Murrumbeena
Blocked, burst or leaking in Murrumbeena?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Murrumbeena, from the Beauville estate to the village shops, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Murrumbeena
Market gardens, a twenties boom and Beauville
The paddocks here were once market gardens and dairy farms, and Victorian Places records that after World War I many of Murrumbeena's houses were built. Twenties houses were mostly sewered in glazed earthenware, so cracked or root-filled joints are what a camera tends to show.
In the thirties Albert Jennings bought land near a new Catholic school and built the first of his housing estates, Beauville. Houses on one builder's estate share an age and a drainage design, so a fault found under one of them is a fair guide to what the houses beside it may need.
Since the seventies, home units and flats have been built on the generous home allotments. A unit added behind an older house usually joins the same sewer branch and stormwater line, which turns a private drain into a shared one.
Jobs in Murrumbeena
Twenties joints and estate patterns
Blocked drains
Earthenware joints from the twenties boom, often cracked or full of roots.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera through one estate house drain, a fair guide to its neighbours.
Gutters and downpipes
Box gutters and rainwater heads behind the low parapets of the village shops.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Murrumbeena questions
Parapet shops, unit lots and old supply pipe
Is a shopfront downpipe in the village controlled?
It can be. The Murrumbeena Village Precinct is a heritage overlay strip of pre-war shops with low parapets, which usually hide a box gutter and rainwater heads, so Glen Eira is asked whether visible downpipes or rainwater heads need a planning permit before they are replaced.
Who pays to clear a drain shared with a unit out the back?
Whoever shares it. When a unit has gone in behind the original house, both usually drain through one branch, so the owners agree on the work between them, or the owners corporation does if there is one.
How old are the water pipes in a twenties house?
Often original, or patched. Galvanised steel was the usual supply pipe then and it rusts from the inside, so low pressure or discoloured water in an older house is a reason to have the supply line looked at.
