As the nights draw in and jumpers come out for the autumn season, crispy golden leaves can look pretty, but can become a nuisance when they start to block your drains.

The build-up of fallen leaves in drains affect their ability to carry water away from your property. While this may seem minor, this can result in large blockages that could cause flooding. If left unchecked, blocked drains can create serious damage to your property and can even become a health risk to those who reside there.

You may first be alerted to a blocked drain when it begins to emit bad odours throughout the property, but there may also be unseen leaks. These can cause excess moisture in the home and areas of damp and mould. Wooden floors and wallpaper may become warped or ruined, and any stagnant water may attract unwelcome guests, such as flies and other critters.

Here’s what you can do to prevent this:

• Plan in advance. Reduce build-up by cutting back branches in the summer months or in the early stages of the season, reducing the number of leaves falling into your drains.
• Drain guards cover your drains without affecting water flow. As they are inexpensive and available in a range of shapes and sizes, this is likely to be the most efficient way to keep your drains leaf-free.
• Get stuck in. Grab some bin-liners and gloves, put some old clothes on and clear as much as you can.
• Go specialist. Buy or hire a specialised vacuum which sucks up all your leaves and debris. This is also helpful for pulling any leaves which have already fallen down into the drains.

With simple and regular maintenance, most issues relating to blocked drains are preventable.

However, if left, what may seem a small problem can escalate into a much bigger issue. If your insurer deems the damage to be due to a result of negligence, improper use or lack of maintenance, they may not pay out in the event of a claim.

Home insurance from Towergate

We offer specialist home insurance policies tailored to your needs. Contact our home insurance team today for a quote on 0344 7368 249 or see our home insurance page.

Working from home insurance from Towergate

We also offer property insurance including specific cover for people who are working from home:

• Buildings cover, contents cover and property owner’s liability with a £2 million limit of indemnity available
• Standard office equipment cover up to £3,000 (can be extended)
• Temporary accommodation for you to continue working if your home becomes uninhabitable through an insured accident

Business insurance from Towergate

At Towergate we don’t just offer traditional insurance broking: we believe that prevention is better than cure. That is why we have our own risk management consultancy focusing on pre-loss mitigation and business continuity, and have developed our own business interruption calculator.

We engage actively with insurers and our clients to obtain protection for businesses of all sizes. Our wide range of covers help protect your organisation should the worst happen.

See our range of specialist business insurance or contact your local office.

We are passionate about tackling the unprecedented levels of underinsurance in the UK: watch our video on how to avoid this for your business:

About the author

Mark Brannon Cert CII is a respected industry leader with over 17 years’ industry experience in a variety of roles within the business insurance sector. He works across a wide spectrum of insurance product and policy development, delivery and optimisation for clients, including claims, insurer relationships, marketing and communications, and risk management.