Stormwater Drainage Problems? We Sort Them Out.
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If water pools against the house every time it rains, backs up out of a pit, or runs somewhere it should not, the stormwater system is not coping. We repair, clear and install stormwater drainage across Sydney and the Sutherland Shire.
Stormwater is the system that takes rain off your roof and your property and carries it to the street or an easement. It is completely separate from your sewer, and when it fails the water has to go somewhere, which is usually under the house or through a neighbour’s yard.
Signs your stormwater is not coping
- Water pooling near the house after rain, especially against a wall or under a window
- A pit overflowing during ordinary rain rather than a downpour
- Downpipes backing up and spilling at the top
- Gutters overflowing when they are clean, which usually means the line below is blocked
- Soggy ground that never dries out, often over the line itself
- Water tracking under the house or into a garage or subfloor
- Erosion or silt fans where water is escaping and running across the surface
What causes it
- Leaf debris: the most common one. Leaves wash off the roof, through the downpipe and into the line, where they pack down and set. Sydney’s gums and figs drop year round, so this builds up quietly.
- Tree roots: roots follow moisture. A stormwater line with an open joint is exactly what they are looking for, and once in they keep growing.
- Damaged or collapsed pipes: older stormwater is often thin walled and shallow. Ground movement, vehicle loading over a driveway, or building work above the line breaks it.
- Silt and sand: washes in over years and settles in the low points, reducing capacity until the line only just copes, and then does not.
- Undersized or badly laid lines: original drainage laid for a smaller house, or a line without enough fall. Water sits in it instead of running through.
- Things that should not be there: builders rubble, concrete washings and general rubbish, usually from work done years ago.
Leading Causes of Blocked Storm Water Drains
Leaf Debris
Allow excess leaf litter from your gutters or yard to accumulate and enter the drains.
Tree Roots
Tree roots naturally go towards a water source and cracked or porous pipes provide water for trees!
Damaged Pipes
Things can move including your homes foundations and soil. This can move pipes out of alignment and reduce the flow.
Incorrect Waste Disposal
Someone has tipped paint or slurry into your storm water after doing home improvements
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What we do
- Clear blocked stormwater lines: jetting and mechanical clearing
- CCTV inspection: find out what the blockage is and whether the pipe is damaged
- Pipe relining: repair cracked or root damaged lines without digging the yard up
- Pit repairs and replacement: including pits that have broken up or dropped
- New stormwater lines: for extensions, new driveways and landscaping
- Downpipe connections: properly connected into the line rather than discharging onto the ground
- Surface and strip drains: for driveways, patios and paths that shed water toward the house
- Absorption and detention work: where connecting to the street is not an option
Why it matters more than it looks
Stormwater problems get ignored because the water eventually disappears. The damage happens while you are not watching. Water sitting against a wall gets into the subfloor, brings damp up through masonry, and undermines footings and paving. It is slow, and by the time it is obvious it is a building problem rather than a plumbing one.
The other issue is where the water goes instead. Stormwater that escapes onto a neighbouring property is a dispute waiting to happen, and it is usually cheaper to fix the drain than to have that conversation.
Common problems in the Shire
A lot of the Sutherland Shire is on sloping blocks with sandy soil, which brings its own pattern. Water moves fast downhill and finds the low point, which is often the house below. Sand and silt wash into lines readily. Older brick pits crack and drop as the ground moves. And a lot of properties have had a deck, a pool or a granny flat added over the top of drainage nobody mapped first.
Before you build over it
If you are putting in a driveway, a pool, a deck or an extension, find out where the stormwater runs first. Building over a line is not a problem in itself. Building over a line you cannot access, and which then fails, is expensive. A camera inspection before the slab goes down is the cheap version of this.
Keeping it working
- Clean your gutters: most stormwater blockages start in the gutter
- Fit leaf guards: especially under gums, figs and jacarandas
- Clear your pits: lift the lid occasionally and pull the silt and leaves out
- Watch after heavy rain: that is when a struggling system shows itself
- Do not put anything else down it: stormwater goes to the waterway, not to treatment
Stormwater Drainage FAQs
Common questions about stormwater systems answered by Sydney drainage plumbers
