Baths and showers block when hair meets soap scum. The mix forms a dense plug in the trap or the waste pipe. Shower trays have shallow traps, so they clog more easily. If water stands around your feet, the plug has grown.
The engineer takes off the cover or waste fitting, while hair and debris near the top often come out by hand. The trap shows how much has built up. This tells the engineer how far down to look.
A flexible snake runs into the waste pipe to break up the plug. A cutting head helps with packed hair and soap. The snake pulls the loose debris back out.
Water flushes the loose debris away. A small jet can scour the pipe walls if soap still remains. This helps the pipe stay clear for longer, since soap no longer coats the walls.
The bath fills and empties, or the shower runs at full flow. The water should leave at an even pace, since a gurgle means a block remains. The engineer also checks for leaks around the waste.
The cost depends on how easy the trap is to reach and how far the plug sits. MyJobQuote gives an average of about £100 for unblocking a domestic drain, while Precise Drainage Solutions gives £80 to £150 for a minor block. These are typical UK ranges, not York quotes, since prices vary by site. Ask for a written quote before work starts, and ask whether there is a call-out charge.
Fit a hair catcher over the plughole, since it stops hair before it enters the pipe. Clear it after each use. A weekly flush with hot water also helps to keep the pipe clean.
Usually, yes. A partial plug in the trap or the pipe slows the flow. Now and then the cause is air that cannot enter the pipe, so an engineer checks both. Either way, the sooner you act, the easier the fix.
It can, when the bath shares a pipe with a basin or toilet. If several fixtures drain slowly at once, the block is likely in the shared or underground pipe, because one trap would not slow them all. That needs a longer reach.
Soap, hair and skin cells rot in the trap and give off a smell, since they stay wet. A dry trap in a shower you rarely use can also let drain smells rise. Run the water for a minute to refill it. If the smell stays, ask an engineer to clean out the pipe.
A gurgle means the shared drain is partly blocked. Air moves through the pipe as the water drains, and it bubbles up in the toilet. Ask an engineer to check the shared pipe, since a full block may follow.