Sydenham
Blocked, burst or leaking in Sydenham?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Sydenham, from the basalt plain to Taylors Creek, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Sydenham
Farmland to townhouses on the basalt plain
Sydenham stayed rural until the eighties, and by the middle of the next decade its housing was substantially laid out. Drains of that age are likely PVC, so the faults tend to be a blocked junction, a joint pushed out by ground movement or builders' rubbish, more than cracked clay.
Victorian Places describes most of the land as a grassed basalt plain, once quarried for bluestone. Basalt country in the west commonly has reactive clay over rock, which moves between wet and dry seasons and can stop a shovel, so a camera goes down before any dig.
Jobs in Sydenham
Junctions, debris and moving clay
Blocked drains
Junction blockages and builders' debris in PVC laid as the suburb was substantially laid out.
CCTV drain inspection
Offset joints from seasonal clay movement found before a dig.
Leak detection
Leaks under slabs on reactive basalt ground found before anything is opened.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Sydenham questions
Townhouse branches and the creek
Whose pipe is it in a townhouse group?
Often everyone's. Semi-detached houses, rows and townhouses made up 33.4 percent of Sydenham's occupied private dwellings at the last Census, far above the state figure. A shared sewer branch or common property is identified before a blocked section is touched.
Why does stormwater back up on the low ground?
A small creek, Taylors Creek, at Sydenham, passes under a bluestone railway arch in Brimbank's heritage overlay. Low properties near it are where stormwater backs up first in heavy rain, so where the drain outfalls is checked.
Can reactive clay crack plastic drains?
It can push joints apart or leave a run with a dip that holds waste. Ground movement shows on camera as an offset joint.
