the blockage yourself, you can call a professional drainage company to help you. They have the tools and equipment to clear any type of blockage.

❌ Not wearing the right protective equipment may result in injury or disease.

❌ If you are an office worker or in a squeaky-clean environment most of the time, one of the hazards will definitely be picking up a disease, as you may have little or no immunity.

Beware of disease and infection

Whilst using rods, even though wearing gloves, do not touch your nose, your lips, or rub your eyes.

Do not try to unblock your drain if you have a slight cut on your finger or grazed your shins and it’s still shiny red; no open wounds, as that’s how diseases can enter your body.

Remember to wear protective gear when working on a blocked drain to avoid getting sick.

Quick Guide to Unblocking Drains

If you have a drain rod or plunger, you might be able to clear an outside drain with the plunger on the end of the rod once the mud is broken up. Alternatively, use rods without a plunger, then flush the rest through with water to clear the mud-blocked drain.

If these methods don’t work, it might be that your drain has root ingress (roots have grown through the pipes, causing paper and solids to collect and form a blockage). Or it might be damaged in some way (if it’s cracked, it might have partially collapsed and need fixing, or, in extreme cases, it might need to be dug up and replaced). It’s probably helpful to mention that in our experience, most blocked drains are simple and can be cleared within half an hour.

If your drain is leading to a surface water soakaway, flushing more mud into the system won’t solve the problem, and you really should call a professional.

Note: Putting chemicals down a surface water soakaway will or can damage the land.

When to call the professionals

The methods listed above can be effective for cleaning outside drains blocked by soil, silt, or mud, but that doesn’t mean they’ll always work.

Sometimes the problem is too far down the drain for home methods to be completely effective, or you might not have the right tools to clear the blockage.

Any of these can result in the blockage not being cleared or being pushed further along your drains. The latter of these could even damage your pipes, including causing water to run down the drain. This will result in a bigger mess for you to clean up and a bigger bill to pay to have the pipe cleaned, repaired, or even replaced.

To avoid this, we recommend that you contact a professional drainage company to take care of your blocked outdoor drains from the start.

Professional services to unblock muddy drains

At ASL Limited, we have over 40 years’ experience cleaning a wide variety of drains across Surrey, Berkshire, Hampshire, Sussex and SW London, each with its own individual problems. We have seen many outside drains blocked by mud and soil, so we know we have the right solution to get your water flowing again, too. 

Our most successful methods of clearing blocked drains include:

• Drain rodding,
• Wet vac,
• Drain jetting,
• Industrial waste suction tankers (in extreme commercial cases).

Our drainage engineers are highly trained, dedicated to their profession, and fully qualified to clear the mud from your outside drain.

Our methods in more detail

Drain Rodding

Even if you can carry out this method at home, our professional experience will most likely enable us to clear the drain successfully or know when to stop without causing damage to the drain or soakaway. This will usually be the first method we attempt for an outside drain blocked with mud, but if the problem requires a more thorough solution, we will provide it.

Wet Vac

This involves using a high-powered vacuum cleaner to suck debris out of your blocked drains, clearing the problem entirely. To find out more about this method of cleaning your blocked drains, contact us today. Our friendly staff will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Drain Jetting

If it is discovered that your drains need to be thoroughly cleaned, we may decide to use a high-powered jet of water to clear them out. This service is powerful enough to travel around bends and even break up tree roots if this is also required. Even if your outside drain is blocked with mud deep into your drain, our drain jetting service will be able to clear most blockages.

This method of cleaning out a drain blocked with soil is best carried out by someone who is trained, using only the proper equipment. Get in touch with us if you would like to book this service for your drains.

Industrial waste suction tankers

If your drain is completely backed up, to prevent flushing more mud down the drain, the most effective solution would be to remove the blockage with a waste suction tanker whilst jetting the blockage free. This is where ASL Limited as a medium-sized company are able to deal with any blockage because we have all the equipment to handle this kind of problem.

Contact us to clear your blocked drain

If you have been having trouble with an outside drain blocked by mud, either before or after attempting home methods to clear it, call ASL Limited. We are passionate about what we do and will do everything we can to get your blocked drains working properly again.
 
See if we cover your area using the postcode checker and then call us on 0800 161 864 or fill in the contact form on this page and let us help.