Plumber Rooty Hill, NSW 2766
Rooty Hill is a flat post-war suburb between Doonside and Mount Druitt on the Great Western Highway, known across Sydney for Rooty Hill RSL and the West HQ entertainment precinct. It has fibro cottages near the station, brick veneer estates from the 1960s and 70s, and a strip of public housing on the Mount Druitt side. The M7 and Blacktown International Sportspark sit on its eastern edge, and Eastern Creek runs beside them.
What usually goes wrong in Rooty Hill
- Earthenware sewers under post-war cottages broken by clay movement and blocked with tree roots
- Grease and sanitary blockages in the clubs, hotels and function venues around Rooty Hill RSL
- Galvanised water pipes in unrenovated fibro homes rusting through and dropping to a trickle
- Outdoor hot water systems failing after summers of extreme heat on exposed western walls
- Flooded yards and sewer surcharge on the low streets toward Eastern Creek and Angus Creek after heavy rain
Local notes from the plumbers
Rooty Hill splits into old and older. The fibro and weatherboard cottages around the station and Rooty Hill Road date from the 1950s, and the ones that have not been gutted still run galvanised water lines and earthenware sewers, both past their life. The galvanised pipe rusts from the inside until the kitchen tap barely runs; the earthenware cracks at the joints as the Cumberland Plain clay moves under it and the eucalypts and liquidambars in the older gardens take over the line. The 1960s and 70s brick veneer streets toward the M7 have the same sewer problems with copper in the walls instead, now at pinhole age, and hot water tanks on western walls that cook through summer. Rooty Hill RSL, West HQ and the venues around them make this a busy commercial patch, with grease traps, floor waste overflows and hot water demand to match. The suburb drains east to Eastern Creek and Angus Creek, and after a summer thunderstorm the low streets on that side hold water while overflow gullies surcharge. The Great Western Highway and the M7 are the quickest ways in.
Housing in Rooty Hill
1950s and 60s fibro and weatherboard cottages near the station and Rooty Hill Road, 1960s and 70s brick veneer homes on flat blocks toward the M7 and Eastern Creek, 1970s Housing Commission housing on the western edge toward Mount Druitt, and townhouse and duplex infill from the 2000s on.
