Plumber Coolbinia

Coolbinia WA 6050, City of Stirling. About 6 km north-north-east of the Perth CBD.

Coolbinia is a small established suburb about six kilometres north-north-east of the Perth CBD in the City of Stirling, between Mount Lawley and Yokine. The housing dates from the 1950s and sits on generous blocks, much of it now being renovated or extended rather than replaced. For a plumber that is the whole story: seventy-year-old galvanised supply and earthenware sewer, long service runs across big blocks, and new work constantly being joined to very old services.

• 1950s housing on original servicesMost Coolbinia homes still run water and sewer connections laid when the suburb was built. Galvanised supply corrodes internally until pressure drops away, and earthenware sewer joints open up and let roots in. Both are at the end of their life across the suburb at the same time rather than house by house.
• Generous blocks and long service runsThe lots here are large, which means the run from the meter to the house and from the house to the sewer is longer than on a modern block. A leak on a long run can go unnoticed for months, and locating it properly beats digging along its length hoping to find it.
• Renovation and extension rather than rebuildingCoolbinia houses are being kept and extended, so new bathrooms and kitchens end up connected to seventy-year-old services. That junction is where we are most often called back, so it is worth checking the existing pipework can carry the new work before it is covered up.
• Mature gardens on established blocksSeventy years of growth means large trees close to the sewer line on many properties. Root intrusion into earthenware joints is the most common blockage we clear in Coolbinia, and a camera tells you whether relining is worth it or whether periodic clearing will do.