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Category: Tips & How To

Building Inspections are good, but they don’t cover Plumbing.

Time and again we are now seeing customers moving into new houses and discovering major Plumbing defects.

The common thread amongst all of these people is that they say they paid good money for a Building inspection prior to their purchase. What none of them realised was that traditional building inspections do not check for Plumbing defects. They will never go to the level of detail that a Highlander Plumbing inspection will go to.

In our experience, there are a few major defects that do not rear their ugly heads until well into occupying your new house.

The first one is sewer.

If you are purchasing a deceased estate or a “renovator’s delight” then the sewer alarm bells should be ringing. Usually, a deceased estate has been lived in for its last few years by a single older person. What is the relevance of this you ask?

This person generally has not put the sewer under any load. If the sewer was defective, the person probably got away with it through minimal usage. What do you think will happen when a young family with a few kids buys the house and moves straight in, planning to renovate as they go? All of a sudden the sewer now has four or five people using it instead of one. What happens? You guessed it, a big mess, a panic and a great deal of frustration from the owners who honestly didn’t see this situation coming.

This could have been avoided with a Plumbing inspection prior to purchase. The Highlander Plumbing inspection includes the CCTV inspection of the sewer as a part of the inspection. Sometimes one little defect such as a broken pipe could have been identified and repaired prior to the problem causing a flood.

Some larger old properties may have long sections of sewer that are a hundred years old. If those long sections are beyond repair it would be a good idea to know if you were facing an expensive renewal of the sewer prior to purchase.

Hot Water

Hot Water is another regally overlooked item that is taken for granted. Hot water heaters in concealed places that burst can cause huge amounts of damage. Is the heater going to cost you a fortune to run? Is it gas, is it electric? Constant low or storage tank? Mains pressure or restricted?

If we had a penny for the number of times a customer says: the hot water system at our old house didn’t do this!

Shower Leaks

Shower waterproofing is another thing worth testing. Before you get out the colour charts and start planning your colours we think you should make sure the shower isn’t leaking into the walls. If there is leakage into the walls, the paint will peel and you will be very annoyed.

Landscaping is another common thing done as soon as people buy a house. It is a way of stamping your own individual flair to the property. We think if you are going to spend $100-$200 p/sqm on pavers, then you better have 100% confidence in the pipes below.

We have had to dig up many beautiful backyards to replace broken sewer pipes. This could have been very easily avoided.

Having the information from a professional plumbing inspection from Highlander Plumbing could save you thousands of dollars. As we say: “Do it once, do it properly”.

Sewer Renewals

Highlander Plumbing leads the field in sewer clearing, cctv inspections and routine foaming to kill tree roots.

There is a point when this isn’t enough and the war has been lost. We never see this as a defeat; sometimes the time to renew the sewer is just inevitable. Many older houses still have their original sewer pipes. These pipes are earthenware or terracotta. The fact is; these pipes were joined together with rubber rings. Over time the rubber ring perishes and lets roots through. Usually, we can clear the roots, but if larger roots get in and start breaking the pipe then its time to replace sections of the line, or the entire system, we also have the ability to insert stents as well.

We need to be very clear on what is required. We feel that sewer renewal is the best method for a permanent solution to sewer problems. Installing PVC sewer pipes cuts out the chance of roots growing inside the pipe as tree roots cannot penetrate a PVC pipe, especially the thick grade pipe that we use. The grade of PVC we use is known as DWV (Drain waste vent) it is very strong and is designed to withstand great pressure from external forces.

We also love the use of sewer patches. We call them; Sewer Stents. This is where we have the ability to fix a small section of broken pipe where the rest of the pipe is in good order. This method is a great money saver and can save a lot of digging too.

We have replaced many sewers the old fashioned way which is to dig them up and lay new pipes. This is one job where the new technology cannot match the old fashioned method for a permanent solution. When we say permanent, we mean permanent.

Carama have been world leaders in the development of their “Smart flush” range of toilets. The Smart flush range used a measly 4.5 litres for a full flush. The idea was brilliant. The only flaw was for this range of toilets to work, they had to be mated with a perfectly installed PVC sewer line.  Smart flush toilets are already giving us lots of work in drain clearing when they have been installed to a hundred-year-old Federation house with an original sewer. We don’t blame Caroma, we blame the Plumbers that installed them with an inappropriate sewer line. So if you want to be Eco-friendly and use the great Smart flush range, then sewer replacement should be on your agenda.

If you plan on making the house your live in your “forever” house, then make sure the sewer is in good order.

toilet troubleshooting

The how to series: Toilet Troubleshooting.

How to Service a Toilet

Let’s make the toilet simple. The bowl (and seat) is what you sit on and the cistern is what holds the water for the flush. All of the moving parts are in the cistern, so naturally the servicing centres around the cistern. The cistern is comprised of two parts, the inlet valve and the outlet valve. The inlet valve allows the water in; the outlet valve is connected to the button that you push to flush to let the water out.

Now, we’ve got that clear let’s look at some of the common problems.

Water is running into the bowl.

The main cause of this is a faulty inlet valve.

We always recommend replacement of the valve, it gives you a fresh start, and we don’t see the point of replacing a washer and leaving the existing plastic components. Shut the water off at the isolating point below the toilet. Disconnect the water supply from the base of the inlet valve. Install a new inlet valve and reconnect to the water supply. Note, we always recommend the outlet valve washer be renewed at this time too, as water may dribble into the bowl and cause the inlet valve to refill.

Water is dripping on the floor.

This is a common one and can have a few causes. The main ones are:

  • The flush cone rubber has perished.
  • The close-coupled seal needs replacing.
  • The inlet valve is overfilling and exiting the cistern via an old overflow tube.

I push the button and nothing happens.

All of these problems are to do with the outlet valves being faulty. There are many different styles in use. We always recommend using an outlet valve with a central overflow into the bowl.

This is a common problem with toilets that use geberit components. These are the ones with the button that you can’t get off. The entire outlet valve needs replacing for this problem. We strongly recommend not trying to get the button off this type of cistern as you may break the lid.

The main rules.

Always inspect the cistern prior to service for cracks. Do not, under any circumstances attempt to service a cistern that is cracked in any way. Porcelain is very sharp and dangerous when it cracks. If you must replace it, you have to install a dual flush cistern – it will save you money and water in the long run.

The correct part must be used on the brand of the toilet you are using. Parts are not interchangeable. Use genuine Caroma, Fowler and Geberit parts when they are needed.

If it gets too hard, your friendly Sydney Plumbers are just a call away on 1300362250.