How To Clear Blocked Downpipes Site

He straightened the coat hanger and shoved it up the pipe. Scrape. Thud. Something shifted. He pulled it out. On the end was a black, tar-like slug the size of a gerbil. He flicked it into the bucket. It landed with the sound of a wet sponge hitting concrete.

Not metaphorically. Yellow-brown water was actually trickling down from the ceiling light fitting, dripping onto his prize-winning marrows with a sad, rhythmic plink . The culprit was obvious: the downpipe outside. It was gurgling like a dying walrus every time a cloud passed over. how to clear blocked downpipes

Arthur put on his ear muffs and tapped the downpipe. It sounded solid. Too solid. He removed the top strainer (a rusted metal flower that hadn’t stopped a leaf since 1987). He peered inside. It was not a pipe anymore. It was a time capsule of decay: a sludge-smoothie of moss, roof grit, and one extremely suicidal tennis ball. He straightened the coat hanger and shoved it up the pipe

Arthur had two choices: call a plumber (who charged £300 just to look at a pipe) or watch his house dissolve into a puddle. He chose a third, stupider option: Something shifted

Defeated, Arthur went inside and called his neighbour, Gladys, a 78-year-old former plumber who used to fix boilers during the miners' strike. She arrived in slippers and a raincoat.