Case Studies – Brisbane

THE ISSUE

We were contacted by a member of a Body Corporate team in Brisbane to investigate a storm water line that was leaking into the basement car park of their building. Our client had previously obtained a reline quote from another plumber who had missed some of the defects that needed repairing. When bad quality cameras are used, breaks and problems are often missed because of poor camera resolution.

The issues we found were:

1. Rubber pipe fittings had dislodged and dropped inside the retaining wall due to ground movement. The 150mm storm water main had disjointed by approximately half the pipe diameter.
2. The pipe was broken where a contractor had drilled a hole for a retaining wall post directly over the top of the 150mm storm water main. They had attempted to put a bit of plastic over the pipe and poured the concrete in. This blocked up approximately half of the pipe’s capacity.
3. The 150mm stormwater pipe had a pool pipe taped inside it. This meant the pool pipe was blocking half of the storm water pipe, they had not put a proper junction in.
4. There were also some tree roots in a joint in the line.

HOW WE FIXED IT

1. We used our robotic cutter to grind out the pipe to get it back to full flow again. We also installed a structural fiberglass patch in the pipe to seal it up again and to ensure no further leakage into the basement.
2. The concrete needed to be ground out with our robotic cutter and we installed a structural fiberglass patch into the line to seal it up.
3. We had to grind the penetration off with our robotic cutter to reinstate the storm water pipe.
4. The pipe was cleaned with our high pressure water jetter to remove all the tree roots and a patch was installed to stop further tree root growth.

HOW IT HELPED OUR CLIENT

If our client had opted to dig up the problem areas, they would have had to move rainwater tanks, dig up the back of the pool / patio area and pull out structural landscaping such as rocks. This would have disturbed the residents greatly. They were ecstatic with the results because it all went to plan and there was no disruption for them. Our works successfully stopped the leaks into the basement, protecting all their cars and property stored in the garage.

THE ISSUE

A plumber had been called out to a brand new home where the drains were blocking up and the new owners were very distressed as they had only moved in two days prior.

They attempted to clear the drain with a camera and water jetter but were unable to as they discovered the concreters had broken a pipe at construction stage. The pipe was in a very difficult place to access because it which was under the slab and also under beautiful timber floors. The pipe was also partially under some structural walls.

HOW WE FIXED IT

We used our high pressure water jetter and robotic cutter to grind out the concrete from inside the pipe and clear it. We then installed a fiberglass sleeve inside the pipe to repair the broken section of the pipe so that the timber floor boards did not have to be removed or the concrete floor dug up.

HOW IT HELPED OUR CLIENT

There was no disruption to the clients so they were able to continue enjoying their new home. A dig up job would have involved cutting up the slab, timber floors and re-gyprocking and painting the walls. Job was completed in just one day.

THE ISSUE

A plumber had been engaged to investigate a water leak issue next to a shopping centre. The neighbouring tenants had complained of water leaking onto their property and Council testing confirmed the leaking water contained sewer and trade waste bacteria.

We were called out to camera the sewer and trade waste lines which ran inside the shopping center’s very busy loading dock area. We found that the old earthenware / clay pipes had cracks and the pipe joints had separated allowing the waste water to escape the pipe, run through the soil in the loading dock area and down onto the lower neighbouring property.

HOW WE FIXED IT

We recommended completely relining the pipes to seal up all the cracks and joints so that there would be no further leaks into ground.

HOW IT HELPED OUR CLIENT

The loading dock was receiving many deliveries per day. If the pipes had been dug up to carry out the repairs it would have greatly disrupted the tenants in the shopping centre. Using our ‘no dig’ relining system meant that we were able to carry out the repairs in one day without digging up the ground providing a quick solution with minimal disruption.