Plumbing Service in The Beaches

The Beaches: the housing stock and its plumbing

The Beaches stretches along Lake Ontario east of Woodbine, with Queen Street East as its main street and Kew Gardens near the middle. Its houses are a mix of early cottages turned year-round homes, brick and frame detached houses, and newer infill. Many were built on sandy soil close to the lake, some on steep streets running down from Kingston Road.

Trouble we run into most often

• Old cottage plumbing that was never designed for year-round use.
• Pipes in crawlspaces or porches exposed to cold lake winds.
• Sump pumps that work hard because of high groundwater.
• Weeping tile that silts up in sandy soil.

Below the floor: drains, sewers and wet basements

Sandy soil drains quickly but can also let groundwater rise fast in a wet spring. Houses lower on the slope toward the lake tend to see more water in the pit. A sump pump with a check valve, a discharge that flows away from the house, and regular testing all matter here. Mature trees on the side streets also mean root problems in older sewer laterals.

What happens when you ring us

Near the water, we start by lifting the sump lid and timing a cycle, even when you called about something else. Sandy lots and seasonal cottage conversions hide pipes in odd places, so we take a few minutes to trace the lines first. Exposed runs in porches get flagged for insulation before the first cold snap.