Celeste contacted Essendon Plumbing Services on Monday morning via our online booking form. The message read “I have a broken sewerage pipe that needs to be replaced ASAP. Currently cannot use water in the house. Would really appreciate someone making contact with me this morning”. Richard followed up the enquiry with Celeste and organised Amanda to be onsite at 7.30 am to access the job and recommend to Celeste the appropriate action to take to fix the blocked drain.
Plumbers Notes from the Job:
Day 1
- Attended site and confirmed the sewer drain was blocked up to the Inspection Shaft (IS) on the front RHS of the house.
- Attempted to clear the sewer by plunging it to see if I could identify what was causing the blockage but was unsuccessful.
- Clients had already cut the concrete across the driveway and exposed the existing Earthenware sewer drain so I continued to dig up the trench and expose the pipework to the opposite side of the driveway. Due to the large amount of tree roots, a mini excavator is needed to dig up the remainder of the pipework.
- Sean arrived on site with the excavator to excavate the remainder of the drain and expose the IS shaft and lead off. Lead off is approx. 1.2 m deep and the IS shaft is approx. 3 m deep.
- The lead off is a combination of both Earthenware and PVC pipework and encased in concrete.
- We then Jackhammered the concrete away from around the pipework to be able to remove the section of failed Earthenware drain. Sections of the existing storm water drain will need to be removed and replaced as it is in the way of the old sewer drain needing to be replaced.
- Placed a material order with suppliers for delivery tomorrow morning and the client has organised a 6mt heavy skip bin.
- Lodged a Certificate of Compliance and booked a below ground sewer inspection with the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) for Wednesday morning.
Day 2
- Arrived on site and continued to jack hammer the concrete out from around the pipework. Once the concrete was removed, we were able to install an Earthenware to PVC adapter on top of the existing IS shaft.
- Widened the trench around the shaft to be able to run the new storm water drain.
- Checked levels in the trench for correct grade of fall, then installed quarter minus bedding material. Installed new UPVC sewer drainage system across the driveway and connected it to the IS shaft, installed IS shaft with vent to ground level then completed the backfill of bedding material around the pipe ready for VBA inspection tomorrow morning.
- Ran fixtures from inside the house to check sewer was running correctly with no leaks.
- Commenced reconnecting all the removed stormwater pipework. The existing pipework is an old 100mm storm water pipe which has been discontinued so needed to install rubber plumb quicks to adapt to current pipework standard.
- Continued running new 100 mm storm water pipework and connected up to all points and checked for leaks.
- Cleaned up worksite ready for inspection tomorrow morning
Day 3
- Set up an air test on the sewer drain installation in preparation for the VBA inspection booked for 7.30am.
- Inspector hadn’t arrived by 8am, so as per legislation, we proceeded to backfill the excavation. Excavated trench is across a driveway, so all backfill was compacted with the rammer.
- Filled the skip bin with remaining spoil from the excavation, cleaned up the site and packed up the excavator ready for the next job.
- Spoke to Celeste to make sure we had a happy client, then headed back to the factory to return the excavator.
Excavation Risks
Essendon Plumbing Services always contacts Dial Before You Dig before any excavation works are carried out. It is a free national service that assists in preventing damage and disruption to Australia’s vast infrastructure networks. The response informs the applicant of any registered national infrastructure assets in the area of the proposed works, this prevents the loss or damage to infrastructure and harm to the greater community.
Other items to consider when working outside the property boundary or within easements, are Council road opening permits. These are generally required when working within footpaths and nature strips, and VicRoads would need to be notified of any works that may interrupt public roads and possibly require a traffic management plan.
Contact Us
Essendon Plumbing Services has an experienced team of Master Plumbers ready to find and fix your plumbing problems, no matter when you need us. If you have a blocked drain in Melbourne and want a plumbing company that goes above and beyond, then call us now on 1300 231 976 or Book Online.