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Getting Maroubra drains and gutters ready for storm season

Spring is the time to look at your stormwater, before the summer storms roll in off the ocean. In Maroubra, the first big downpour of the season is when we hear about overflowing gutters, pits bubbling up in the backyard and water coming under the laundry door. Most of it can be avoided with a few simple checks now. Here's what to look at, what the warning signs mean, and when it's time to call us.

Why Maroubra homes get caught out

A few things about Maroubra make storm season harder on drains than in many other suburbs:

• Sand everywhere. The whole suburb sits on sandy soil, from the streets behind the beach up to Maroubra Junction. Wind and rain carry that sand into grates, pits and pipes, where it settles and slowly chokes them.
• Older pipes. Many of the brick and fibro homes built between the 1930s and 1960s still have their original clay stormwater lines. Joints shift, roots find their way in, and sections crack under driveways.
• More hard surfaces. Over the years plenty of backyards have been paved, decks added and side paths concreted. All that extra run-off goes into pipes and pits that were sized for a lawn.
• Slopes and low spots. Homes on the slopes above the beach send water downhill fast, while blocks in the flatter, lower pockets of the suburb can take a long time to drain.
• Salt air and wind. Closer to Marine Parade and South Maroubra, sea spray and strong winds add leaves, sand and corrosion to gutters and downpipes.

Your storm season checklist

You can do most of this yourself on a dry weekend. Only work on the roof or ladders if it's safe for you to do so.

1. Gutters and downpipes

Clear leaves, sand and bird nests from the gutters. Run a hose into each gutter and check the water drains quickly down every downpipe. If it backs up or spills over the edge, the downpipe or the pipe underneath is likely blocked.

2. Pits and grated drains

Lift the grates on every pit and the strip drains across driveways and patios. Scoop out silt, sand and leaves. If the pit is full of standing water on a dry day, the outlet pipe is probably blocked or broken.

3. The kerb outlet

Find where your stormwater comes out in the street gutter. On many Maroubra streets these outlets fill with sand or get cracked by parked cars. If it's full, or it stays dry in heavy rain while your pits overflow, something is wrong between the house and the street.

4. Ground levels around the house

Garden beds, paving and turf should slope away from the walls, not towards them. Look for spots where water has pooled against the house before, especially at back doors, laundries and garages.

5. The subfloor and walls

A musty smell under the house, damp patches low on internal walls or white salt marks on brickwork can all point to stormwater soaking in where it shouldn't.

Warning signs you need a plumber

• Gutters overflow even after they've been cleaned
• Water bubbles up out of a pit or around the base of a downpipe
• Puddles sit against the house for days after rain
• Pavers are sinking, or there's a soft patch in the lawn along the line of a pipe
• Water has come inside during a storm before
• Your pits keep filling with sand no matter how often you clean them

Any of these usually means a blockage, a broken pipe or a system that's too small for the water it gets. Cleaning the top of a pit won't fix a broken pipe a metre under the lawn.

What we do

We start by finding the cause. Our high-pressure jet blaster flushes sand, silt and roots out of pipes and pits. Then a CCTV drain camera shows what's inside: cracks, roots, collapsed sections and dips where water sits. You see the footage, and it's yours to keep. Before any work starts you get your options and a fixed price. Depending on what we find, that might be clearing and maintenance, relining a damaged section without digging up the yard, replacing a broken pipe, fitting a new pit or grated drain, or repairing a kerb outlet. More on how we handle it on our stormwater page.

Don't make these storm season mistakes

• Never connect stormwater to the sewer. It's not allowed and it can cause sewage overflows in heavy rain. If a downpipe has nowhere to go, ask us for the right fix.
• Don't ignore a pit that overflowed last year. Problems like this get worse, not better, and the next storm will find the same weak spot.
• Don't hose sand into the pits when you clean paths and driveways. Sweep it up instead.

Read more: our stormwater guide, stormwater rules for homeowners and tree roots guide. Drain blocked inside the house too? See blocked drains in Maroubra, or visit our Maroubra plumber page. More plumbing tips.