Aspendale
Blocked, burst or leaking in Aspendale?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Aspendale, from the old racecourse to Secondary Drain, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Aspendale
Old racecourse ground and a late eastern edge
Victorian Places records that the Aspendale racecourse closed and became a motor racing venue, and that its space was reserved for postwar housing. Houses there are likely to have earthenware sewers of that period, and roots or failed joints are the usual finds, so a camera is the sensible first step.
New housing only reached Secondary Drain, the eastern boundary, by the early 1980s. Those streets are more likely to have PVC drains than earthenware, so a blockage there is not assumed to be the same fault as in the older beach streets.
Kingston Council has described the suburb as a low-lying coastal environment when arguing over the level crossing design. A high water table and little fall to the street are likely, and stormwater can back up in heavy rain without any pipe being blocked.
Jobs in Aspendale
Postwar earthenware and newer plastic
Blocked drains
Postwar earthenware on the racecourse ground, and newer PVC toward the east.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera to tell an old joint failure from a shifted pipe in sand.
Gutters and downpipes
Downpipes and pits on flat coastal lots where stormwater is slow to clear.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Aspendale questions
Dune sand, a listed school site and trench walls
Is digging on the old school site restricted?
Possibly. The former Mordialloc High School caretaker's cottage site is on the Victorian Heritage Inventory, which notes buried features may survive, so Heritage Victoria is asked before ground is opened for a drain or sewer connection.
Why do pipes move in sandy ground?
Heritage Victoria describes the landform at that school site as a modified inland dune. Sand drains well but trench walls slump and pipes can shift as it moves, so bedding and joint movement are more likely faults than cracked clay.
What should be checked before blaming a stormwater pipe?
Whether the street system is full. On low coastal ground the council pits can back up into a yard during a storm, so the line is tested once the water has gone down.
