Looking to putting in a pool, a carport maybe or extending a driveway, pouring concrete for paths or an outdoor entertaining area? These are all projects that people can undertake not giving much thought to plumbing as such, because in a lot of cases a plumber does not seem required. Unfortunately, though this can end up causing problems for you in the future.
You are probably thinking what do you mean? Well let me explain; one example of this is we recently attended a job in Currumbin where the stormwater drains had a blockage. The homeowner just finished getting a pool installed. After investigation and locating the pipes it was found that the blockage was located under concrete near the homeowner’s pool. In this case there were only a limited number of options to rectify the blocked pipes, the best one being to cut up the new concrete and tiles. So how could this be avoided? Often if it hasn’t rained in a while, the storm water drains become forgotten. Before having the pool built, we could have come out, checked the drains to make sure they are clear and located the plumbing and drainage. In the event the drains were not clear, we could then give the owner some options on what we could do, to potentially prevent issues like this one in the future.
Another thing to consider with small projects is whether you may need access to services such as water, gas or drainage in the future. So a good example of this is, you’re wanting to pour some concrete for a veranda in the back yard so the kids have an undercover area to play in and you can hang the washing in the wet weather. However eventually you would like to make this more of an entertainment area with outdoor kitchen and be able to connect the BBQ to the gas you already have access to on the premises. So, the question now is do you have provisions for the outdoor kitchen in the future before you pour the concrete, or will you have to cut it up to put provision in for them? It is certainly cheaper and better to add provisions for services before it is too late.
If your thinking of undertaking an addition or project to your home, whether it be installing a pool, pouring concreate paths, putting in retaining walls or maybe a new carport, and you want to know will this cause me any issues with plumbing in the future, than give us at AJB Plumbing a call and we can talk through some of your options on where to from here.