Macleod
Blocked, burst or leaking in Macleod?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Macleod, from the old Mont Park grounds to the railway creek reserve, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Macleod
Hospital land, a building boom and basalt clay
Macleod grew up around Mont Park Hospital and its station, and suburban building, slow until after the war, became rapid in the 1950s and 1960s. Houses from that boom are likely to have earthenware sewers and galvanised or early copper water pipe, so cracked clay joints, roots and corroded supply lines are the faults to expect.
West of the railway, Harry Pottage Memorial Reserve keeps grassland that recalls the broad basalt plain which underlies this region. Ground like that commonly weathers to heavy reactive clay, which swells and shrinks with the seasons and can pull old drain joints apart, and buried rock can slow a dig.
The old Mont Park, Plenty, Gresswell and Macleod hospital sites were redeveloped for housing and educational facilities this century. Those newer houses are likely on PVC drains, so their blockages tend to differ from the older streets nearby.
Jobs in Macleod
Boom era clay, memorial roots and newer estates
CCTV drain inspection
A camera through a postwar earthenware sewer where shifting clay has moved the joints.
Pipe relining
A lining where memorial tree roots have entered a drain and a trench would reach protected trees.
Burst pipes
Corroded galvanised supply lines in the older streets, found and repaired on the property side.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Macleod questions
Listed canopies, the honour trees and the railway creek
Can drains be dug under the trees on the old Mont Park grounds?
Not without checking first. The former Mont Park Hospital grounds are on the Victorian Heritage Register, and the exemptions only allow drainage systems to be installed, removed or replaced beyond the canopy edge of listed trees. Inside a canopy the pipe is rerouted, or a Heritage Victoria permit and its lead time are allowed for.
Why do roots keep getting into drains near the memorial trees?
Macleod's honour avenue was planted with nineteen trees to mark the First World War, and their roots now spread under the nature strips where house sewers and water services run. Because the trees are protected, relining usually suits better than digging a trench beside them.
Does the creek in Macleod Park affect stormwater?
It can. The linear reserve beside the railway contains a small length of natural creek, so homes on its low side sit on a natural drainage path. In heavy rain a blocked stormwater line there is likely to back up before others do.
