Lalor
Blocked, burst or leaking in Lalor?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Lalor, from the garden suburb by the station to Whittlesea Public Gardens, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Lalor
Ex-servicemen, a co-operative and a planned suburb
Whittlesea council records that Leo Purcell and a group of ex-servicemen formed the Peter Lalor Home Building Co-operative Society after the war, building houses until the War Service Homes Commission took the program over. Homes of that period were likely connected with earthenware sewer pipe, so cracked joints and roots are the first suspects for a blockage that keeps coming back.
The co-operative bought land east of today's station and had the town planner Saxel Tuxen design a garden suburb, with a few shops at its core. Regular blocks of detached houses mean each home usually has its own drain to the sewer branch, not one shared with units.
Jobs in Lalor
Clay sewers and visible roof plumbing
Blocked drains
Roots at earthenware joints in the co-operative's postwar houses.
Pipe relining
A lining for an old clay sewer drain under a garden suburb lot.
Gutters and downpipes
Roof plumbing on listed estate houses, with the listing checked first.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Lalor questions
Estate heritage and a new council subdivision
Does the heritage listing affect downpipes on an estate house?
It can. Council notes the heritage listing of parts of the Peter Lalor estate, so replacing visible roof plumbing, downpipes or external pipework there may need a planning permit. The property's listing is checked before external work is quoted.
What services will the Garden View Estate lots have?
Council's plan turns the former reserve beside Whittlesea Public Gardens into a new residential neighbourhood with a new street, so lots start from brand new sewer, water and stormwater connections rather than old mains.
Is my drain shared with the house next door?
Rarely in the original estate, where houses sit on their own lots. Later units on a subdivided lot are the exception, and the title plan shows it.
