Belgrave
Blocked, burst or leaking in Belgrave?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Belgrave, from The Bend precinct at the entrance to town to the unsealed hill roads, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Belgrave
A town on a saddle, built for commuters
eMelbourne describes Belgrave as located atop a saddle formation, the gateway to the southern Dandenong Ranges. Ground falls away on more than one side, so house drains and stormwater lines tend to run on steep grades, and runoff gathers where the slopes meet.
Building picked up once the railway was electrified, as hill properties and better roads gave commuters cheap housing. Houses from that growth may still have older earthenware or early PVC drains on a sloping lot, which is why a camera goes down before anything is dug.
At the entrance to town, The Bend precinct is a row of hills bungalows in the Heritage Overlay, sited on steep, irregular lots elevated above the main road. New visible downpipes or gutters there may need a heritage permit, and getting a drain machine up those lots is slow.
Jobs in Belgrave
Steep grades and hill bungalows
Blocked drains
Steep postwar house drains where the blockage sits well below the house.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera down a sloping line before a trench is cut into the hill.
Gutters and downpipes
Hills bungalow roof plumbing, with the overlay checked before anything visible changes.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Belgrave questions
Unsealed hill roads and where stormwater goes
Where does roof water go without a kerb at the front?
To a roadside drain, in most cases. Council proposed sealing three Belgrave roads with kerb or edge strip and underground drains, but says there is now insufficient funding for the project to proceed. A new connection on a road like that waits until council confirms the legal point of discharge.
Why does water pool at the bottom of a sloping lot?
Rain runs fast off steep ground and collects where it flattens out. Downpipes and the stormwater line are checked for capacity and fall before a single blockage is blamed.
Is a camera worth it before digging on a slope?
Usually. A trench on a steep lot is slow to dig and slow to put back, so finding the exact fault first keeps the dig short.
