Hawthorn
Blocked, burst or leaking in Hawthorn?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Hawthorn, from the Grace Park Estate to the low-lying cottage pockets, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Hawthorn
Land boom villas, worker cottages and flats
Hawthorn grew fast in the land boom, when grand Victorian houses went up in subdivisions like the Grace Park Estate. Drains under houses that old are likely earthenware or clay, with cast iron or galvanised pipe patched many times, so cracked joints and roots are expected.
Working families of the same era lived in timber cottages on low-lying subdivisions. Stormwater is slower to get away there, so a blocked pit or downpipe line floods a yard sooner, and the grade of the old drain matters as much as the blockage itself.
Later, big old houses were cut into rental flats or pulled down for new ones, and by the early eighties over forty-five percent of Hawthorn's housing stock was flats. A blocked drain here is often common property rather than one owner's pipe.
Jobs in Hawthorn
Boom era sewers and common branches
Blocked drains
Common branches under converted flats, and patched clay below boom era houses.
Pipe relining
A lining for a long earthenware run under an established garden.
Gutters and downpipes
Roof plumbing seen from the front, checked against the overlay before it changes.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Hawthorn questions
Planning reports, a proposed overlay and old flats
Can heritage controls affect gutters on a Hawthorn house?
Often. Boroondara's heritage gap study assessed the suburb, and its Hawthorn amendment, C284boro Part One, was gazetted, adding places to the Heritage Overlay. Inside an overlay, new gutters, downpipes or external pipework visible from the front can need a planning permit, so the planning property report is read first.
Is a further heritage overlay proposed?
Yes, for one more group of houses. Boroondara adopted a heritage study there and resolved to start an amendment for a proposed overlay, which is not yet in force. Before visible downpipes or pipework change in that area, the plumber checks whether it has since taken effect.
Who pays to clear a shared drain under flats?
Usually the owners corporation, when the blockage is in the common branch. The plumber traces which units feed the line, and a fault inside one unit's own pipe stays with that owner.
