5 Common Causes of Blocked Drains and How to Prevent Them

Posted by Local Sydney Blocked Drains on 21 Oct 2025

Blocked drains are an inconvenience that could cause disruption to your daily life. They can result in smelly water damage, bad odours, and even health risks. If not promptly dealt with blocked drains may cause serious issues in the plumbing system, leading to expensive maintenance or repairs.

Key Takeaways

  • Drains that are blocked can interrupt your routine and can lead to the destruction of your home, bad smells, and even health issues.
  • The fat, oil and grease build-up can clog the pipes’ walls, causing blockages; avoid pouring grease down the drain. Alternatively, use hot water and soap while cleaning dishes.
  • The roots of trees naturally expand into the soil to search for nutrients, which could cause serious damage, and also block the pipes completely which can cause flooding. Ensure you keep trees in the vicinity of drainage systems by pruning them.
  • Disposing of non-biodegradable materials like wet wipes, towels, etc. can result in nasty smells emanating around toilets/bin areas; only use toilet paper to flush down toilet.
  • Hair

In this article, we will examine five of the most common reasons for blocked drains and ways to prevent them from happening.

Cause 1. Grease, oil and fat buildup

Fat, grease, and oil may seem like harmless substances to drain down the toilet, but over time they accumulate within the wall of the pipes causing an obstruction. In this case the water can’t move freely through the drainpipes. It is best to avoid spilling grease in the drain, or utilize soap and hot water during cleaning dishes since it can help break down grease-based substances.

Cause 2: Tree Roots

In time, the tree roots naturally extend their roots into the earth looking for nutrients. This means that they grow toward underground pipes. Once they are inside the pipes, tree roots can cause massive damage and could completely block them, causing flooding. Therefore, it is essential that if have trees around that you maintain the growth of your trees around drainage systems, by trimming them regularly.

Cause 3: Unwanted items

It’s not difficult to conclude that flushing non-biodegradable things like toilet paper, wet wipes etc. will not cause any major problems in the long term, However, when a lot of these items go down toilets they will resultantly accumulate pushing others aside which can cause unpleasant odors to emanate around toilets/bin areas too! Make sure to remember what should be flushed and which shouldn’t (i. the only toilet paper needs to be flushed).

Cause 4 Hair

Additional Information

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Are you experiencing a clogged toilet, blocked shower drain, overflowing drains or an issue with your kitchen sink? We can help you sort out your drain blockage problem quickly and provide the following services:

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