Pipes we expect to find
Most bungalows we open have one cast iron soil stack running from the bathroom straight down into the basement, where it turns into a buried clay or early concrete lateral heading out to the street. Supply lines were often galvanized steel, later patched with copper wherever a leak forced the issue. Some homes built before the mid-fifties still have a lead service line from the curb stop to the meter.
Faults that bring us out
- Weak flow at the kitchen tap from scale-choked galvanized pipe.
- Tree roots entering clay joints and backing water up through the floor drain.
- Cracked cast iron under the basement slab, leaving a damp patch or sewer smell.
- Laundry tub water rising when the toilet upstairs is flushed.
- Meter-side gate valves frozen open by decades of scale.
Jobs we do most in bungalows
We snake and camera the main line, cut out failed cast iron and join new ABS with banded couplings, and run new copper or PEX from the meter to the fixtures. Where the basement is being finished, we rough in a bathroom against the existing stack and fit a backwater valve before the slab goes back. See sewer camera inspection and repiping for the detail on each.
Before you renovate
Opening walls and ceilings in a bungalow is the cheapest moment to swap old supply pipe and check the stack. We would rather replace a few metres of tired cast iron while the drywall is off than come back to cut a fresh hole later. Ask us to scope the lateral before laying new flooring in the basement too; a collapsed clay section under new tile is an expensive surprise.
What callers want to know
Is a lead service line common in Mississauga bungalows?
It turns up in some homes built before the mid-1950s. A look at the pipe beside the meter settles it, and we walk you through what replacing it involves.
Why does my floor drain gurgle?
Usually a partial blockage or root intrusion in the main line. A camera run shows where.