Why does the drain in my old North Perth house keep blocking?

Most often it’s tree roots in an old clay house drain, or a snag where a renovation joined new pipe to the original line. We clear it, and a drain camera shows where the problem is so you can decide whether to have that section repaired.

Can you clear a blocked drain in a Northbridge or CBD apartment?

Yes. Tell us the building and the building or strata manager’s details, and we’ll arrange access. If it’s a shared stack, we’ll be clear about what’s your lot and what’s common property.

Do you pump out grease traps for cafés?

No. That’s a job for a licensed liquid-waste contractor. We do clear blocked kitchen lines, floor wastes and toilets in cafés and restaurants.

The unit behind mine has a blocked drain too. Is it the same blockage?

Possibly. Subdivided blocks often share a sewer line, and Water Corporation says one 100 mm junction can serve up to five home units. Tell us when you ring, and we’ll check the shared section first.

Inner north · Blocked drains, Vincent to the CBD

Blocked drains in North Perth, Mount Lawley, Leederville and the city

A lot of this ground was wetland once. Convicts drained Lake Georgianna, south of today’s Leederville Oval, and the swamps where Northbridge’s railway lines now run. Much of Mount Lawley sits on the old Perth Wetlands, drained between 1832 and the 1880s. Solid brick homes went up from the early 1900s, then apartments, offices and cafés, so the drains under these streets have had a long and busy life.

The short answer

McDermott Plumbing clears blocked drains, toilets and sinks in North Perth, Mount Hawthorn, Leederville, West Leederville, Mount Lawley, Inglewood, Highgate, Northbridge, East Perth, West Perth and the Perth CBD. Call (08) 6187 3999 or text 0406 882 648. We’re based in Ellenbrook, so we’ll give you a real arrival time, and for apartments and offices we’ll sort out access with the building manager. We clear with a drain machine or the hydro jetter, and use a CCTV drain camera to find roots or a broken section in old lines. If sewage is overflowing from Water Corporation’s main or onto the street, call Water Corporation on 13 13 75 as well.

North Perth, Mount Hawthorn and Leederville

North Perth is mostly solid brick homes built from the early 1900s, and many are now being heavily renovated. Mount Hawthorn’s Hawthorn Estate was subdivided in 1903, and Anzac Cottage on Kalgoorlie Street was famously built in a single day in February 1916. The Leeder Estate was cut into house lots in 1891. Most of West Leederville was subdivided before 1903 and built on before 1925, and many of those first houses still stand, renovated or next to newer two-storey homes.

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. On these streets the house drains can be many decades old, with big trees above them, and renovations often tie new PVC into the old line. That joint is where we find roots and snags most often.

Mount Lawley, Inglewood and Highgate

Mount Lawley’s first estates were laid out between 1889 and 1901, and the suburb was formally proclaimed in 1901. Inglewood filled in two booms, from 1904 to 1920 and again from 1935 to 1940, and has 1960s flats and newer units among its character homes. Highgate still has the Lincoln Street Vent, a disused Art Deco sewer vent finished in 1935, a reminder that sewers have run under these streets since at least the 1930s.

Many blocks here have been subdivided, with a unit or second house out the back. Water Corporation says a 100 mm sewer junction can serve up to five home units, so a blockage on a shared line can back up into more than one home. If your neighbour’s toilet or gully is playing up too, tell us.

Northbridge, the CBD, East Perth and West Perth

Northbridge became its own suburb in 1982 and is Perth’s main nightlife district, centred on James Street and Lake Street, with restaurants, cafés and bars going back to the post-war migration of the 1950s and ’60s. East Perth has been the state’s largest inner-city renewal project, and West Perth is largely offices. Here a blocked drain usually means a shared stack in an apartment block, a kitchen line in a café, or a toilet in an office that can’t wait until Monday.

Tell us the building and who manages it. We’ll arrange access with the building or strata manager and be clear about which part is your lot and which is common property. We clear kitchen lines and floor wastes, but pumping out a grease trap is a liquid-waste contractor’s job, not ours.

What blocks drains in the inner north

Tree roots in old clay and earthenware house drains under established gardens and street trees.
Old-to-new pipe joints left by renovations, extensions and subdivisions.
Fat from café, restaurant and home kitchens. Water Corporation says fats, oils and grease hardening in pipes cause 30% of its wastewater blockages.
Wet wipes and paper towel in apartment and office toilets, which can block a stack shared by several floors.

Blocked sink in Leederville or North Perth?

In an older North Perth or Mount Hawthorn kitchen, a sink that keeps slowing down is often grease in an old waste pipe that has narrowed over the years, or a renovation that left too little fall in the pipe. In a Leederville or Northbridge apartment, ask the neighbours first. If their sinks are slow too, the shared stack may be blocked, which is a job for the building manager. If only your sink is slow, our blocked kitchen sink guide covers the safe checks. If the toilet or shower is backing up as well, stop using water and call.

How we clear it

We clear from the inspection shaft or the nearest sensible access point. That might be a drain machine for a simple choke, or the hydro jetter for roots and fat. In old lines, the CCTV drain camera shows whether roots are coming through a cracked joint and how far along the pipe it is, so you can decide what to do about that section. Jetting won’t fix a broken pipe, and we’ll be straight about any repair we don’t do ourselves.

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: North Perth, Mount Hawthorn, Leederville, West Leederville, Mount Lawley, Inglewood, Highgate, Northbridge, East Perth, West Perth and the Perth CBD.

Common questions

Why does the drain in my old North Perth house keep blocking?: Most often it’s tree roots in an old clay house drain, or a snag where a renovation joined new pipe to the original line. We clear it, and a drain camera shows where the problem is so you can decide whether to have that section repaired.
Can you clear a blocked drain in a Northbridge or CBD apartment?: Yes. Tell us the building and the building or strata manager’s details, and we’ll arrange access. If it’s a shared stack, we’ll be clear about what’s your lot and what’s common property.
Do you pump out grease traps for cafés?: No. That’s a job for a licensed liquid-waste contractor. We do clear blocked kitchen lines, floor wastes and toilets in cafés and restaurants.
The unit behind mine has a blocked drain too. Is it the same blockage?: Possibly. Subdivided blocks often share a sewer line, and Water Corporation says one 100 mm junction can serve up to five home units. Tell us when you ring, and we’ll check the shared section first.
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.

More Perth plumbing help

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