Preston
Blocked, burst or leaking in Preston?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Preston, from the basalt ground to the Darebin Creek, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Preston
Early sewers, basalt and brick clay
Victorian Places records that sewering of the Preston district was done just before the suburb's growth spurt in the twenties. Houses from that time are likely to still have their original earthenware drains with mortar joints, which crack and let roots in, so a camera is the sensible start on a blockage that keeps coming back.
Building stone was cut from the basalt, and the non-basaltic areas yielded clay for potteries and bricks. Rock slows a drain repair and may need a breaker, while reactive clay swells and shrinks and cracks rigid joints, so which ground the property sits on is worked out before a dig up is quoted.
Jobs in Preston
Mortar joints, rock and settled fill
Blocked drains
Root entry at the mortar joints of early earthenware house drains.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera to tell a cracked joint from a sag in old brickworks fill.
Pipe relining
A lining for old clay lines where breaking basalt is the alternative.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Preston questions
A buried brickworks and drains on flat ground
Why might a drain dig strike old brickwork?
Heritage Victoria records the former South Preston Patent Brick and Tile Co works, whose kilns were mostly built over by housing beside the park, with good potential for building remains. A drain trench there may hit old masonry and loose backfill, and a buried find may need to be reported.
Why does stormwater back up on flat lots?
Darebin describes Preston as bordered by the Darebin Creek and consisting largely of flat terrain. Drains on flat ground have little fall, so silt settles in the pipe and stormwater backs up in heavy rain, and grades and pits are checked when a property floods.
Is one pipe material likely across a whole street?
Not always. Some estates subdivided in the land boom were only filled in between the wars, so neighbouring houses can be decades apart, and their drains and water pipes are worth checking one by one.
