Blocked Drain Flooding: What to Do Right Now
Stop using water, protect your floors, and leave chemicals on the shelf.
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THE SHORT ANSWER
In short
Stop using water so the drain cannot overflow further. If leaves or debris are sitting on an outside grate and it is safe, clear them. Lift anything off wet floors. Don’t pour chemicals in: the lasting fix is a high-pressure water jetter and a CCTV camera to see the cause. Call us on 0420 102 394.
DO THIS FIRST
Do this first
1
Stop using water
Every tap and appliance on that drain adds to the overflow.
2
Clear outside grates
Only if it is safe: leaves and debris off grates and gullies, with gloves.
3
Protect your floors
Lift rugs, boxes and electrical items; towels at doorways.
4
Record it
Photos and video of the water and damage.
5
Call us
0420 102 394, any hour.
SOURCES
Where this advice comes from
WHAT IS HAPPENING
Why a drain floods instead of draining
Every drain in your home is a gravity pipe: water only moves because the pipe falls gently toward the sewer. A drain floods when something narrows that pipe until water arrives faster than it can leave. It usually starts slowly, with a shower that pools around your feet or a laundry tub that takes minutes to empty, and then one day it backs up and spills.
Where the water appears tells you where the blockage is. One fixture flooding on its own, such as the shower, points to its own branch pipe, often hair and soap. Several fixtures backing up together, or water rising out of a floor waste when the washing machine pumps out, points to the main drain they share. Water pooling at an outside grate in dry weather is a blocked gully; in heavy rain it is more likely the stormwater system, which has its own page: stormwater flooding.
Water from showers, basins, sinks and laundries is greywater rather than sewage, but it is still dirty, so wear gloves to clean up and keep small children out of it.
IS IT URGENT?
How serious is it?
| What you can see | How urgent | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Water coming over the shower hob, out of a floor waste or across the floor | Emergency: call now | Stop all water use, protect floors, call us |
| Several fixtures backing up at once, or the toilet gurgling when the washing machine drains | Emergency: call now | The main drain is blocked: stop using water everywhere |
| Laundry tub or floor waste overflowing during a wash | Urgent: today | Stop the machine, bucket out the tub, call us |
| Water pooling at an outside grate in dry weather | Urgent: today | A blocked gully or drain: don’t use water that runs to it |
| One shower or sink slow but not overflowing | Can be booked | Use another bathroom and book a drain clear |
DO NOT
Don’t make it worse
- Don’t pour drain cleaner into a drain that is already flooding. It can’t reach a blockage under standing water, and it sits in the water you, and then we, have to work in.
- Don’t open the overflow relief gully or inspection openings to let the water out. You can turn a greywater problem into a sewage one.
- Don’t walk through water that is near power points, a dryer or an extension lead.
- Don’t keep the washing machine or dishwasher running "to finish the load".
- Don’t push a garden hose down the drain at full pressure. It can pack the blockage tighter or blow dirty water back at you.
WHY IT HAPPENED
What blocks household drains
Across 4,239 blocked drain jobs since 2019, the causes our plumbers recorded most were: tree roots in the drain line (303 jobs), silt and debris build-up (129 jobs), grease and fat build-up in the line (69 jobs), broken or displaced pipe section (54 jobs), foreign objects or wipes in the line (33 jobs). On blocked showers specifically: silt and debris build-up (12 jobs), tree roots in the drain line (10 jobs). On laundries: tree roots in the drain line (5 jobs), grease and fat build-up in the line (1 jobs).
| Likely cause | Tell-tale signs | The usual fix |
|---|---|---|
| Hair and soap scum | Shower or bath slow first, pooling while you shower | Cleared from the trap and branch with drain rods or an electric eel |
| Silt and debris | Floor wastes and outside gullies slow, grit in the water | Jetted out, with a grate or cover to stop it coming back |
| Lint from the washing machine | The laundry tub fills during the spin cycle | Jet the laundry branch; a lint filter on the machine’s outlet hose |
| Tree roots | Several fixtures slow, and worse after rain | The Jet Blaster, a CCTV look, then relining if they return |
| Grease from the kitchen | Kitchen sink slow and smelly, with a waxy build-up | Jetting, and keeping fats out of the sink |
WHEN WE ARRIVE
What we do when we get there
1
Find which drain
We run water at each fixture to find the branch that is blocked.
2
Clear it
Drain rods or an electric eel for a single fixture; the Jet Blaster for a shared drain.
3
See the cause
A CCTV camera through the line when the blockage is in the main drain.
4
Test it
Every fixture run together afterwards, so we know the whole drain flows freely.
5
Fixed price for any repair
If roots or a broken pipe caused it, a fixed price for the repair before we start.
WHAT IT COSTS
What clearing a flooding drain costs
Half of our 125 priced blocked shower jobs since 2019 cost between $302 and $715, including GST, with a median of $462.
Half of our 28 priced blocked laundry jobs since 2019 cost between $481 and $1,298, including GST, with a median of $786.
Half of our 3,934 priced blocked drain jobs of every kind since 2019 cost between $495 and $1,320, including GST, with a median of $825. What moves it: how far down the blockage is, whether jetting and a camera are needed, and how easy the drain is to reach.
$0 call-out Monday to Friday, 7:00am to 5:00pm. After hours a call-out fee of $199 to $399 applies, confirmed by text before we dispatch.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE
Who is responsible?
In a house, the drains on your property are yours. In a rental, flooding and a blocked or broken toilet system are on the NSW urgent repairs list, so a drain that floods the home is the landlord’s to arrange; a slow shower that still drains is usually a normal repair request (tenants: what to do).
In strata, a blockage in your own shower or laundry branch is usually your lot’s; one in the shared drain under the building is usually the owners corporation’s (strata: who pays).
INSURANCE
Is a flooded floor covered?
Blockages are maintenance in most policies, so clearing the drain itself is rarely covered. Water damage from a sudden overflow may be, for example a laundry flooding into a hallway or a shower spilling through to the room below.
Note the time it happened, photograph the water before you mop, and keep our report of the cause. How to make a claim
NEXT TIME
Prevent it next time
- Fit hair catchers in showers and baths, and empty them weekly
- Fit a lint filter to the washing machine outlet hose
- Scrape fats, oils and food scraps into the bin, not the sink
- Keep outside gully grates clear of leaves and soil, especially before storms
- Treat a slow drain as the warning: book it before it floods
QUESTIONS
Flooding drain questions
WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW
Other plumbing emergencies
MORE HELP
Emergency help
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