Locating and CCTV are two halves of the same job. The camera tells you what is wrong with the pipe. The locator tells you where that spot is standing in the yard, and how far down.
Without it, a repair on a long acreage run or under a driveway turns into exploratory digging, which costs far more than the repair itself.
How we locate a drain
- 01Put the camera in the lineThe camera head contains a sonde, a small transmitter that broadcasts a signal from wherever the head sits.
- 02Drive the head to the point of interestUsually the defect, a junction, or the end of a run we need to establish.
- 03Pick up the signal above groundA receiver is walked over the area until it peaks directly above the sonde.
- 04Mark position and depthWe mark the spot and record the depth. On a repair that is what the excavation is set out from.
- 05Trace the whole run if neededFor property records, renovations or landscaping, we can walk the full line and mark its route rather than a single point.
When locating is worth doing
- Before any excavation
- The cheapest way to keep a repair small is to know exactly where to dig.
- Before building or landscaping
- Pools, sheds, extensions, decks and large plantings all go badly if they land on top of a sewer line.
- On long acreage runs
- Hinterland properties can have 40 or 50 metres between the house and the boundary, with no drawings showing the route.
- To settle a boundary question
- Establishing whether a defect sits on your property or past the boundary decides who is responsible for fixing it.
- When the plans are wrong
- On older Gold Coast properties the as-built drawings, where they exist at all, frequently do not match what is in the ground.
No word of a lie, Nathan and his team at Fair Dinkum Drainage are one of the best tradespeople I have ever come across. They went above and beyond when they came out on short notice to inspect and clear a blocked sewer drain in my unit. Throughout the entire process, they kept me informed with phone calls, messages, and photos and videos of the problems found and the recommended course of action.
Martin SzilvassyPleasant experience, efficient and professional. Although it was eventually discovered that drainage problem did originate from the public sewer line, John helped me to report and explain with the bodycorp, very considerable guy! Highly recommended.
William