If your drains are blocking repeatedly, you've got a slow-running sink you can't explain, or you're buying a property in GL20 and want to know what's under the ground before you commit, a CCTV drain survey is the quickest way to get a clear answer.
We push a camera through your drainage system, record everything, and tell you exactly what we find. Not a rough guess. A precise location, a description of the fault, and footage you can watch yourself.
No digging. No assumption. Just a clear picture of what's happening underground.
What a CCTV Survey Actually Involves
The camera travels the full length of the drain, sending live footage back to a monitor above ground. Our engineer watches in real time and logs anything that needs attention: crack locations, root ingress, displaced joints, collapsed sections, or areas where silt has built up enough to cause a restriction.
Every job gets a written report. That includes:
- The location of any fault, measured from a fixed reference point so a repair team can find it first time
- Still images taken directly from the footage
- A description of the defect and how serious it is
- Recommendations for what, if anything, needs to happen next
If the survey finds nothing wrong, that goes in the report too. You leave with documented evidence either way.
When You Actually Need One
Not every drainage problem needs a camera survey first. A blockage will often get cleared faster with high-pressure jetting. But a CCTV survey makes sense in a few specific situations.
Recurring blockages. If the same drain blocks every few months after it's been cleared, there's usually a reason. A partial collapse, a bellied pipe holding standing water, or a joint that's pulled apart just enough to catch debris. Jetting fixes the symptom. A camera finds the cause.
Before buying a property. Drainage isn't covered in a standard homebuyer survey. If you're buying anywhere from Priors Park to Twyning, from Northway to a cottage near Deerhurst, you don't automatically know the condition of the drains. A pre-purchase CCTV survey gives you documented evidence to act on, whether that's renegotiating on price or simply confirming the system is in good order.
Insurance or subsidence concerns. Leaking drains can erode the ground around foundations over years. If your insurer is asking questions, or you've noticed settlement in an older property, a survey with a written report gives you documented evidence of the drain's condition.
After a repair. Once a repair's been completed, a post-repair survey confirms the work has been done correctly and the pipe is running clear. Remedial work we carry out comes with a 20-year guarantee, and a survey record supports that.
What Faults Show Up on Camera
The drains under Tewkesbury's older streets and estates throw up a predictable set of problems. Clay pipes laid decades ago in areas like Mitton and the older parts of Newtown tend to crack or suffer root ingress from nearby trees. PVC systems on newer builds in Wheatpieces or Ashchurch hold up better structurally, but displaced joints from ground movement are common.
Faults we find regularly:
- Root intrusion, sometimes a fine mesh of roots, sometimes a solid mass blocking half the pipe
- Cracked or fractured pipes, ranging from hairline to full collapse
- Displaced or open joints, especially where ground has shifted over time
- Pipe deformation or bellying, where a low point holds standing water and catches solids
- Incorrectly connected pipework, including surface water draining into foul sewers
- Debris accumulation that keeps returning after jetting because a structural fault is trapping it
The table below shows what we typically recommend once a fault is identified. Where a debris blockage is involved, jetting is a separate job carried out before or after the survey depending on what you need first. The survey tells you what's there; jetting deals with the material.
| Fault type | Typical cause | Usual next step |
|---|---|---|
| Root ingress | Tree roots near older clay pipes | Root cutting, then assess for relining |
| Cracked pipe | Ground movement, age, heavy vehicle load | Patch repair or full relining |
| Displaced joint | Settlement, poorly bedded installation | Localised excavation or no-dig repair |
| Pipe belly | Poor original fall, ground subsidence | Relining or re-laying the affected section |
| Debris build-up | Grease, silt, wipes accumulation | High-pressure jetting as a separate callout |
If we find something that needs repair, we'll tell you what it is and what the options are. Work is priced individually and agreed with you before anything starts.
How Long It Takes
A survey of a standard residential drainage run typically takes around 45 minutes to an hour on site, though larger systems, commercial premises, or properties with multiple drainage runs will take longer. The written report follows in most cases the same day.
For pre-purchase surveys, we can often turn a job around quickly if you're working to a conveyancing deadline. Worth mentioning when you call so we can plan accordingly.
CCTV surveys are booked appointments rather than emergency dispatches. If you've got an active blockage causing an overflow right now, call us and we'll talk through whether jetting should come first.
Where We Work in Tewkesbury
We cover all of GL20 and the surrounding area. Survey work comes up regularly in Walton Cardiff, Bishop's Cleeve, Tewkesbury Park, Southwick, and Winchcombe, as well as villages including Bredon, Tredington, Bushley, and Beckford. Older housing in The Mythe and Mitton tends to have clay drainage that's worth surveying before you buy or before committing to any repair work. Newer estates in Wheatpieces and Northway are less prone to structural faults but not immune to them.
If you're not sure whether your postcode is covered, call and ask.
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Engineers are available across GL20. The price for your survey is agreed on the phone before we start, and there's no call-out fee. Call us on 01684 211756 to book or to talk through what you're seeing with your drains.