Edithvale
Blocked, burst or leaking in Edithvale?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Edithvale, from the beach streets to Edithvale Common, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Edithvale
Holiday houses by the beach, swamp to the east
By the end of the twenties this was a substantial beach suburb, but Victorian Places notes that in most of the short streets near the beach at least half the dwellings were holiday houses. Many have since been rebuilt or altered more than once, so mixed pipe materials are likely, and a camera comes before a price.
The Encyclopedia of Melbourne says the suburb later became a permanent address for low income earners seeking cheap homes. Modest early houses often kept their original earthenware drains and galvanised pipes, so cracked joints, roots and corroded supply lines turn up in the older housing.
Eastwards toward Secondary Drain the land was swampy, and drainage works turned it into the Chelsea public golf course and the Common. Soft ground lets a drain settle until its joints open.
Jobs in Edithvale
Mixed pipes and soft eastern ground
Blocked drains
Old earthenware in modest early houses, cracked or root-entered at the joints.
Burst pipes
Corroded galvanised supply lines in the older beach housing.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera to trace drains that now run under later additions.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Edithvale questions
A pumped outlet, extensions and groundwater
Why does water pond in the yard after a storm?
Kingston's flood project for the north of the suburb built large pipes and pumps through Edithvale Common, which the council says improved the stormwater outlet. Because the street drains rely on a pumped outlet, the council system is checked for surcharging before ponding is treated as a private blockage.
Who looks after a drain that runs under an extension?
The owner, as part of the house drain. Access is the hard part, so the plumber traces the run with a camera and prices a lining or a reroute rather than lifting a floor.
Does groundwater affect a drain repair in the eastern streets?
It can. On drained swamp the water table is likely to sit high, so a trench may need pumping, and that is part of why relining is often weighed up first there.
