Do you clear blocked drains in Osborne Park business units?

Yes. Staff toilets, lunchroom and café sinks, floor wastes and shared lines in industrial and strata complexes. Tell us about access, keys and any site rules when you book.

Can you pump out our grease trap?

No. Grease trap and separator pumping is done by licensed liquid-waste contractors. We clear blocked drains and sinks, and we’ll tell you if a grease trap looks like the reason the drain is backing up.

A shared line in our complex keeps blocking. Who pays?

It depends on where the blockage is and what the lease or strata by-laws say. Tell us who manages the complex when you book. We note on the invoice where we found the blockage and what caused it, so the right party can sort out the cost.

Why do drains in older Tuart Hill and Joondanna homes keep blocking?

Most often it’s roots from established trees getting into an old house drain through a crack or joint. We clear it, and a drain camera shows where the roots are getting in, so you can decide whether that section is worth repairing.

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.

Inner north · Blocked drains, Osborne Park to Tuart Hill

Blocked drains in Osborne Park, Balcatta, Joondanna and Tuart Hill

Chinese, Italian and Yugoslav growers worked Osborne Park first, on rich peaty soil from the swamps between Lake Monger and Herdsman Lake, and in 1912 most of those swamps were drained into Herdsman Lake to help the gardens. Houses came after the Second World War. By the 1980s the suburb had turned mostly industrial, and Scarborough Beach Road is now one long run of car yards. A blocked drain here could be a workshop toilet, a café sink on Main Street or a house drain in Joondanna.

The short answer

McDermott Plumbing clears blocked drains, toilets and sinks in Osborne Park, Balcatta, Stirling, Glendalough, Herdsman, Joondanna and Tuart Hill, in homes and in business units. Call (08) 6187 3999 or text 0406 882 648. It’s a cross-town run from our Ellenbrook base, so we’ll give you a real arrival time when you ring. We clear with a drain machine or the hydro jetter, and use a CCTV drain camera when a line keeps blocking. We don’t pump out grease traps. If sewage is overflowing from Water Corporation’s main or onto the street, call Water Corporation on 13 13 75 as well.

Osborne Park and Herdsman: workshops, showrooms and cafés

Most of Osborne Park is now warehouses, car yards, showrooms and small businesses, with cafés and shops along Main Street, and only the north-east corner stayed residential. Herdsman’s light industrial park around Walters Drive went in during the 1980s, on swamp north of the lake that was reclaimed by dredging when Jon Sanders Drive was built. Before that, businesses on Scarborough Beach Road backed straight onto the swamp.

In these units a blocked drain usually means a staff toilet, a lunchroom sink or a floor waste, often in a complex where several tenancies share one line. Tell us about opening hours, keys, alarms and any site induction when you book, and whether the unit next door is having trouble too. We clear the drain. Pumping out a grease trap or separator is work for a licensed liquid-waste contractor, so we don’t offer it.

Glendalough, Joondanna and Tuart Hill

Glendalough was one of the State Housing Commission’s first projects after the Second World War. It bought land there in 1949, surveyed five new streets and saw the suburb gazetted in 1954, and in 1974 the Mitchell Freeway cut it in half. Joondanna Heights was the first declared township in the Perth Road District, gazetted in 1939. Tuart Hill is named for the tuart trees that once grew thickly around Dog Swamp, and the Osborne Park Agricultural Society has held its show at Robinson Reserve there since 1914.

Plenty of homes in these streets still drain through their original pipe. Water Corporation says homes more than 15 years old are less likely to have PVC sewer pipe, and that a hairline crack is enough for a root to get in. These house drains are many times that age, under street trees and gardens that have had a long time to find a joint.

Balcatta and Stirling: market gardens to suburbs

Balcatta was mostly market gardens before the 1960s. Homes and industry grew from the 1970s, and many Southern European families built their own houses there. Some of those lots are now being split into units and villas. Stirling was part of Balcatta until its name was approved in 1976, and most of it was subdivided and built over the next eight years.

When a block is split, the new units often share part of the drain before it reaches the sewer junction. Water Corporation says a 100 mm junction can serve up to five home units. If the house at the front and the villa at the back both slow down at once, the blockage is probably in the shared section.

What blocks drains around Osborne Park

Paper towel, wipes and grease from staff toilets and lunchroom sinks in business units. Water Corporation says wipes and paper towel belong in the bin.
Coffee grounds, food scraps and fat from café and staff kitchens. Water Corporation says fats, oils and grease cause 30% of its wastewater blockages, and that coffee grounds and food scraps shouldn’t go down the drain.
Shared lines across tenancies in industrial and strata complexes.
Tree roots in older house drains in Glendalough, Joondanna, Tuart Hill and Balcatta.
New-to-old joints where a lot was split into units or villas.

Blocked sink in Osborne Park?

At work, a blocked lunchroom or café sink is usually grease, coffee grounds and scraps in the trap and the short waste under the bench. If the staff toilet or a floor waste is slow as well, the problem is further down the shared line, so tell us whether the neighbouring units are affected. At home in an older Tuart Hill or Joondanna kitchen, the waste pipe under the sink may be old metal pipe that has narrowed inside, so grease catches sooner. Start with the safe checks in our blocked kitchen sink guide and skip the caustic cleaners. If more than one fixture is backing up, stop using water and call.

How we clear it

We clear from the inspection opening, gully or nearest sensible access point, with a drain machine for a simple choke or the hydro jetter for grease, paper and roots. For a business, tell us when the site is quiet and we’ll try to fit around it. If the same line keeps blocking, the CCTV drain camera shows where and why. Jetting doesn’t repair a broken pipe. If we find one, we’ll tell you what we can fix and what we’d refer on.

If the blockage turns out to be 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: Osborne Park, Balcatta, Stirling, Glendalough, Herdsman, Joondanna and Tuart Hill.

Common questions

Do you clear blocked drains in Osborne Park business units?: Yes. Staff toilets, lunchroom and café sinks, floor wastes and shared lines in industrial and strata complexes. Tell us about access, keys and any site rules when you book.
Can you pump out our grease trap?: No. Grease trap and separator pumping is done by licensed liquid-waste contractors. We clear blocked drains and sinks, and we’ll tell you if a grease trap looks like the reason the drain is backing up.
A shared line in our complex keeps blocking. Who pays?: It depends on where the blockage is and what the lease or strata by-laws say. Tell us who manages the complex when you book. We note on the invoice where we found the blockage and what caused it, so the right party can sort out the cost.
Why do drains in older Tuart Hill and Joondanna homes keep blocking?: Most often it’s roots from established trees getting into an old house drain through a crack or joint. We clear it, and a drain camera shows where the roots are getting in, so you can decide whether that section is worth repairing.
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 16 October 2026. General information only. Every property is different, so call us to talk about yours.

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