Water rising up into shower 1 week after shower drain block "resolved" by recommended company

ChrisM78

I've had issues with water rising up into my shower if water in the kitchen or bathroom sink runs for a few weeks. I had this issue 3 years ago and a plumber got a company to come out with a motorised snake to clear it, solving the issue in about 5 minutes. 

Unfortunately I didn't keep the number of that company, but mentioned the issue to another plumber, who recommended a company. 7 days ago, they came out - they didn't seem to have a motorised snake but had some other equipment including something with a hoover attachment (!), dealing only with the pipes etc. by the kitchen sink. Two people showed up, they spent about 20 minutes at my property and seemed pretty keen to get it done ASAP, presumably to go to another appointment, often looking at the time on their phones. I mentioned that dirty water was still rising up a bit in the shower, they ran hot water from the shower and said that it would break down. I ran water for a while from both sinks one at a time - all seemed OK but I wasn't impressed with their apparent keenness to go as soon as they could - it just felt like the problem hadn't been fully solved. 

Here I am a week later - whilst water running from the kitchen sink doesn't lead to any issues, I ran water from the bathroom sink for about 30 seconds and it rose up into the shower with a small bit of black gunge. Doing this subsequently led to it not quite rising up into the shower, but being very close to. It's safe to say that this problem is not sorted, right? Or am I expecting too much considering that I'd rarely have water running that long in the bathroom sink...

Just to add that I live on my own and have been very careful about any food going down the kitchen sink particularly since last Monday. Incidentally, I had to pay 100% upfront to secure the booking which I was not happy about - but went along with it what with the company coming recommended...

WIAWSNB

Hi Chris.
Hopefully you have receipts for the work?
I agree that it appears they didn't sort it correctly.
It would help for us to understand the plumbing layout in your property, but it appears as tho' the main blockage is beyond the shower, so that causes the waste from the sink and basin to 'back up' to the lower level shower waste.
So, if they tried to unblock just the sink's waste, there's a good chance they didn't go far enough.
The company that did the 'snake', can you recall where they inserted this for it to work?
Any chance you have a floorplan of your place, say from old sales particulars? And you could add where the shower and sink are located, and ideally where they lead to - do you know what a 'soil stack' is? Is there one on an outside wall of your house?
All this info isn't strictly necessary - you paid them to do a job they didn't complete, so can legitimately ask them to come back and do so, ideally at no extra cost (unless the original charge was commensurate with just a simple 'unblocking'). If they fail to do so, then you get a different company, ask them to do the job, and also explain what they found the cause to be. With that, you sue the first co for the cost, using MoneyClaim.org, and also leave them accurate reviews.
Do you have Legal Protection included in your insurance policy?
Anyhoo, if you could do even a basic sketch to show the layout, and the soil stack, then we should be able to indicate the most likely area of the blockage, and hence whether they did a proper job.
You did explain that waste water came up the shower trap?

ButterCheese

I can't comment on what legal recourse you should persue, but I would contact someone like dyno-rod rather than a plumber.  They have all the kit (cameras, high pressure jets) to do the job properly.  You probably have a larger blockage somewhere between your actual sinks and the main dirty water outlet.  This makes all the water run out slowly, and partially backs up to your sink, where grease, hair or bits of food settle and makes the problem worse.

This happened with our downstairs shower which overflowed every time it rained heavily.  We had 2 flooded bedrooms and 1 ruined carpet before we actually got the right people to do the job

ChrisM78

Thanks for the replies so far. I actually just tried running cold water from the kitchen sink (was only running hot water before) and after 30 seconds or so, the water rises up into the shower - so that's both sinks leading to this.

After the plumbers left, being slightly dubious, I ran water in both sinks and the water from the shower drain was nearly at the point of rising over. 

WIAWSNB

The company that did the 'snake', can you recall where they inserted this for it to work?

Any chance you have a floorplan of your place, say from old sales particulars? And you could add where the shower and sink are located, and ideally where they lead to - do you know what a 'soil stack' is? Is there one on an outside wall of your house?

If you could do even a basic sketch to show the layout, and the soil stack, then we should be able to indicate the most likely area of the blockage, and hence whether they did a proper job.