This is the one to act on quickly. A blocked fixture is an inconvenience. A blocked sewer means everything you put down any drain has nowhere to go, and it will come back out at the lowest available point.
If you are lucky, that point is the overflow relief gully outside, which is precisely what it is designed for. If the gully is blocked, painted over or built up above the floor level of the house, it comes back inside instead.
How to know it is the sewer, not a fixture
- Two or more fixtures draining slowly or backing up at the same time
- Toilet bubbling when the shower runs, or vice versa
- Water rising in the shower or floor waste when the toilet is flushed
- Sewage surfacing at the overflow relief gully outside
- A sewage smell in the yard, or a patch of ground over the line that stays wet
- Sewage backing up into the lowest fixture in the house
What blocks a sewer line
- Tree roots
- The dominant cause in older Gold Coast suburbs with clay and earthenware sewers. Roots enter at a joint and grow into a mat that catches solids and paper.
- Wet wipes and sanitary items
- They do not break down, and once a few are caught on a root or a rough joint the rest build against them quickly.
- Fat and grease
- Travels down from the kitchen and sets in the cooler main line, narrowing the bore over months.
- Collapsed or displaced pipe
- Age, ground movement or vehicle loading. This is the one where clearing alone will never be the end of it.
- A blockage in the council main
- Sometimes the problem is not on your property at all, which changes who is responsible for fixing it.
What to do right now
Stop using water completely. No flushing, no showers, no washing machine. Everything you use adds to what is already backed up.
Do not block or cover the overflow relief gully outside. That grate is meant to lift and release sewage into the yard rather than into your house.
Keep people and pets clear of anything that has surfaced.
Call. A blocked sewer is one of the few drainage problems that genuinely should not wait until morning.
Call 0412 661 632No word of a lie, Nathan and his team at Fair Dinkum Drainage are one of the best tradespeople I have ever come across. They went above and beyond when they came out on short notice to inspect and clear a blocked sewer drain in my unit. Throughout the entire process, they kept me informed with phone calls, messages, and photos and videos of the problems found and the recommended course of action.
Martin SzilvassyPleasant experience, efficient and professional. Although it was eventually discovered that drainage problem did originate from the public sewer line, John helped me to report and explain with the bodycorp, very considerable guy! Highly recommended.
William