Aged Care Facility Melbourne Eastern
Our company was called to attend to a blocked toilet at an aged care facility located in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Upon arrival and further inspection, it was discovered that the issue was far more complex than just a sewer blockage.
VIP Plumbing VIC Pty Ltd carried out an attempt to clear the blockage using our sewer machine but without success.
The sewer drain had broken away due to age, wear and tear and building movement. As a result, waste was leaking into the under-floor area located behind a solid concrete wall/ footing.
The Challenge
How do we access the affected area without causing structural integrity concerns? A how do we carry out the required works while minimising disruption to residents and staff?
By engaging the services of a structural engineer we bore pilot holes into the 12 inch thick concrete footings and used those pilot holes to cut an access hole from the basement into an area under the facility.
We then manually excavated under the facility behind the concrete footings as required to gain access to the affected area.
During this process there was no entrance by any team member into the residential area above. Residents and staff remained completely undisturbed by our presence.
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The Solution
Once access to the affected area was gained, we found a significantly damaged sewer pipe.
We carried out the works to unblock the sewer drain with great success.
We then worked to repair the drain including rehanging loose suspended sewer drain pipework as required.
We thoroughly cleaned affected works area including removal of all extraneous soil, rubble and rubbish from site upon completion and then covered the opening with an aluminium access panel should future works be required.
The Benefit
The benefit of this scope of works for our client was the stress free, can do attitude of VIP Plumbing.
We minimised the inconvenience to the staff and residents of the facility and solved what would have been an ongoing and costly expense for our client by generating a permanent solution.
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