Ferny Creek
Blocked, burst or leaking in Ferny Creek?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Ferny Creek, from the old weekenders to the recreation reserve, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Ferny Creek
Weekenders, postwar houses and fire rebuilds
Victorian Places dates the first holiday cabins to the early twentieth century, when Melburnians began building weekenders around the time the mechanics institute went up. Cabins of that age are likely to have galvanised or earthenware pipe with additions patched on over the years, so what a property drains to is confirmed before a price.
After the Second World War more modern homes were built at Ferny Creek, some lived in all year and some kept for weekends. Pipe materials can change from one lot to the next, so a neighbour's layout is never taken as a guide to the house beside it.
Bushfires in the late nineties destroyed 30 homes, and houses rebuilt since then are likely to carry much newer pipework than the cabins around them. On those streets the age of the plumbing can jump sharply from one fence to the next.
Jobs in Ferny Creek
Cabin pipes and rebuilt lots
Blocked drains
Earthenware and patched lines under old cabins, and newer PVC on rebuilt lots.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera to see whether a drain dates from when Melburnians began building weekenders or from a later rebuild.
Leak detection
Hidden leaks in rusting galvanised pipe under timber floors.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Ferny Creek questions
Mixed pipe ages and a reserve cabin roof
Does the log cabin at the reserve need a heritage permit for roof plumbing?
It may. The cabin is in the Yarra Ranges heritage overlay, and the shire's heritage study describes a recently replaced, corrugated iron gable roof with exposed rafters. New gutters or downpipes there are a visible change, so council is asked whether a permit applies before they go up.
Is an old weekender drain worth relining?
Sometimes. Earthenware that is still in line can take a liner, while a run that has collapsed or been patched in several materials is often better replaced. A camera settles which before a price is given.
How is a leak found in an older weekender?
Galvanised supply pipe rusts from the inside and can leak under the floor long before it shows. A pressure test and a listen along the line narrow it down, and on a raised timber floor the pipe is usually reached from below.
