Water backing up in the shower, a gurgling toilet or an overflowing gully in the yard? We clear blocked drains across Maitland, then put a camera down the line so you know why it blocked and whether it'll happen again.
NSW plumbing, drainage and gasfitting Lic. 000000C (demo)
Sample review
Toilet backing up on a Sunday. They came out the same afternoon, cleared it, and told me the price before they touched anything. No surprises on the invoice.
Sample review · Wattlewater Plumbing is a fictional business
What's involved
A blocked drain is rarely one problem. It's a symptom, and the cause is usually somewhere you can't see. Clearing it is only half the job. The other half is knowing why it blocked, so you're not ringing again next month.
We start at the overflow relief gully outside and work out whether the blockage is in a branch line or the main sewer. Most blockages are cleared on the first visit with an electric eel or a hydro jetter, which cuts through roots and grease rather than just punching a hole in them.
Once the drain is running, we put the drain camera down it. You see what we see: roots at a joint, a sagging pipe holding water, or a crack. That footage is what turns "it blocked" into a decision you can make with the facts.
Older clay pipes in Maitland are put together in short lengths, and every joint is a way in for a thirsty root. The heritage streets of East Maitland are full of them. Jetting clears them, but if the pipe is cracked, roots grow back through the same gap. Where the camera shows that, we quote the options: relining the pipe from the inside, or digging up and replacing the damaged section. A cracked pipe can leak as well as block, and if the ground around it stays wet, water leak detection finds where.
Not every blocked drain is sewer. Downpipes and stormwater lines fill with leaves and silt, and after a summer storm the water ends up against the house. In Cessnock, where storms come through the valley hard, it's one of the most common calls we get. We clear the line with the jetter and check it with the same camera.
A kitchen sink full of grey water, or a toilet that won't clear with a plunger, usually comes down to one blocked branch line. It's often a quicker job than a main line, and it's still a fixed price before we start. Our post on clearing a blocked toilet covers what to try yourself first, and the signs that it's the drain.
A standard blocked drain clear has a set price, and camera inspections and jetting are priced separately, so you can see what each one costs. You get the price before any work starts.
Questions
Tree roots, by a long way. A lot of homes in Maitland, East Maitland and Lorn still have their original clay sewer pipes, and roots find their way into the joints looking for water. Wet wipes, fat and grease down the kitchen sink come next.
A waterproof camera on a flexible rod is pushed down the drain, and we watch the picture on a screen above ground. It shows exactly where the blockage is, what caused it, and whether the pipe is cracked or broken. You see the footage too.
Hydro jetting is a high-pressure water hose with a nozzle that blasts the inside of the pipe clean. It cuts through roots, fat and silt that a plunger or a drain snake only pushes further down, and it leaves the pipe clear rather than just open.
For a slow bathroom basin, a plunger and hot water is a better first step. Caustic drain cleaners rarely shift a real blockage, they're hard on older pipes, and if we then have to open the drain they're a burn risk for whoever does. If water is backing up from the floor, ring a plumber.
Inside your property boundary, the pipes are your responsibility. Hunter Water looks after its sewer mains. If several houses in the street are affected at once, ring Hunter Water first. If it's only your house, it's almost certainly on your side, and we'll find exactly where with the camera.
It might, if roots are in a cracked pipe. Jetting clears them, but they grow back through the same crack. The camera shows whether that's likely, and if it is we quote a pipe relining or a section replacement so you can decide. We don't sell one you don't need.