Deer Park
Blocked, burst or leaking in Deer Park?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Deer Park, from the ICI company township to the estates west of the old plant, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Deer Park
A company township and its newer neighbours
The old explosives factory housed its workers in a scheme of three distinct styles, interwar and wartime. Houses of that period are likely to keep some earthenware sewer and galvanised water pipe, so roots at clay joints and rusted supply lines are both on the list.
The postwar cottages are small concrete-walled houses with pressed metal gables. A new pipe through a concrete wall means core drilling, and a vent or downpipe renewed on a pressed metal roof needs a matching flashing.
In the mid seventies, land west of the plant and a Commonwealth reserve was subdivided for housing. Homes from that release probably have vitrified clay or early PVC drains, where a blockage is more often a root at a joint or a sag than a collapse.
Jobs in Deer Park
Company houses and seventies drains
Blocked drains
Clay joints in the company houses and sags in the seventies estates.
Burst pipes
Old galvanised supply lines in the interwar township, repaired inside the boundary.
Gutters and downpipes
Downpipes and flashings matched on pressed metal roofs.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Deer Park questions
Permits in the ICI precinct, and older pipes
Does the ICI heritage area need a permit for downpipes?
Usually. The ICI Residential heritage area is a rare and distinctive company township of state significance, under a heritage overlay, so replacing visible gutters, downpipes or external pipework on a contributing house is likely to need a planning permit first.
Is galvanised pipe still in the older company houses?
In places it may be. Low pressure or rusty water at the tap points to it, and the supply line from the meter to the house is checked before anything is replaced.
Can a camera tell clay from PVC?
Yes. The picture shows the pipe wall and every joint, so the material and the fault are both clear before a price is given.
