Blocked Toilets, Sinks & Urinals

A blocked toilet, blocked sink, or blocked urinal can escalate quickly, from bad smells and slow drainage to overflows, hygiene risks, and disruption for staff, customers, tenants, or guests.

ICE Drainage provides rapid, professional emergency drain unblocking for residential and commercial properties across London and the Home Counties, with strong experience supporting hospitality sites where downtime isn't an option.

Acting quickly can make all the difference

Small symptoms often turn into bigger problems when left untreated. A partial blockage can become a complete stoppage, leading to toilets overflowing and contaminated water spreading, sinks backing up into kitchens, bathrooms, or staff areas, urinals overflowing and causing odour and hygiene issues, water damage to floors, walls, and fixtures, and site disruption, complaints, and potential closure on commercial sites.

If you have any signs of a blockage, it's usually quicker, cleaner, and cheaper to deal with it early.

Common signs of a blocked toilet, sink, or urinal

Not sure if you need a call-out? These are the most common warning signs: slow-draining water in sinks or basins, gurgling sounds from plugholes or toilets, bad smells coming from drains, water level rising in the toilet bowl after flushing, repeated clogs in the same toilet or sink, overflowing urinals or persistent pooling around the base, and multiple fixtures backing up at once, which often points to a deeper drainage issue.

If more than one toilet, sink, or urinal is affected, the problem may be in the main line rather than the individual fixture, and it's best to get it properly assessed.

Why do toilets, sinks, and urinals get blocked?

Blockages can be caused by everyday use, poor disposal habits, or an underlying drainage defect.

Blocked toilets are commonly caused by wet wipes, sanitary products, nappies, and cotton buds, excess toilet paper or other non-flushable items, limescale build-up restricting flow, and foreign objects such as children's toys or air fresheners.

Blocked sinks are commonly caused by grease, fat, and food waste, especially in kitchen sinks, soap scum and hair build-up, coffee grounds and sediment, and poor pipe gradients or old pipework.

Blocked urinals are commonly caused by urinal scale from limescale and mineral build-up, debris and foreign objects, poor maintenance schedules in high-traffic washrooms, and restricted pipework or failing traps.

If you're experiencing repeat blockages, it's a sign the root cause hasn't been resolved. We can help you get to the bottom of it.

Our unblocking process

Every site is different, but our approach is consistent: diagnose properly, clear the blockage safely, and reduce the risk of it coming back.

Our unblocking service typically includes an initial assessment to identify which fixtures are affected and whether the issue is local or in the main drainage run, safe access and containment to protect the area and manage hygiene risks, especially in kitchens, customer toilets, and staff welfare areas, clearing the blockage using the right method for the situation to restore flow quickly and minimise mess, a flush-through and functional test to confirm normal drainage has been restored, and advice on what caused the blockage and how to prevent it happening again. If there are signs of a deeper issue, such as recurring blockages or multiple fixtures affected, we'll recommend the next best step.

Blocked toilets, sinks, and urinals for hospitality and commercial sites

For hospitality and commercial sites, washroom and kitchen drainage issues can become urgent fast, affecting customer experience, staff welfare, and compliance.

We regularly support restaurants and commercial kitchens, hotels and serviced apartments, pubs and bars, office buildings and retail units, schools, public buildings, and managed estates, and facilities managers and multi-site operators.

If you're managing multiple locations, ask us about planned preventative maintenance to reduce emergency call-outs and keep drainage systems reliable.

Preventing blockages

A few practical habits can reduce the likelihood of blockages.

For toilets, only flush the three Ps: pee, poo, and paper, never flush wipes, even ones labelled flushable, sanitary products, or cotton buds, and consider signage in commercial washrooms to reduce misuse.

For sinks, avoid pouring fats, oils, and grease down the drain, use strainers to catch food debris, and run hot water after use where appropriate.

For urinals, schedule regular maintenance to prevent scale build-up, and address slow draining early before it becomes a full blockage.

If your site has frequent issues, we can recommend a maintenance plan tailored to your usage and risk profile.

Why choose ICE Drainage?

• Rapid emergency response across London and the Home Counties
• Hospitality-first experience, so we understand downtime
• Competitive pricing and practical solutions
• Qualified, safety-led engineers working to industry standards
• Credentials including Safe Contractor, SSSTS, and Constructionline Gold

ICE Drainage is a specialist service expansion of ICE Cleaning, a leading sewage cleaning company in the UK.

What to do right now

If you're dealing with a blockage right now:

• Stop using the affected toilet, sink, or urinal to prevent overflow
• Keep people away from contaminated water if there's been a back-up
• If it's safe to do so, take photos for your records or insurance
• Call ICE Drainage for urgent assistance

Avoid using harsh chemicals in large quantities. They can be hazardous and may not solve the underlying issue.

Get a free quote

Need urgent help with a blocked toilet, blocked sink, or blocked urinal? Contact ICE Drainage and we'll get you booked in as quickly as possible. In many cases, we can provide an initial quote from a few photos and a short description of what's happening.

We cover London and the Home Counties, with support from our wider UK capability for urgent situations.