Plumbing advice from the tools, not the keyboard
Practical guides and real job write-ups from our licensed plumbers, answering the questions we're actually asked across the Northern Beaches and North Shore.
Guides
Answers to the questions we hear every week
Bathroom RenovationsCan I Turn My Vanity Into a Double Vanity?
In most bathrooms, yes: your existing vanity can come out and a double go in its exact place, using the plumbing that's already there. It comes down to one measurement, and one thing worth checking before you get your hopes up.
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Blocked DrainsBlocked Drain: Can You Fix It Yourself, or Do You Need a Plumber?
Most blocked drains start small: a sink that's draining slower than it used to. A few household items can genuinely clear that. But if sewage is coming up rather than water going down, that's a different problem entirely, and it won't wait until morning.
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Bathroom RenovationsDo You Need a New Bathroom, or Can You Remodel the Existing One?
"I need a new bathroom" is the most common thing clients say before we've even looked at it. Often what's actually needed is a refresh: a new toilet, vanity, shower screen and tapware, at a fraction of the cost and time of a full renovation.
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Water FiltrationCan You Install a Whole Water Filter System in an Apartment?
Whole-house filters get talked about like a house-only thing. In most apartments, the water entering the unit is genuinely your own pipework, not the building's shared risers, which means a whole-of-apartment filter is often possible.
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Leak RepairsLeaking Tap: Can You Fix It Yourself, or Do You Need a Plumber?
Some leaking taps really are a fifteen-minute fix with a $2 washer. Others turn into a flooded cupboard the moment an amateur gets a spanner on them. The difference comes down to what type of tap you've actually got.
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Hot WaterGas vs Heat Pump Hot Water: What's Cheaper to Run?
Replacing a hot water system and stuck between gas and a heat pump? Here's how the running costs, upfront prices and rebates actually compare for Sydney homes.
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GutteringGutters Overflow When It Rains: Repair or Replace?
Water sheeting over your gutters in every storm? There are only four real causes, and only one of them means you need new gutters. Here's how to tell which one you've got.
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GutteringHow Long Do Colorbond Gutters Last?
Colorbond gutters are rated for decades, but coastal salt air, trapped leaf mulch and ponding water can halve that. Here's what they realistically last on the Northern Beaches, and how to get the full life out of them.
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Hot WaterSigns Your Hot Water System Is Failing
We keep hearing the same question from clients across the Northern Beaches and North Shore: what are the signs of a failing hot water system? Here's what 20 years of call-outs has taught us to look for.
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Hot WaterWhat Size Hot Water System Do I Need?
Undersize a hot water system and the last shower runs cold; oversize it and you pay to heat water nobody uses. Here's how to size storage tanks and continuous flow units properly.
Read MoreCase Studies
Real jobs, real fixes
Leak Repairs · Seaforth
Flooded Home in Seaforth: A Failed Basin Hose Caused Over $200,000 in Damage
A flexible hose let go under an upstairs basin in Seaforth while the homeowner was at work. By the time they got home, the water had ruined walls and flooring through the whole house, including the kitchen below.
Read the jobBathroom Renovations · Chatswood
Bathroom Refresh in Chatswood: A Smaller Vanity Solved What a New Bathroom Wouldn't Have
A Chatswood unit's small bathroom was dominated by an oversized built-in vanity that left no legroom at the toilet and no space in the shower. A smaller vanity and a new shower screen fixed both, without a full renovation.
Read the jobBathroom Renovations · Warriewood
Bathroom Refresh in Warriewood: New Vanity, Toilet and Shaving Cabinet Without a Full Renovation
A Warriewood homeowner wanted her tired bathroom to feel new without the cost of a full renovation. We measured against the existing plumbing, sourced the right vanity, toilet and shaving cabinet, and installed all three in one visit.
Read the jobBathroom Renovations · Allambie Heights
Bathroom Renovation Rough-In for a Repeat Client in Allambie Heights
An existing client's Allambie Heights bathroom renovation needed hot and cold water rough-in, a new floor waste and a vanity drain connection, all matched to his chosen fixtures and leak-tested before the walls went on.
Read the jobBlocked Drains · Balgowlah
Blocked Kitchen Drain in Balgowlah: Years of Grease Finally Caught Up
An emergency call to a blocked kitchen drain in Balgowlah traced back to years of grease and oil hardening in the gully, cleared the same visit with high-pressure water jetting.
Read the jobBlocked Drains · Seaforth
Blocked Sewer Pipe in Seaforth: Cleared With Jetting, Confirmed Clear on Camera
A Sunday afternoon call-out to a blocked sewer pipe in Seaforth: gully overflow traced to root intrusion in an 80-year-old pipe, cleared with high-pressure water jetting and confirmed clear on CCTV camera.
Read the jobBlocked Drains · Seaforth
Broken Sewer Pipe in Seaforth: Blockage Backs Up and Floods the Bathroom
A Friday afternoon emergency in Seaforth: a sewer pipe cracked by ground movement had been catching baby wipes for months until it blocked solid and sewage backed up into the lower bathroom. Cleared in three hours, then rerouted around the break.
Read the jobLeak Repairs · Brookvale
Sensor Taps Kept Failing at a Brookvale Childcare
A Brookvale childcare centre was spending thousands keeping electronic sensor taps working in the children's bathroom. We replaced them with simple mechanical lever taps that run water for 6 seconds and can't fail the same way.
Read the jobLeak Repairs · Cromer
Slow Kitchen Leak in Cromer: Traced to Plumbing Tape on a Dishwasher Connection
A Cromer kitchen leak under the sink had already beaten a homeowner's own repair and a previous plumber's visit. It came down to plumbing tape used where it shouldn't have been, on a dishwasher connection that only needed its rubber seal.
Read the jobHot Water · Dee Why
No Hot Water in Dee Why: Fixed Within the Hour
A Dee Why home lost hot water when their gas system wouldn't re-ignite. Our emergency call-out found a failed thermocouple and had hot water back within the hour.
Read the jobLeak Repairs · Balgowlah
Flooded Laundry in Balgowlah: A 10-Year-Old Washing Machine Hose Let Go
A 7am emergency call-out to a flooded Balgowlah laundry led to a split washing machine hose, and three more rusted hidden connections found and replaced the same visit before they could fail too.
Read the jobBlocked Drains · Wheeler Heights
Garage Flooding in Wheeler Heights: Fixing 30 Years of Water Seepage Behind the Slab
A Wheeler Heights garage had water seeping in behind it for 30 years because the ag-line and blue metal drainage was never wrapped in geotextile fabric and the brick and slab were never waterproofed. Here's how we fixed it without adding more pipe.
Read the jobGas Fitting · Fairlight
Gas Oven Replacement in Fairlight: Same-Day Install When Repair Isn't Worth It
A Fairlight customer's ageing gas oven had stopped working. Rather than sink more money into repairs, we sourced an exact-match replacement, removed the old unit and had the new oven installed, connected and tested the same day.
Read the jobLeak Repairs · Roseville
In-Ground Copper Pipe Leak in Roseville: A Pinhole in Old Type C Pipe
A wet patch in a Roseville front garden led us to a pinhole leak in old Type C copper pipe buried underground. Same-day repair with the correct Type B copper, water restored the same visit.
Read the jobRoofing · Elanora Heights
Roof Leak in Elanora Heights Traced to an Old Pool Solar Installation
A long-running roof leak in Elanora Heights was damaging and bubbling the Gyprock ceiling below. We traced it to an old, unused pool solar heating installation blocking water flow on the tiles, and no sarking underneath to catch the overflow.
Read the jobHot Water · Freshwater
Rusty Hot Water in Freshwater: A Tank That Was Never Serviced
A Freshwater homeowner noticed reddish-brown water filling the bath. The 10-year-old electric hot water tank had never had its anode replaced and was rusting from the inside. We replaced it with a Rheem stainless steel system the next morning.
Read the jobBlocked Drains · Allambie Heights
Sloping Block Drainage in Allambie Heights: Stopping Stormwater Pooling Against the House
A retaining wall in Allambie Heights was holding back a sloping block, but runoff from the hill and the house above kept finding its way through the backyard and pooling against the house below. Here's how we caught it and redirected it away for good.
Read the jobBlocked Drains · Mona Vale
Water Under the House in Mona Vale: Old Terracotta Pipes and No Subsoil Drainage
A Mona Vale home had water leaking through the brickwork and running under the house. The cause was old terracotta stormwater pipe, cracked and full of tree roots. New PVC piping and a subsoil drainage system stopped it for good.
Read the jobBathroom Renovations · Mosman
New Toilet in Mosman: Matched to the Existing Plumbing, Not Just the Looks
A Mosman homeowner wanted better flushing performance from a new toilet. We measured her existing set-out and matched two Caroma Cleanflush suites to fit without touching a tile.
Read the jobBathroom Renovations · Dee Why
Vanity Replacement in Dee Why: The Job Three Other Plumbers Wouldn't Touch
A Dee Why unit's basin bowl gave zero bench space and no storage. Three plumbers had already said they'd replace the tap but wouldn't touch the vanity. We measured, confirmed the waste position would work, and did it in a day.
Read the jobWater Filtration · Narrabeen
Whole-Apartment Water Filter in Narrabeen: Tying a 3-Stage System Into a Unit's Own Supply
A Narrabeen unit owner had sensitive skin and a suspicion it was something in Sydney's mains water. He wanted every tap filtered, not just the kitchen. We located his unit's isolation valve and plumbed a 3-stage filter system inline on the supply.
Read the jobGet In Touch
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