Where the blockage actually is
The symptom and the fault are rarely in the same place, and that is the first thing worth understanding.
Water backs up at the lowest point it can reach. The blockage might be a metre in from that grate, or it might be twenty metres away at the far end of the system. It might not be in the pipe at all — a soakwell that has silted up or collapsed has nowhere to put water, so it backs the whole run up and presents at the grate as though the pipe were blocked.
That is why clearing blind is a poor idea. Pushing something down a run until water moves might get you through this week. It tells you nothing about why it happened, and it does nothing at all if the real problem is at the other end.
How we find it
We locate the blockage before clearing it, because where it is tells you what it is.
A drain camera goes into the run and we watch what is actually down there. That gives three things a guess cannot:
The position
How far in, and which section. A blockage near the grate is a different story from one at the soakwell end.
The cause
Sand, leaf litter, roots, a crushed section, a joint that has dropped, or a well that is full. These look identical from the surface and they are completely different jobs.
The condition of the pipe around it
Whether the run either side is sound, or whether it is cracked, scaled, root-invaded or has lost its fall. This is the part that tells you whether clearing it will hold.
Then you get a written price for the fix, before any work starts. Transparent pricing, no hidden costs.
What blocks stormwater in Como
Sand
The main one in Perth. Fine sand washes off paving and garden beds, through the grate, and settles in the low points of the run. It builds slowly until the pipe is half its bore, then a quarter, then closed.
Leaf litter and roof grit
Gutters shed grit constantly. Anything that gets past a gutter guard ends up in the downpipe and then in the run.
Roots
Roots follow moisture, and a hairline crack or a slightly open joint is an invitation. Once they are in they catch everything else going past, which turns a small defect into a total blockage over a couple of seasons.
A full or failed soakwell
The run is clear and the well is the problem. Very common on old systems. Collapsed soakwell repair
Crushed or collapsed pipe
Not a blockage, but it behaves like one.
When the pipe itself is the problem
Here is the test that matters: how often has this happened?
Sand does not accumulate in a sound, correctly graded, adequately sized run anywhere near fast enough to block it every year. When a drain blocks repeatedly, the blockage is a symptom and something underneath is causing it.
Usually one of four things:
A section has lost its fall
Ground settles, or something heavy has been over a shallow run. Water slows at that point, and wherever water slows, sand drops out of it. That spot will keep silting no matter how many times it is cleared.
A break is letting sand in
A crack or an open joint lets surrounding sand enter the pipe continuously. The run is being refilled from outside, so clearing it is emptying a bucket with a hole in it.
Roots are established
Clearing cuts them back. It does not remove them, and it does not close the defect they came in through.
The system is undersized
More water moving through a run than it was built for moves more sand into it, and a well that is always full backs the run up constantly. This is the Como classic, because only about a third of the suburb's occupied dwellings are separate houses and every subdivision, rear villa and extension added roof area without adding capacity underground. Soakwell replacement
If the camera shows the run is genuinely sound and this was a one-off, we will tell you that too. Sometimes a clear is all it needs, and that is a good outcome worth knowing about.
What clearing involves
Once we know where it is and what it is, clearing is the straightforward part — the run is cleared from the right access point, and we camera it afterwards where it matters, so you know what condition it is in rather than just that water is moving again.
Where the camera has shown a defect, you get a written price for repairing that as well, and you can decide. We are not going to insist on a repair you did not ask about, but you should know it is there. Stormwater drain repairs
If it is urgent
If water is backing up somewhere it could reach the house or a garage, say so when you ring and we will bring it forward as far as the day allows. We work Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 4:00pm and do not run an after-hours or weekend service. Urgent drainage work
Get it looked at
Tell us where the water backs up and whether this has happened before. That second answer changes what we expect to find.
A licensed plumber comes out at no charge and you get a written price before anything starts.