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Drainage and ground loss

When a leaking drain is moving your home's footings

A camera survey rules out or confirms a broken pipe before any stabilisation work is priced. Describe what you have noticed and get an assessment without paying a fee or committing to anything.

Describe the cracking Read about surveys first

What happens next

Finding the leak before pricing the repair

A detailed view of a red brick building facade with an arched window under a blue sky.
CCTV drain survey
A specialist feeds a camera through the pipework beneath the home to locate fractures, collapsed sections or displaced joints letting water escape into the surrounding soil.
Soakaway inspection
Where rainwater drains into a pit rather than a mains sewer, the specialist checks whether the soakaway has silted up, collapsed or started saturating the footing trenches.
Ground wash-out assessment
Continuous leaking carries fine particles away from under the foundations. The specialist measures how much support the soil has lost and whether the void is still growing.

Why this matters

Signs that point to a drain defect

Cracks concentrated around one corner of the home, or directly above where the main soil pipe leaves the building, often trace back to a single leaking joint rather than general subsidence.

Puddles that form near the walls after heavy rain, or a permanent damp patch on the ground beside the footings, suggest water is escaping from a buried pipe or gully.

A sudden drop in the floor level near a bathroom or kitchen can mean the waste pipe underneath has fractured and washed the supporting earth out from below the slab.

If doors in one part of the home stick while the rest close freely, the movement may be localised enough to stem from a single defective drain run rather than widespread clay shrinkage.

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Typical costs for drainage and ground work

Every home sits on different soil and every leak damages a different area. Depth of the pipes, length of the affected run and access for machinery all shift where a job lands within these ranges.

  • CCTV drain survey

    £200 to £500

    Number of runs inspected and how far the camera must travel to reach the suspected fault.

  • Excavation and pipe repair

    £1,500 to £5,000

    Depth of the trench, soil conditions and whether the broken section lies under hard landscaping.

  • Resin injection to fill voids

    £2,000 to £8,000

    Volume of lost ground beneath the footings and how many injection points the specialist needs.

  • Underpinning a drained section

    £5,000 to £15,000

    Length of wall affected, depth to stable strata and access restrictions for digging plant.

These figures indicate what work of this type typically costs. Nothing here is a quotation. Only a site inspection settles a figure for one home.

What happens after you send an enquiry

The details go to a specialist firm covering your part of Kent. They read the description, decide which equipment the visit requires and arrange a time to inspect the home.

  1. The same day it is sent

    The enquiry arrives with the relevant specialist firm, who review the description of the cracks and the location of the home.

  2. Usually within two days

    Someone from the firm calls to ask about the history of the movement and agrees a date to bring the camera equipment.

  3. On the arranged date

    The specialist surveys the drains and footings, then explains what they found and what any repair would involve.

Questions about drains and subsidence

Will my insurance cover a drain survey?
Many buildings policies include trace and access cover for locating leaks. The specialist firm can advise on what evidence the insurer will need before authorising the camera work.
Can a small leak really move a house?
Over months, even a slow drip washes fine soil particles out from under shallow footings. The resulting void allows the masonry above to settle and crack.
Do I need underpinning if the drain is fixed?
Sometimes repairing the pipe and filling the void is enough. A structural movement survey determines whether the foundations still need mechanical support once the water source is stopped.
How long does a CCTV survey take?
A camera survey of a standard home drain run usually takes a few hours. Homes with multiple soil stacks or long pipe runs to a distant soakaway take longer to map completely.

Get the drains checked beneath your home

Send a description of the cracking and where it sits relative to bathrooms, kitchens or downpipes. There is no charge for the initial assessment and no obligation to proceed with any work.

  • No fee to enquire
  • Local Kent specialists
  • No obligation to proceed

What you send goes to one independent subsidence specialist for your area, and that specialist may pay this site once your enquiry has been passed on. There is nothing for you to pay us, you are welcome to seek quotations from other firms too, and our privacy notice has more on where your information goes.