Sink Not Draining At All? Emergency Clearing That Restores Flow In One Visit in Shirley
Nothing goes down, so every wash is a juggling act. We locate the obstruction, clear it and leave the sink tested and draining fully.
Booking fee plus hourly labour — the price is confirmed before any work starts.
What this costs
| Booked 14+ days ahead | £25 booking fee £85 per hour |
|---|---|
| Booked within 48 hours | £100 booking fee £65 per hour |
| Same-day call-out | £220 booking fee £45 per hour |
The booking fee secures the visit. Labour is then charged by the hour, so you only pay for the time the job actually takes.
Booking fee £25–£220
£25 + £85/hr booked 14+ days ahead, £100 + £65/hr inside 48 hours, £220 + £45/hr same day. Agreed before we arrive.
Covered under Sinks
Plumbing › Sinks — one of 17 documented jobs in this section.
Same-day sink not draining clearance
Urgent jobs can often be booked for today. Ask when you book and we will confirm the slot before you pay anything.
15 service areas
Birmingham, Coventry, Dorridge and 12 more across the West Midlands.
When a sink stops draining entirely, the household stops with it. Dishes pile up, you cannot wash your hands without bailing water out, and the bowl fills and refills with grey, unpleasant water. A sink that will not drain at all has usually passed the early-warning stage: the obstruction is now solid enough to hold back a full bowl. This is a job to book promptly, because every use risks pushing the blockage deeper or pushing water back out over the edge.
Why Sinks Stop Draining Completely
A total blockage normally builds in stages. Grease, food debris, soap and hair accumulate in the trap and the first section of waste pipe until one final load seals the passage. Less commonly, the cause is sudden: a bottle cap or cup slipped into the waste, a disintegrated component wedged in the trap, or a collapsed section of pipe stopping flow altogether. If the sink was fine one day and filled the next, suspect a dropped object or a mechanical failure rather than a gradual build-up.
Why You Should Not Just Plunge Harder
Vigorous plunging on a sealed bowl does two unhelpful things. It can compact the obstruction further along the pipe where it is harder to reach, and it can blow past the trap seals or push dirty water out through the joints under the sink. Chemical unblockers are little better against a solid plug of waste and leave caustic residue sitting in the trap. If the bowl is completely full, the priority is to stop adding water and get the blockage removed physically.
How We Diagnose It
First we protect the area, then check whether other outlets — a second sink, the bath, the washing machine — also drain slowly, which tells us whether the blockage is local or in a shared branch. We open and inspect the trap, which holds most obstructions, and then test flow beyond it. If water still refuses to move, we work along the waste pipe with the right tool until we find the exact point the flow stops, rather than clearing blindly and hoping.
How We Fix It
We remove the obstruction completely — by hand from the trap, or with an auger from the branch pipe — then flush the whole run so no residue is left to catch again. If we find a dropped object, we retrieve it rather than pushing it on. If a section of pipe has failed, we replace it there and then where the parts allow.
Preventing a Repeat
Once the sink drains again, the habits that matter are simple: no fat or food down the kitchen sink, a strainer over every plug hole, and a weekly hot-water flush. If your blockage was caused by an object or a failed pipe, we will tell you clearly, because those recur unless the underlying fault is corrected.
When to Call a Plumber
Stop DIY and call us if the bowl stays full despite plunging, if water rises in another outlet when you use the sink, or if you hear gurgling from the trap when other taps run. Those are signs of a blockage beyond the trap or in a shared run — exactly the type that needs proper tools.
Book Your Call-Out
A sink that will not drain does not improve with time. Book online or ring us and we will get a plumber out.
How the price works
We charge a booking fee to hold your slot, then an hourly rate for the work itself. The fee changes with how soon you need us; the hourly rate changes with the slot you choose. You approve the price before we start, so there is no surprise on the invoice.
Booked 14+ days ahead
£25 booking fee
then £85 per hour of labour
Best value. Book the slot now, pay the smallest booking fee.
Booked within 48 hours
£100 booking fee
then £65 per hour of labour
For jobs that can wait a day or two but not a fortnight.
Same-day call-out
£220 booking fee
then £45 per hour of labour
Urgent problems: standing water, no heat, no power, leaks.
Book the slot
Choose the window that suits you and pay the booking fee. That holds your place in the diary.
We diagnose on site
The engineer confirms the cause and tells you what the job involves and how long it should take.
You approve, we work
Nothing goes ahead until you agree the price. Labour is then charged per hour at your slot rate.
A sink that will not drain at all needs more than a plunger and patience. The obstruction is usually compacted in the trap or waste pipe, and forcing it deeper makes things worse.
What our customers say about our plumbing service
4.7 out of 5 from 11 reviews
Second time we have used them
What I appreciated was being told what was actually wrong before anyone started. Sorted in under 32 minutes and the invoice matched the quote to the penny.
Job: Loose Pipe Connections Repair
Worth the booking fee
Booked the £220 booking-fee slot on Tuesday and got a message confirming the time the same morning. The cause was explained, the price agreed before any work started, and the job was done in about 75 minutes. Clean and tidy when they left.
Job: Hidden Pipe Leak Repair
Turned up when they said
Turned up in the window they promised, walked me through the options (turns out the part had to be sourced locally), then cracked on. Everything was tested before they left. No mess, no drama, no surprise on the bill.
Job: Central Heating Leak Repair
Book Sink Not Draining Clearance
Tell us what is happening and choose a slot. If you are not sure this is the right job, use the diagnosis panel — it narrows the problem down before you book.
- Booking fee confirmed up front
- Hourly labour, agreed before work starts
- Same-day slots for urgent problems
Questions people ask about sink not draining clearance
Straight answers to the things customers ask most often before booking.
How quickly can you attend a sink that is not draining?
A sink with no drainage at all is treated as a priority. The exact cost is confirmed before any work starts, so there are no surprises on the invoice.
Can I keep using the sink until you arrive?
It is best not to. Every bowl of water risks pushing the blockage deeper or overflowing the bowl. Bail out what you can and use an alternative sink or the bathroom until we have cleared it.
Why is my sink not draining but the pipes under it look fine?
The obstruction is often inside the trap or the branch pipe where you cannot see it. If the trap is clean and the sink still will not drain, the blockage is further along the waste run, which we trace and clear in the same visit.
What if something has fallen down the plug hole?
We will look for it. Small items usually lodge in the trap, where they can be retrieved without damage. We never push objects further along the pipe, as that turns a two-minute retrieval into a bigger job.
Could this damage my cabinets or worktop?
Standing water overflowing a full bowl can soak cabinets and worktop edges over time. That is why a completely blocked sink is worth booking promptly rather than waiting to see if it clears on its own.
Need sink not draining clearance sorted in Shirley?
Book a slot in the diary and pay only the booking fee up front. We confirm the rest before we start.