A short guide to what you can try at home, what is wasting your time, and the point where a CCTV camera and a drainlayer saves more money than a $30 supermarket chemical.
Blocked drains are one of the most common call-outs Tony gets, and a fair number of them could have been cleared by the homeowner. Others arrive after weeks of DIY attempts that made the blockage worse. Knowing which side of the line your blockage is on saves money.
Try this first
- Boiling water down a kitchen sink — clears soft fat and soap residue.
- A cup of baking soda followed by a cup of white vinegar, left to sit 15 minutes, then flushed with hot water.
- A standard rubber plunger on a sink or toilet — works on most domestic blockages if you commit to a proper seal.
- For a hair-clogged shower drain, remove the grate and pull out the obvious clump.
If any of the above resolves it, you are done. If the blockage is back within a week, or the gully outside is overflowing, stop and call.
What to avoid
Supermarket caustic drain cleaners (the bright-green bottles) are a popular DIY step that often makes things worse. They sit in the pipework, can damage older PVC joins, and have to be carefully neutralised before a drainlayer can dig in safely. They also do not touch the cause of most outdoor blockages — tree roots and collapsed pipe.
When to call a drainlayer
- Outdoor gully trap overflowing when you flush the toilet.
- More than one fixture draining slowly (sink and shower together — a sign the blockage is downstream of both).
- Recurring blockage in the same drain (a partial collapse or root intrusion).
- You can hear gurgling from drains you are not using.
- You can smell sewer gas around the outside of the house.
How a drainlayer clears it
A CCTV drain camera is the first move — it locates the blockage and identifies the cause before any digging or jetting starts. From there, a high-pressure water jet (1,500 to 4,000 psi) clears soft blockages, roots and grease buildup without damaging the pipe. For a collapsed or root-fractured section, the camera marks the spot exactly so the dig is targeted — not exploratory.
Tony is a certified drainlayer and runs a CCTV inspection on every drainage call-out. The camera footage stays with you afterward as a record.