Jacana
Blocked, burst or leaking in Jacana?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Jacana, from the Olympic-named streets to the wetland by the Moonee Ponds Creek, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Jacana
An Olympic-era estate in brick
Jacana was a Housing Commission estate, and Victorian Places says most of the houses were built in 1958-59, several streets named after sports people from the Melbourne Olympic Games. Houses of that age are likely to still have earthenware sewer pipes in the ground, so cracked joints and tree roots are the usual suspects and a camera is worth sending down before any repair.
Every house on the estate was solid or veneer brick. Brick homes of the period tend to have fixed wall linings and slab or low subfloor access, so a leak behind a wall or under a floor takes planning to reach, and finding it first saves opening up more than needed.
Jobs in Jacana
Earthenware sewers and pipes behind brick
Blocked drains
Earthenware sewers from the late fifties, where roots work into cracked joints.
Leak detection
A hidden leak traced behind fixed linings in a solid or veneer brick house before anything is opened.
Gutters and downpipes
Downpipes and pits on lots near the creek reserve, kept clear for heavy rain.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Jacana questions
Creek reserve, pits and Hume's discharge point
Why do yards near the open space stay wet after rain?
Jacana has extensive open space beside the Moonee Ponds Creek, with sports grounds and a wetland. Low reserve land like that holds water, so on nearby lots the stormwater pits and the legal point of discharge are checked before a private drain is blamed.
Is an old earthenware sewer worth replacing outright?
Not always. Where only some joints have failed, a camera shows how many, and lining those sections can cost less than digging up a whole run under a brick house and its paths.
Who decides where new stormwater pipes connect?
Hume City Council issues the legal point of discharge for each property. A new downpipe line or a relaid stormwater drain is connected where that report says, so the report is in hand before the trench is dug.
