DIY Plumbing, almost managed

[NSWinvester]

Hi,

What a day... the neighbours complained that there was water leaking onto their driveway, not just any water, sewage water.

So me and dad went to investigate we turned on all the taps and found that the water was leaking from the ground, dug it up and found that there was a crack in the ceramic piping. There was also a blockage in the system as well, we tried a water hose, it went in about 10 meters and stopped going any further

So we had to call in a plumber... last resort as sewage was leaking everywhere. Plumber came and used his hose to clear it up and informed us that the "junction" was cracked. So the crack pipe might have been a blessing in disguise as I went sewage water would end up flowing out of the toilet?

He quoted us
*$200 for unblocking the pipe
*and if we dug up the junction ourselves $650 and he would do all the final work.

Is this a fair price?

 

[willair]

Hi,

What a day... the neighbours complained that there was water leaking onto their driveway, not just any water, sewage water.

So me and dad went to investigate we turned on all the taps and found that the water was leaking from the ground, dug it up and found that there was a crack in the ceramic piping. There was also a blockage in the system as well, we tried a water hose, it went in about 10 meters and stopped going any further

So we had to call in a plumber... last resort as sewage was leaking everywhere. Plumber came and used his hose to clear it up and informed us that the "junction" was cracked. So the crack pipe might have been a blessing in disguise as I went sewage water would end up flowing out of the toilet?

He quoted us
*$200 for unblocking the pipe
*and if we dug up the junction ourselves $650 and he would do all the final work.

Is this a fair price?

How much pipework are you talking about,if it's just one section and you do all the hard part then imho,the 200 is in the area,but the 650 is a bit high,did he run the ell down the pipe or have a camera or is the area out in the open,because if it is and someone complains,and the local council comes along you may have problems..

 

[NSWinvester]

The plumber used a water jet to clear up the mess. No he didn't send down a camera. This is onto the neighbours driveway, not in a open area. We know our neighbors very well so complaints shouldn't be a problem.

The neighbor said that this has happened before but the landlords did a quick fix which involved just clearing the pipeline and now the problems reoccurred again because the "junction" or pipe was cracked and now blocked again.

I've just had a knee reconstruction, so I won't be able to dig it up for at less another 3 weeks. When I dig it up and if it doesn't look too hard I might do it myself but question is can I touch the councils sewer line? sorry if this question sounds stupid but I've never done any thing like this before, worse case scenario pay the plumber

Grab a few of my mates and dig a 1.2 to 1.8 deep x 1 x 1.5 meter hole, sounds fun oh well... s**t happens

 

[NSWinvester]

The cracked pipe, we will fix ourselves but the "junction" is where all the house sewer lines meet, that is cracked or broken. I assume by old age or tree roots.

In future we might have to replace the terracotta/ceramic pipes entirely but that down the road got my hands full already.

Interesting problem that I can learn from.

 

[sports fan]

if you ever do extension or rebuild most likely council will make da condition all vc pipes must be replaced with pvc

plumber has charged you full day labour + material to redo junction $65 x 8 = 520 + balance + GST.. cant see what your talking about so hard to make a call i guess he's just covering himself might only take a couple of hours who knows

 

[akiwinut]

The cracked pipe, we will fix ourselves but the "junction" is where all the house sewer lines meet, that is cracked or broken. I assume by old age or tree roots.

In future we might have to replace the terracotta/ceramic pipes entirely but that down the road got my hands full already.

Interesting problem that I can learn from.

If it the junction from the main street sewer then wouldn't this be Sydney Waters responsibility? Might be worth a phone call, though I suspect they will automatically say its not us, they did this with my leaking water meter....

 

[NSWinvester]

If it the junction from the main street sewer then wouldn't this be Sydney Waters responsibility? Might be worth a phone call, though I suspect they will automatically say its not us, they did this with my leaking water meter....

First the plumbers told me to go to Reece to get a sewer diagram, to determine where the junction is. If the junction is out of my property I will be contacting Sydney water and see what they say.

I had a leak too near my water meter Sydney water fixed it, to my relief.

 

[akiwinut]

First the plumbers told me to go to Reece to get a sewer diagram, to determine where the junction is. If the junction is out of my property I will be contacting Sydney water and see what they say.

I had a leak too near my water meter Sydney water fixed it, to my relief.

Not sure why Reece would have a copy of the sewer plan, your local council should tho...
I had to badger Hunter Water to get the leak fixed, then they made out they were doing me a favor by repairing their asset....

 

[Tools]

Not sure why Reece would have a copy of the sewer plan, your local council should tho...
I had to badger Hunter Water to get the leak fixed, then they made out they were doing me a favor by repairing their asset....

Because Reece act as a contact point for the water authorities. Plumbers make all of the their applications through Reece, but the service isn't available at every store.

Tools

 

[jeffb5ltr]

I rang Reece and they downloaded and emailed me a copy of my Plan overnight.

 

[NSWinvester]

I rang Reece and they downloaded and emailed me a copy of my Plan overnight.

You had to pay a fee, $23?