Blocked Drains Johnsonville

Johnsonville drains: 1938 state houses and the hill streets above

Johnsonville's sewer history is shorter than you might think. Until a main sewer was completed in 1953, the town's sewage went to a septic tank in the Ngauranga Gorge. The state houses built on the former reserve from 1938, starting in Bould Street, went up while that system was still in place, and by 1956 a total of 329 had been built. Many of those homes still drain through older lines, and connections from that period are now well past seventy years old.

In that housing, blockages tend to come from age rather than misuse. Joints loosen, a section sags, roots work their way in, and the line starts catching paper. We clear it with a drain machine, test flush, and if it is a repeat call, run a camera to show you what the pipe looks like. Kitchens and bathrooms in many of these homes have been redone more than once, so the waste pipes inside are often newer than the drain outside, and the blockage is usually in the older part.

Above the basin at the top of the Ngauranga Gorge, housing spreads to the base of Mt Kaukau and over the hill towards Newlands. Those sections have longer, steeper runs, and stormwater has to be piped away from banks. On any Johnsonville property, the owner looks after the pipe on their side of the boundary, with the council covering any part under the road.

Local tip: If you own one of Johnsonville's early state houses, ask for a camera check of the outside drain the first time it blocks, because the pipe may well be original.