Why does my outdoor gully in Ocean Reef or Mullaloo keep filling with sand?

This stretch of coast is built on sand, and it washes in through loose grates and around paving, then settles where the drain is flattest. We flush it out with the hydro jetter and check the grate and surrounds so it doesn’t refill straight away.

My drain in Craigie keeps blocking every few months. What’s going on?

In homes from the 1970s and ’80s it’s most often tree roots getting in through a crack or joint. We clear it, and a drain camera shows where the roots are getting in, so you can decide what to do about that section of pipe.

Do you clear blocked drains in Joondalup city centre apartments and cafés?

Yes. We clear blocked kitchen lines, floor wastes, toilets and shared lines. For strata buildings, tell the building manager. We don’t pump out grease traps, because that’s a liquid-waste contractor’s job.

Do you cover Burns Beach, Kinross and Iluka?

Yes. We cover the whole City of Joondalup coast from Burns Beach and Kinross down to Marmion. It’s a longer run from our Ellenbrook base, so we’ll give you an honest arrival time.

North coast · Blocked drains, Burns Beach to Marmion

Blocked drains in Joondalup, Ocean Reef, Hillarys and Sorrento

Heathridge is named for the heath that grew on its sand ridges, and its first lots sold in 1976. Kinross went in around 1992–93, and Currambine filled in during the mid-1990s beside its new train station. Down the coast, Marmion was largely built west of Cliff Street by 1961, and Sorrento’s first homes went up in the early 1950s. That puts sixty-year-old beach-side homes and thirty-year-old estate ones within a few kilometres of each other, all on sand.

The short answer

McDermott Plumbing clears blocked drains, toilets and sinks from Burns Beach and Kinross down to Hillarys, Sorrento and Marmion, including the Joondalup city centre. Call (08) 6187 3999 or text 0406 882 648. We’re based in Ellenbrook, so it’s a longer run across, and we’ll give you a real arrival time when you ring. We clear from the inspection shaft or gully with a drain machine or the hydro jetter, and use a CCTV drain camera on lines that keep blocking. If sewage is coming from Water Corporation’s main or onto the street, call Water Corporation on 13 13 75 as well.

Whitfords to Joondalup: forty-plus years of estates

Craigie and Kallaroo are two of the four “Whitfords” suburbs created when the State Government rezoned a large area of coastal land in 1969. Kallaroo’s Springfield Primary School opened in 1972 with four demountable classrooms. In Beldon, house-and-land packages were first advertised in 1977, with the first display homes along Craigie Drive. Heathridge’s land was released through the 1980s, and its northern and western corners filled in during the late 1990s. Mullaloo’s urban development began in the late 1950s. Edgewater was named in 1974 for its spot on the western edge of Lake Joondalup.

Water Corporation says homes more than 15 years old are less likely to have PVC sewer pipes, and that a hairline crack is all a root needs to get in. That covers nearly every street from Mullaloo and Craigie through Heathridge, Beldon and Edgewater. Here, decades of garden and verge trees are the most common reason a drain blocks more than once.

Further north, Connolly was built in the late 1980s as a golf course estate. Joondalup itself became the “city of the north” in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Kinross and Currambine followed in the early to mid-1990s, and housing reached Burns Beach in the same years. Burns Beach still has some holiday homes from before and after the Second World War. Ocean Reef took its current name in 1974, replacing Beaumaris, which survives in the name of a shopping centre and a primary school. Along Grand Boulevard, the Joondalup city centre has townhouses and apartments above shops and cafés, so shared sewer lines and commercial kitchens are part of the work too.

Hillarys, Sorrento and Marmion

Sorrento was surveyed as a private subdivision in 1929, was fishing-shack country through the 1930s, and had its first homes in the early 1950s. It was part of Marmion until 1981. Marmion’s townsite was gazetted in 1940 but stayed mostly bush until the late 1950s. Hillarys was gazetted in 1971 and grew quickly after the Boat Harbour opened in the late 1980s, and both its north-west and south-west were fully built by the mid-1990s.

In the older Sorrento and Marmion streets, plenty of homes have been renovated or rebuilt. Where a new PVC run joins an older line, that joint is a common place for roots or a lip that catches paper. Tell us if the house has had a renovation or extension. It helps us work out where to look.

What blocks drains on the Joondalup coast

Sand. The whole strip sits on coastal sand, and it washes into outdoor gullies, grated drains and stormwater lines and settles where the fall is flat. Jetting flushes it out better than a cable machine.
Tree roots in the 1970s and ’80s sewer lines of Craigie, Kallaroo, Heathridge, Beldon, Mullaloo and Edgewater, and in the older Sorrento and Marmion beach streets.
Fat from busy kitchens. Water Corporation says fats, oils and grease hardening in pipes cause 30% of its wastewater blockages. In the city centre, cafés and apartments share lines, so one kitchen’s grease can block a whole stack. We clear kitchen lines and floor wastes. Pumping out a grease trap is a liquid-waste contractor’s job, not ours.
Wet wipes and paper towel, which Water Corporation says should go in the bin, not the toilet.

Blocked sink in Joondalup?

In a 1970s or ’80s Craigie, Beldon or Heathridge kitchen, a slow sink is usually grease and scraps in the trap or in a waste pipe that has never been replaced. In a Grand Boulevard apartment or townhouse, check with your neighbours first: if their sinks are slow too, it may be the shared stack. Tell the strata manager, and we’ll be clear about which part is yours. If only the sink is slow, start with the checks in our blocked kitchen sink guide. If the shower, toilet or outdoor gully is playing up as well, it’s a property-drain blockage, so stop using water and call.

How we clear it

We find the inspection shaft, gully or nearest sensible access point and clear the line with a drain machine or the hydro jetter, depending on whether it’s roots, sand or fat. If a line has blocked before, the CCTV drain camera shows what is causing it and how far along the pipe it is. Jetting clears what’s inside the pipe. It doesn’t fix a cracked or dropped section, and if that’s what we find, we’ll say so.

If the blockage is in Water Corporation’s main, normally outside the property, it’s theirs to clear, and we report it. Blockages within the property plumbing are the owner’s responsibility.

Suburbs we cover here: Joondalup, Edgewater, Heathridge, Beldon, Craigie, Currambine, Kinross, Connolly, Ocean Reef, Mullaloo, Kallaroo, Iluka, Burns Beach, Hillarys, Sorrento and Marmion.

Common questions

Why does my outdoor gully in Ocean Reef or Mullaloo keep filling with sand?: This stretch of coast is built on sand, and it washes in through loose grates and around paving, then settles where the drain is flattest. We flush it out with the hydro jetter and check the grate and surrounds so it doesn’t refill straight away.
My drain in Craigie keeps blocking every few months. What’s going on?: In homes from the 1970s and ’80s it’s most often tree roots getting in through a crack or joint. We clear it, and a drain camera shows where the roots are getting in, so you can decide what to do about that section of pipe.
Do you clear blocked drains in Joondalup city centre apartments and cafés?: Yes. We clear blocked kitchen lines, floor wastes, toilets and shared lines. For strata buildings, tell the building manager. We don’t pump out grease traps, because that’s a liquid-waste contractor’s job.
Do you cover Burns Beach, Kinross and Iluka?: Yes. We cover the whole City of Joondalup coast from Burns Beach and Kinross down to Marmion. It’s a longer run from our Ellenbrook base, so we’ll give you an honest arrival time.
Who pays if the blockage is in the sewer main?: Blockages in your property plumbing are the owner’s responsibility. If it’s in Water Corporation’s main, normally outside the property, Water Corporation clears it. If we find it there, we call them in.

Nearby

Blocked drain and plumber pages for the areas next to this one.

How we clear drains here.

Official sources

Last updated 14 October 2026. General information only. Every property is different, so call us to talk about yours.

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