Plumbing in postwar bungalows

01One stack, one long run

• A typical bungalow drops everything into a single cast-iron stack near the middle of the house.
• The kitchen sink usually sits at the far end of a long horizontal branch, so grease has metres of cool pipe to settle in.
• When that branch narrows, the kitchen backs up long before the bathroom notices.

02The basement floor drain tells the story

• Most of these houses send the basement floor drain, laundry tub and stack into one clay or cast-iron lateral that runs out under the front lawn to the city main.
• Mature maples and silver maples planted the same decade send roots into the clay joints.
• When the floor grate fills with grey water during a load of laundry, we bring the drum auger and the camera together.

03Supply lines worth checking

• Original galvanized supply lines still turn up in bungalows that were never fully renovated, often spliced to newer copper with a dielectric union that leaks rust.
• Low pressure at the back bathroom, brown water after a shut-off, or a weeping union over the furnace room are the usual signs that a section needs replacing.

04What the plumber checks on arrival

1. 1Camera the lateral from the floor drain clean-out
2. 2Check the stack hubs for rust seams
3. 3Read house pressure at the laundry tap
4. 4Look for a backwater valve and test its flap

05Jobs these homes book most

• Main sewer rodding
• Sewer camera inspection
• Backwater valve installation
• Repiping galvanized and old copper