Blocked Downpipes & Overflowing Gutters

Of all the calls we get across Eastbourne and Polegate, a blocked downpipe is probably the most urgent-feeling and the least understood. It looks like the downpipe's problem, but the actual blockage is very often sitting higher up, in the gutter itself or right at the point where the two meet — the downpipe's just where the symptom shows up first.

What Usually Causes It

• Leaves and grit washed down from the gutter above, settling at a bend where the pipe narrows
• Bird nesting material, especially through spring, wedged in an outlet
• Debris blown across from the Downs during a rough autumn or winter
• A pipe that's been knocked or crushed at some point and never quite drains right since

What Happens If It's Ignored

We get called out across the Eastbourne area to properties where a downpipe's been backing up for months without anyone quite noticing, and by the time we arrive there's damp needing redecoration, plaster starting to blow, or a section of fascia that's gone soft and needs replacing. In a few cases the guttering itself has partly given way under the weight of trapped water. None of that needs to happen — it's usually a twenty-minute fix caught early.

How We Sort It

We clear the gutter run first with a vacuum system, then work down through the downpipe to shift whatever's blocking it and confirm water's actually reaching the drain at the bottom, not just disappearing somewhere along the way. On a repeat blockage or an older cast-iron system, we can run a camera through the pipe to see exactly where the problem sits before recommending anything further.