Sewer Repairs in Coventry

Private Drain vs Shared Sewer — Understanding Responsibility

The drain that runs from your property to where it joins a shared run used by neighbouring properties is your private drain — your responsibility to maintain and repair. From the point where two or more private drains join to form a shared run, Severn Trent Water is responsible (since the 2011 transfer of private sewers).

This distinction matters before any repair is quoted. We map the boundary from the CCTV survey and, where needed, the drainage plan for your property. If the fault turns out to be on Severn Trent's section, we'll tell you and explain how to report it to them. We won't carry out repair work on their infrastructure and charge it to you.

Signs Your Sewer Needs Repair

• Sewage surfacing in the garden — water or waste breaking through at ground level above a sewer run is the clearest sign of a breach. It requires urgent attention.
• Multiple fixtures backing up at the same time — if two or more toilets, baths, or sinks drain slowly or back up simultaneously, the blockage or damage is on the shared run downstream of where all those branches meet.
• Persistent foul smell despite no visible blockage — escaping sewage permeates the surrounding soil and produces a smell at surface level that isn't explained by a blocked gully or drain pot.
• Ground subsidence above the sewer line — soil migration into a damaged or collapsed sewer creates voids that show as soft ground, depressions, or in more advanced cases a visible sinkhole.

No-Dig Sewer Repair Options

Where the sewer is cracked, root-damaged, or has a displaced joint but still holds its basic cross-section, no-dig drain relining is usually the most cost-effective repair. A resin-impregnated liner is inserted through an existing access point, inflated against the pipe wall, and cured into a jointless new pipe inside the old one. No excavation, no reinstatement costs, and the job is typically done in a day.

Relining is particularly useful on the older clay and pitch-fibre sewer runs common in Coventry's terrace and post-war estate housing, where Coventry's hard water deposits limescale at joints — accelerating cracking and creating entry points for tree roots from the mature street trees in areas like Earlsdon and Foleshill.

When Excavation Is Necessary

Full collapses — where the pipe bore is gone — cannot be relined; the liner has nothing to press against or cure onto. Severely offset joints where the pipe ends have separated by more than a few millimetres, or access constraints that prevent a liner being fed through the run, also require excavation. In these situations we carry out targeted excavation to the damaged section only, replace or patch the pipe, backfill and compact properly, and reinstate the surface. For more detail on the process, see our collapsed drain repair page.

Sewage at Ground Level — Treat It as an Emergency

Sewage surfacing in a garden or breaking into a property is a public health risk. Untreated sewage contains pathogens that pose a risk to people and pets, and it is an environmental offence if it reaches a watercourse. We treat sewage-at-surface calls as emergencies. Call us immediately if you have sewage visible at ground level or backing up inside the property — for blocked sewer callouts, see our blocked sewer service.