Blocked drains on the Northern Beaches, cleared properly. BMH Plumbing Solutions is a licensed blocked drain plumber based in Frenchs Forest. We clear slow, gurgling or overflowing drains with high-pressure jet blasting, then use a CCTV camera to find the cause so it doesn't keep coming back.
Clearing the blockage is only half the job. We find why it happened so you're not calling a plumber back for the same drain in a month. If the camera turns up something that isn't the drain, we're a general plumber across the Northern Beaches too.
Cuts through grease, roots and build-up to clear the pipe properly.
We see inside the pipe to find the exact blockage and its cause.
Roots cut out of the line, with advice to keep them from returning.
We pinpoint the blockage or damage so any repair is targeted, not guesswork.
Drains that keep blocking traced back to the real cause and fixed.
Blocked stormwater pits, sewer lines and drainage points cleared.
Nearly every blocked drain we go to is one of six things. Knowing which one it is changes what the fix costs and whether it stays fixed, which is why we put a camera down before we quote anything beyond clearing it.
Roots are drawn to the moisture and air in a sewer line and get in through the smallest crack or an old rubber joint. Once inside they keep growing into the flow. This is the most common cause we find on the Northern Beaches, because the established streets here are full of mature trees sitting right over the line.
Fat poured down a kitchen sink cools within a metre or two and sticks to the pipe wall. It builds up a layer at a time until the pipe is a fraction of its diameter, then one bit of food scrap bridges the gap and the whole thing stops.
Wipes labelled flushable do not break down the way toilet paper does. They catch on anything rough inside the pipe, then collect everything that comes after them. A wipe blockage is usually a solid mass rather than a gradual build-up.
Older earthenware and clay lines crack as the ground moves. Once a section drops or a joint separates, waste catches at the lip every time it passes. Clearing it helps for a few weeks and then it blocks again, which is the giveaway.
Toys, cleaning cloths, bottle caps and the occasional phone. These usually block hard and fast with no warning, and a camera finds them quickly because the pipe is clear right up to the object.
Stormwater pits fill with leaves and sand, then the first heavy downpour has nowhere to go and backs up across the yard or into a side passage. This one is seasonal and shows up after the first real storm of the season.
Tell us what the drain's doing and where. We'll get out to you fast.
A CCTV camera shows the blockage and pinpoints exactly where it is.
Jet blasting cuts through the blockage and clears the pipe out.
We tell you what caused it and what it'd take to stop it returning.
A plunger and a bit of patience will fix plenty of things. These are the ones where it is worth getting a camera down the line instead, because clearing the symptom will not hold.
A single slow basin is usually a local problem under that fixture. When the shower, the toilet and the laundry are all sluggish, the blockage is further down the line where everything joins, and that is a different job.
Air being pushed back past a water seal. If the toilet gurgles when the washing machine empties, the line is partly blocked downstream of both.
A drain that blocks on a schedule is not being caused by what you are putting down it. That pattern almost always means roots or a damaged section, and clearing alone will not change it.
An overflow relief gully in the yard that surges, or a shower that fills when the toilet flushes. That means the main line is blocked, not a branch, and it is worth getting onto quickly.
Standing waste in a partly blocked line, or a cracked pipe letting it escape into the ground. A camera tells the two apart.
Points at stormwater rather than sewer, or at groundwater getting into a damaged sewer line through the same crack the roots came in by.
Drainage problems follow the housing stock and the ground it sits on, and the beaches have a particular mix of both. We have written up how that plays out in Frenchs Forest, Allambie Heights and Balgowlah.
A lot of the area was built out decades ago and the trees have had that long to grow. Roots and older sewer lines end up in the same ground, and root intrusion is the single most common thing our camera finds.
Plenty of homes here still run on their original line. Those materials are fine until the ground shifts, and then it is cracked joints rather than a build-up causing the repeat blockages.
Narrow side passages running down a slope collect leaf litter and silt, and the pit at the bottom does the work for the whole block. When it fills, the water goes somewhere it should not.
Stormwater that copes all year gets found out by the first serious downpour. Most of the stormwater calls we take come in a cluster over a few days after a big one.
The usual culprits are tree roots getting into the pipe, a build-up of grease and food, wet wipes and foreign objects, or an older pipe that's cracked or collapsed. A camera shows us exactly which it is.
Not if we deal with the cause. Jet blasting clears it properly and the CCTV camera shows whether there's root intrusion or a damaged pipe that needs fixing, so it doesn't just return in a few weeks.
Yes. We use a CCTV drain camera to see inside the pipe, find the exact blockage and pinpoint its location, so any repair is targeted rather than guesswork.
It depends on where the blockage is, what it is made of and whether there is a usable access point, so we will not put a figure on it over the phone. We have written up what actually drives the price of clearing a drain, and you get the number from us before any work starts.
Most straightforward blockages are cleared the same visit. The jet blasting itself is usually the quick part. What takes the time is getting the camera down afterwards and working out what caused it, and that is the part worth not skipping, because clearing without diagnosing is how you end up calling a plumber about the same drain in a month.
Often, yes, and we would rather tell you that than charge you for it. A plunger on a single slow fixture, or pulling the hair out of a shower waste, fixes a fair share of them. What you cannot shift with a plunger, or anything where more than one fixture is affected, is a line problem rather than a fixture problem.
Generally not, and they can make things worse. They are poor against roots, which is the most common cause here, and caustic products can damage older pipework and leave a hot, corrosive mess in the line for whoever opens it next. If it has not worked after one go, more of it will not help.
That pattern is the useful one. A drain that blocks on a schedule is rarely about what is going down it. It usually means roots are getting back in, or there is a cracked or dropped section that catches waste every time. Both show up clearly on a camera, and both need the cause fixed rather than the blockage cleared again.
High-pressure water on a hose, with a head that drives itself up the line and cuts through what it finds. On sound pipework it is safe and it is the most thorough way to clear grease and roots, because it scours the pipe wall rather than punching a hole through the middle. If the camera shows a line that is already badly damaged, we tell you before rather than after.
If the problem is on your side of the boundary it is yours. If it is in the water authority's main it is theirs. Locating the blockage tells you which side of the line it sits on, which matters before anyone starts digging. We will tell you straight if it is one for Sydney Water rather than for us.
Yes. Sewage surfacing in a yard or backing up inside is not something to leave overnight. More detail on our emergency plumbing page.
The whole Northern Beaches. That includes Frenchs Forest, Allambie Heights, Forestville, Killarney Heights, Belrose, Davidson, Beacon Hill, Cromer, Narraweena, Wheeler Heights, Brookvale, Dee Why, Balgowlah, Seaforth, Manly, Freshwater, Collaroy, Narrabeen, Elanora Heights, Mona Vale, Bilgola and the surrounding suburbs.
Yes. BMH Plumbing Solutions is a fully licensed and insured plumber, NSW Licence 322273C.
Get it cleared and diagnosed properly. Call a licensed local plumber and we'll sort it.
Licensed & insured · NSW Lic. 322273C · Available 24/7.