Plumbing advice

Preparing your drainage for the rainy season

A few hours of work in April and September prevents most of the flooding, blocked gullies and damp walls we are called to in the rains.

Start at the roof

Gutters fill with leaves, sand and roofing debris over the dry season. Clear them, then run water from a hose and watch every downpipe outlet: if a downpipe backs up, it is blocked at a bend or at the base. Check that gutters actually fall towards the outlets — sagging gutters hold water and rot fascia boards.

Then the ground

Every downpipe should discharge somewhere deliberate: a gully, a drain or a soakaway, not onto the ground beside the foundation. Lift gully gratings and clear silt. Walk the external drains and chambers; a chamber that is full of standing water before the rains have started is already blocked downstream.

Inside the compound

Floor drains in car ports, wash areas and kitchens should be cleaned and flushed. Check that surface water has a route off the compound that does not run through the house or against a boundary wall. Where water pools every year in the same place, the fix is usually a small channel drain or a re-graded surface — a day’s civil works rather than a season of mopping.

What we see when it goes wrong

The calls we get in the rains are rarely mysterious: a downpipe discharging against a wall for three years until the plaster fails, a soakaway that silted up a decade ago, an external drain laid without fall. All of them were cheaper to fix in the dry season.

When to bring us in

If clearing gullies and gutters does not restore flow, if a chamber refills immediately after being emptied, or if water is entering the building, book a drainage survey. We trace the run, find the fault and give you options — clear, repair or rebuild — with the cost agreed before we start.