Hoppers Crossing
Blocked, burst or leaking in Hoppers Crossing?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Hoppers Crossing, from the first sixties estates to Skeleton Creek, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Hoppers Crossing
Two building booms and two kinds of pipe
Subdivision began in the early sixties, and substantial growth was under way by the early seventies. Original houses in those first estates commonly have earthenware sewers with cement joints and galvanised water services, so roots at the joints and corroded, low flow pipes are what a plumber expects.
The shopping centre opened in the early eighties and a period of strong growth followed, so most housing dates from the eighties and nineties. PVC sewers and copper water pipe were standard by then, and the faults are failed glued joints, ground settlement and tired hot water units rather than clay and roots.
Open space here is mostly linear, running along drainage reserves and beside the Skeleton Creek on the eastern boundary. Houses backing onto those reserves sit where the estate stormwater collects, so a blocked or undersized drain backs up there first in heavy rain.
Jobs in Hoppers Crossing
Clay in the first estates, PVC in the rest
Blocked drains
Roots at clay joints in the sixties and seventies estates, and settled PVC in the later streets.
Hot water replacement
Ageing units in houses from the eighties and nineties building years.
Gutters and downpipes
Roof water on lots backing onto the drainage reserves, where stormwater gathers first.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Hoppers Crossing questions
Brick veneer lots, reserves and a buried survey stone
Does a brick veneer house here share its sewer with neighbours?
Rarely. Within twenty years the suburb had become a sea of brick veneer houses, detached on their own lots, each with its own sewer branch and stormwater connection. There is seldom an owners corporation to ask, and machinery usually goes in along the side driveway.
Is there anything to watch for when trenching near the highway frontage?
One registered marker. The south base stone of the Geodetic Survey Baseline is a basalt block set deep in the ground with its top flush to ground level, so it is easy to miss. Heritage Victoria's consent is needed before any dig or new drain route close to it.
Is a flooded yard always a blocked drain?
Not always. On a low lot the fall to the council's discharge point is checked before anything is cleared, because an undersized line can overflow in a storm even when it is clear.
