Trouble most often logged here
- Original faucets and fixtures due for replacement after thirty years
- Roots beginning to reach laterals now that street trees are mature
- Slow basement bathroom drains, especially where a rough-in was finished by a previous owner
- Toilets that run or rock on worn flanges
- Outdoor taps cracked by frost whenever hoses were left attached
Worn fixtures are handled under faucet replacement. For repeated drain trouble, a sewer camera inspection tells you whether roots or slope are the cause.
Job note: a 1990s house is old enough that its original shut-off valves under sinks and toilets may not close fully. Test them on a quiet afternoon, not during a leak.
Homes and streets in Woodlands
The streets here are typical of 1990s suburban Ontario: two-storey detached homes with brick fronts, attached two-car garages, and a mix of crescents and courts off the collector roads. Green space follows the ravines, and the trees planted when the subdivision went in have now grown large. Most homes have finished basements, and a good number have added basement bathrooms over the years.
Plumbing in houses of this era usually means copper or early PEX supply, ABS drains, a sump pit in some homes but not all, and the original water heater long since replaced at least once.
Homes in Woodlands are on Durham Region's municipal water from Lake Ontario and connect to the Regional sanitary sewer.
Water, sewer and local rules
Homes in Woodlands are on Durham Region's municipal water from Lake Ontario and connect to the Regional sanitary sewer. The City of Pickering manages storm sewers and issues plumbing permits. Ravine lots may have restrictions on grading and excavation set by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, which mainly matters if a sewer lateral needs to be dug up near the back of the property.
What thirty-year-old plumbing usually needs
A house built in the 1990s has reached the age where several parts tend to wear at once. Toilet fill valves and flappers, kitchen faucet cartridges, washing machine hoses and the second water heater all come due within a short span of one another. Replacing rubber washer hoses with braided lines, checking the laundry box for drips, and having the heater's age read off the label are three quick jobs that head off the most common Woodlands calls.
Getting a plumber out to you
Woodlands is well connected by Finch Avenue and Brock Road, with the 401 a short drive south. Describe the symptom, the floor it is on and whether the basement is finished, and we will plan accordingly. Neighbouring Duffin Heights is newer, but some issues overlap.
Questions callers ask
Do 1990s Pickering homes have backwater valves?
Many do not, unless one was added later. A plumber can check the floor drain and main line to tell you.
When do outdoor taps need attention?
Before the first hard frost each fall, disconnect hoses and shut off the interior valve to the exterior tap if there is one.