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Blocked Drains: Common Causes

So you have a blocked drain? What can you do to unblock it and stop the water from backing up into your house? Then how do you make sure that it doesn't block again in 6 months' time? These are questions we get asked all the time, so we figured why not do a series of blog posts on it? So if these are questions you need an answer to, read on.

Causes of Blocked Drains

This first blog post will discuss the common causes of blocked drains. The second will discuss how to unblock the drain and last the best way to prevent it from happening again.

What causes a blocked drain?

Before we start looking at solutions, we need to fully understand why drains become blocked. We find that there are 2 main causes for blocked drains . These are foreign objects or waste solids lodged in your pipes or broken pipes. Of course, there are several more, such as poorly installed pipes that flow uphill or are too small for the volume of flow. But let's stick to the 2 main causes.

Foreign objects or waste solids

Blocked Drain with foreign material
Drain blocked with foreign material

Common examples of this are sanitary napkins, nappies or kitchen grease. Or if you have kids it might be something they decided to watch being flushed down the toilet. In these cases, you can normally get away with just clearing the blockage out of the pipe and everything is fine. However, in some cases, the blockage can be caused by the deterioration of the pipe surface. A good drain pipe has a nice smooth surface allowing the wastewater to flow easily by. But as the surface deteriorates, either through chemical or physical damage, it starts to get waste solids sticking to it (we'll be touching on this again in the solutions). A good example of this is toilet paper. In these cases, you need to consider fixing the pipe so it is no longer rough.

Book a drain plumber

Broken Pipes

Blocked Drain with Tree Roots
Drain blocked with tree roots

Broken pipes can be caused by shifting in the ground around the pipe or through tree roots working their way into a tiny crack and growing larger. Regardless of how the break occurred, if there is a tree anywhere nearby, you can guarantee its' roots will find a way into it. In these cases, simply removing any solid material causing the blockage isn't enough. If the break or crack remains then you are only buying yourself some more time.

So now we know the common causes of blocked drains, we can discuss the best ways to unblock them. Read part 2 of our blocked drains series - How to Unblock Drains .

Remember Reline Solutions are your blocked drain specialist in SEQ. So contact us for your blocked drain issues.

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