Drains blocking with dead leaves

Hi all.

Has anyone got any tips on how to stop old leaves gathering in the drains and blocking them? I'm forever poking the drains with a stick, or putting my hands in gross slimely old leaves that have a good coating of grossness.

I don't mean the actual pipes, just the drain tops if that makes sense. I've tried putting a few bricks over the top so water is unrestricted but leaves etc are stopped, but that seems to be a futile effort.

Its not that I'm afraid of gross jobs, its just that if it happens before I spot it, then water builds up on the floor and is rotting the mortar at the bottom of the back wall.

 

Maybe a sheet of lead over the top of the drain?

Water will percolate under the sheet and the weight of the lead stops it blowing away.

 

You could try one of these Dave or make your own out of Chicken mesh.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/78832/Plumbing/Black-Ogee-Rainwater-Guttering/Drain-Guard-Black-305-x-330mm?cm_mmc=Shopping.com-_-Plumbing-_-Black%20Ogee%20Rainwater%20Guttering-_-Drain%20Guard%20Black%20305%20x%20330mm&source=aw

The leaves are more of a problem this year i've noticed. The snow just deep froze them. Most are normally rotted away by now or pulled under by the worms.

 

You sure they aren't coming down the downpipe? mine do. My downpipes go straight into the trap, bypassing the grill that is over the actual part that is open to the elements - cack-handed design :(

Dunno if this is solving the right problem?
http://www.drainsmart.co.uk/

 

Dave ,the simple drain guard Ziggy linked to , does a great job.

To digress a tad - Ziggy is the song that is unfolding itself in your signature an old Goodies song ?

http://www.searchfieldhistoricbuildings.co.uk/
(This lonk is posted with kind permission of the webmaster)

I woke up one morning, felt so sick I thought I was dead.
I felt sick in my stomach, I felt sick in my head,
Well I rolled over on my pillow & I threw up all over the bed.

 

Thanks folks. Those two products linked to by Zig and Kristen look like they'll solve my drain problems. Zig's one will solve the leave problem I reckon, and Kristen's one looks like it might solve the problem at the other drain, where my wife thinks its ok to flush rice down the kitchen sink plug hole, which then builds up outside and blocks that drain.

 

Glad to be of some help Dave, you have been a great help to me

Tell the Mrs, if she really wants to block the drains, try flushing some dried peas down it. When they swell up they will burst the pipe completely, that might get the point across.

 

Unfortunately I suspect that the only thing she'd learn from that lesson is that if she breaks stuff, it's ok, because I'll have to mend it.

 

Aah, you've got one like mine then.