Do you need to unblock a drain?
Drains block for all sorts of reasons, like tree roots in the pipes. A blocked drain is a pain. It can also cause health problems and damage your property.
Is it a sewer or stormwater blockage?
Sewer blockage
You have a blocked sewer if the problem affects anything inside your house. For example:
- A blocked toilet
- A kitchen, bathroom or laundry sink
- Basins anywhere in the house
- The bath or shower
- The dishwasher or washing machine
Stormwater blockage
You have a blocked stormwater drain if there’s flooding outside your house. It might be in your garage, your garden or under your deck, often during or after heavy rain. For example:
- Blocked downpipes from your roof
- Blocked stormwater pits or drains
- Blocked channel grates
- Anywhere rainwater is meant to go
Want to know more? Read about the most common cause of blocked sinks and what to do about blocked drains after heavy rain.
Early warning signs
Most blockages give you a warning before they stop a drain completely. Look out for:
- A sink, shower or bath that’s slow to empty.
- A toilet that fills up when you flush, then drains away slowly.
- Gurgling or a bad smell from a plughole.
- Water pooling in the garden, garage or driveway.
- Overflowing gutters or leaking downpipes.
- The outside drain overflowing when the washing machine runs.
Spot one of these? Call us early, before a slow drain turns into a full blockage. Learn why drains gurgle.
Things you can try first
A small blockage near the plughole is sometimes a job you can do yourself:
- Unscrew the plughole cover and pull out any hair you can reach.
- Pour a kettle of boiling water down the sink. If your pipes are PVC, use hot water instead.
- Tip in bicarb soda, then white vinegar. Wait 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse with hot water.
- Use a plunger on a sink or shower, with the overflow hole covered.
Take care, though. A plunger can push the blockage deeper and make it worse. None of these will shift tree roots, and toilets rarely clear this way. Read can I clear a blocked drain myself?
How we fix your blocked drain in 3 easy steps
The Drain Man has over 80 highly skilled employees, with all the gear needed to fix your blocked drain.
We understand your problem and your needs
When you book, we ask about the blockage so your Drain Man is informed. Onsite, your Drain Man will confirm the details of the job and then get straight to work.
We look inside and clear the blockage
Our drain camera finds where the blockage is. We clear it with a high pressure water jet or a drain clearing machine, or both. Then we film the drain again. You get the before and after footage.
We offer a long term fix
If a short term problem caused the blockage, we clear it and that’s the end of the job. If your drain has serious problems that will keep blocking it, we’ll offer a long term fix. Those problems include tree roots, a partly or fully collapsed drain, cracks, breaks or joints that have moved.
The really good news
If your drain needs relining, there’s very little disruption thanks to our high tech gear.
No dig. No damage. No danger.
Relining gives you what is, in effect, a new drain. The liner forms inside your old pipe. Once it hardens, it stands on its own strength, just as good as a new pipe or better. Relined drains carry a lifetime warranty.
Read about pipe relining versus replacement, or see your other options for clearing a blocked drain. It’s the safe choice.
Why we always use a camera
No plumber can see through the ground. Without a camera, the cause of a blockage is a guess. If only part of it gets cleared, the drain blocks again and you pay for another visit.
So we put a camera down your drain on every job. We go in through your inspection shaft, often near the property boundary, which lets us film from the far side of the blockage. The camera check is part of our service fee, and you see the footage too. Read why a camera matters.
Blocked drain questions
Why does my drain keep blocking?
Often the pipe itself is the problem. Tree roots, a partly collapsed pipe or joints that have come apart will catch waste again and again. Clearing the drain helps for a while, but the cause stays until the pipe is fixed.
How do pipes get broken underground?
Renovations, heavy vehicles and digging nearby can crack or crush a pipe. So can ground that shifts after very heavy rain or a long drought.
Can you clear a drain full of tree roots?
Yes. A plunger or a store bought cleaner won’t move them. We cut through roots with a high pressure water jet or a drain clearing machine.
Do I need new drains if mine block often?
Usually not. We clear them properly first. Then we can reline them from the inside, so they stop blocking and your yard stays as it is.
Blocked drain services across Victoria
We clear blocked drains across Victoria. That includes Geelong and the Greater Geelong area, the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula, all of Gippsland, Sunbury and the Macedon Ranges, and Phillip Island and the Bass Coast.