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Two different problems that look identical

A drain backing up in this suburb is one of two things, and they are not treated the same way.

The first is an ordinary blockage. Something went down that should not have, or a root found a joint in an old earthenware line, and the water has nowhere to pass. It backs up whenever the line is used, rain or no rain. We clear it and it stays cleared.

The second only happens in weather. The main itself is over capacity, and instead of your water going out, the system's water is coming back. Nothing on your property is blocked at all. Where it comes up depends entirely on whether the house has an overflow relief gully and whether that gully is still the lowest opening.

Telling them apart before anyone starts work is the whole job here. One of them is a clearing. The other is a levels problem, and running an eel through it fixes nothing before the next storm.

Call 1300 381 569 Book a look

Same-day clearingWhere it is genuinely a blockage
Gully located and levelledBefore we assume the line is at fault
Camera on any repeatYou see the joint, not our word for it
Licensed plumberNSW Licence 368473C, fully insured

Local drain guide

Why drains back up in Marrickville

This valley fills from the sky, not from the river

Marrickville sits in a catchment of roughly eight square kilometres that drains to the Cooks River through four outfalls. Almost all of that path is piped, and the suburb above it is largely roof, road and paving with very little left to soak anything up.

So the water arrives in the system in minutes rather than over hours, peaks hard, and is usually gone within the hour. That is a different mechanism from a river coming up over a bank, and it is why a property a long way from any water can still get a surcharge through the floor waste.

The overflow relief gully is the part that decides where it goes

Somewhere outside, usually against the bathroom or laundry wall, there should be a capped riser sitting slightly proud of the ground. When the sewer is over capacity, that cap lifts and the overflow goes onto the garden.

It is meant to be the lowest opening on the whole drain, and the standard is specific about it: the spill level sits at least 150 mm below the lowest fixture in the house. That 150 mm is the entire margin between a mess outside and a mess inside.

A lot of houses here never had one

Much of this housing stock predates the requirement, and nothing forces a retrofit on an existing home. If there is no gully, the drain still needs somewhere to release, and it will use whatever opening is lowest.

On the cottages and terraces through here that is typically a ground floor shower, a laundry tub, or a downstairs toilet. The house is behaving exactly as plumbed. It simply was not given the outside option.

Gullies disappear under gardens

The commonest fault we find is not a missing gully but a buried one. Garden beds get built up, pavers go down, turf is laid, mulch is topped up year after year, and the riser that was proud of the ground in 1970 is now level with it or under it.

Once it is no longer the lowest opening, or once the cap is sealed by paving, it has stopped being a release valve. Raising a buried gully is a small job and it is regularly the whole fix.

Old earthenware is the other half of the story

The original drainage under a lot of this suburb is earthenware in short lengths, which means joints every metre or so. Every joint is a place where a root can enter and where ground movement can open a gap.

That matters in storms too. A line with root mass in it has less capacity to begin with, so it surcharges sooner than a clear one would. Clearing the roots does not stop the main surcharging, but it does stop your own line being the bottleneck.

What we clear the same day

Toilets, showers and floor wastes backing up
Kitchen and laundry lines running slow
Roots cut back to clean pipe wall in old earthenware
Gullies located, uncovered and levelled
Camera and footage on anything that has recurred

Call 1300 381 569

Our Marrickville service area

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles © CARTO.

What clearing a blocked drain costs in Marrickville

Quoted at a fixed price before it starts. These are indicative 2026 ranges. If the symptom is storm-only, ask about the gully check first, because it is the cheapest thing on this list and it is often the actual answer.

Clear a blocked drain $150 – $400

Hand tools or an electric eel through an existing access point. Most one-offs land here.

Locate and level the gully $120 – $280

Find it, uncover it, check the spill height against the lowest fixture inside.

Root cutting $400 – $900

Mechanical cutting back to clean pipe wall in old earthenware, priced on what is in there.

Camera inspection $250 – $450

Down the line with the footage handed over, showing which joints are open.

Raise or reset a buried gully $350 – $800

Bringing the riser back above ground so it is the lowest opening again.

How a blocked drain call-out runs.

Step 01

Taking a blocked drain call for a Marrickville property

Was it raining?

The first question, and here it genuinely sorts the job. Storm-only symptoms point at the gully and the main, not at your line.

Step 02

Locating an overflow relief gully at a Marrickville house

We find the gully

Before assuming the line is at fault we locate the relief gully and check whether it is still the lowest opening on the property.

Step 03

Clearing a blocked sewer line at a Marrickville property

Cleared through the nearest access

If it is a real blockage we clear from the closest existing access so nothing comes back through the house while we work.

Step 04

Explaining drain camera footage to a Marrickville homeowner

You get told which problem you had

Plainly. A blockage we cleared, or a levels problem that will repeat every storm until the gully is sorted.

Blocked drain questions.

What Marrickville locals ask us before booking a plumber.

Ask us yours Licensed plumbing van covering Marrickville and the surrounding suburbs

It only backs up when it rains hard. Is that a blockage?

Often it is not, and that distinction is worth money here. A blockage backs up whenever the line is used. If it is fine on a Tuesday and comes up through the shower during a downpour, the more likely story is the main surcharging and your house having nowhere to release it. Clearing a line that was never blocked costs you a call-out and changes nothing before the next storm. Tell us the weather when you ring and we will know which job we are coming to.

What is an overflow relief gully and do I have one?

It is a capped riser in the ground outside, usually near the bathroom or laundry wall, and it is the release valve for the whole house. When the sewer surcharges it is designed to lift and spill there, outside, on the ground. A lot of the older housing through here was built before that was required and never had one fitted. If you do not have one, the lowest fixture inside the house becomes the relief point instead, and on this stock that is usually a ground floor shower, a laundry tub or a downstairs toilet.

Mine overflows in the garden every storm. Is it broken?

No, that is it working. A gully that spills outside in heavy rain is doing precisely the job it was installed for, and the alternative is that the same water comes up inside. The one thing worth checking is the height. The spill level has to sit at least 150 mm below the lowest fixture in the house, and gullies get buried over the years by garden beds, new paving, turf and mulch. A gully raised or covered until it is no longer the lowest point has quietly stopped protecting anything.

Why does this happen more here than where I used to live?

Marrickville sits in a valley of about eight square kilometres that drains to the Cooks River through four outfalls, and most of that journey is through pipes rather than open ground. There is very little soft surface left to soak anything up. Heavy rain arrives in the system in minutes rather than hours, which is a different thing from a river flood: it comes up fast, it goes down within the hour, and it can happen to a property nowhere near the water.

Is my place flood affected? How would I know?

Council tags properties for flood-related development controls, and the threshold is specific: a one-in-a-hundred-year event putting water deeper than 0.15 metres across more than 10% of the property. That tag attaches to the property and follows the title, so it is worth knowing before you renovate rather than after. It is a planning matter rather than a plumbing one, but it tells you what your drainage is up against.

The house is a converted warehouse. Does that change things?

It usually does. Plumbing retrofitted into a building that was never designed for it tends to run in long horizontal pulls to reach a connection point that was fixed decades earlier, with less fall than a house would have. Less fall means solids move slower and anything fibrous gets a chance to settle. It also means the lowest fixture is often at slab level with nothing below it, so the question of where a surcharge would go matters more, not less.

What does it cost to clear a blocked drain in Marrickville?

Most clears through an existing access point are $150 to $400. If the line is old earthenware and the cause is a root at a joint, mechanical cutting runs $400 to $900 on how much is in there. A camera inspection is $250 to $450 with the footage handed over. If the symptom is storm-only, ask for the gully checked first instead: that is a much smaller job and it is frequently the actual answer.

Blocked drains cleared
across Marrickville

Get a drain callback

Two different problems that look identical

We check the weather before we check the line.

Why drains back up in Marrickville

This valley fills from the sky, not from the river