Typical drain complications often begin with a sound. A gurgle where there should be silence. Or perhaps it’s the smell—faint at first, like something forgotten at the back of a cupboard. Then the water slows, backs up, refuses to leave.
The instinct is immediate. Do it yourself. A plunger. A bottle of bleach. Maybe a wire coat hanger if you’re feeling brave.
But drains are not simple. They do not yield to guesswork. And what lies beneath the surface of a blocked pipe can be more than just water and waste.
What You Don’t See
A blocked drain seems straightforward. Something is in the way. Remove it, and the problem disappears.
But pipes are not open roads. They twist. They narrow. Some pipes and water tanks contain asbestos. They turn at angles you don’t expect. The blockage may be close—or metres away. It may be caused by grease, by collapsed joints, by tree roots pushing their way through clay.
And you, standing above with gloves and tools bought from a hardware shop, cannot see any of it.
The False Confidence of Chemicals
Drain-cleaning liquids offer reassurance. The label promises quick relief. You pour it in. You wait. And sometimes, the water clears—for a while.
But these products often do more harm than good. If the blockage is caused by something physical—a clump of hair, hardened fat, a child’s toy—the chemical does nothing. Worse, it may sit in the pipe, corroding materials, damaging older joints, or reacting with substances it shouldn’t.
There’s also the risk of splashing. Of mixing different cleaners by mistake. And if you ever do call for professional help, they’ll need to work around whatever substances you’ve already introduced.
Tools That Don’t Quite Reach
The plunger is the go-to. And it works—sometimes. But only for shallow blockages. If the obstruction is beyond the trap or further down the system, you’re moving water, not the cause.
DIY drain snakes, rods, and flexible cables promise more reach. But in the wrong hands, they can cause real damage. It’s easy to push too far, to bend or puncture a joint, to leave parts behind.
And without a camera, without knowledge of the pipe layout, every action is guesswork. You’re not fixing. You’re hoping.
When DIY Makes Things Worse
The most common call-outs for drainage companies are not emergencies—they’re corrections. A homeowner tried to clear the pipe, and now the situation has deepened.
A plastic rod snapped and lodged in the bend. Chemicals have made the water too hazardous to drain safely. A pipe has been damaged from the inside by pressure applied in the wrong place.
What might have been resolved quickly is now more complicated. And more expensive.
When to Stop
There are signs. If the smell remains after repeated efforts. If more than one drain in the house is affected. If water rises when another tap is run elsewhere. If external gullies overflow.
These are signs the blockage is further down the line. At this point, continuing with shop-bought solutions or improvised tools won’t help.
This is when you call a drainage professional.
They arrive with the right tools. Not just rods and jets, but cameras. They don’t rely on trial and error. They see the problem. They treat the system as a structure, not a guess. And they solve it without making it worse.
Prevention is Quieter Than Repair
In the end, the best fix is not to reach this point.
Watch what goes down. In the kitchen, avoid pouring oil or fat into the sink. In the bathroom, catch hair before it enters the pipe. Only flush what was meant to be flushed. Regularly clean gullies and gutters outside.
But when a blockage does come, think carefully before reaching for chemicals or improvised rods.
Some problems belong in professional hands.
