Suburban house with a red front door and garden

Newmarket

Plumbing in Huron Heights-Leslie Valley

East of Yonge, around the high school and the Leslie Street corridor, you will find family homes now old enough that their original plumbing is starting to speak up.

We know the pipe behind the walls in Huron Heights-Leslie Valley
Drains, heaters, sump pits and leaks handled on one call
Floor protection and clean-up on every visit
Phone answered by a plumber, any hour

Homes and pipes in Huron Heights-Leslie Valley

This part of east Newmarket filled in over the later decades of the twentieth century, with detached homes, semis and townhouse rows on curving streets near Huron Heights Secondary School. Most were built with copper supply lines and ABS or PVC drains inside, with sewer laterals of the era running out to the street. Basements were typically poured concrete with weeping tile, and many houses got sump pits as standard or soon after.

The trouble with homes of this vintage is not bad construction. It is simply age. Water heaters have been replaced two or three times, original shut-off valves have seized, and the parts nobody thinks about, like the sump pump and the lateral, are reaching the end of their expected service.

Pipe you will likely find in Huron Heights-Leslie Valley

Supply pipe: Type M copper, some Poly-B from the 1980s
Drain and stack: Cast iron in the stack, early ABS in later additions
Usual call: Pinhole leaks in copper, scaled kitchen arms, tired water heaters
First thing to check: Grey Poly-B fittings near the heater and laundry

Jobs we do most on these streets

Main drain backups. Repeat clogs on a line this age deserve a sewer camera inspection to check for bellies, offsets or root entry.
Sump pumps at the end of their life. Pumps fail in March and April, right when they are needed. Many owners here are due for a sump pump installation with a battery backup.
Seized valves. Multi-turn shut-offs from decades ago often will not close, or leak once they finally do.
Pinhole leaks in copper. Occasional on older lines, especially near fittings.

Freeze, thaw and storm calls here

Parts of this area sit near the valleys that drain toward the East Holland River, so groundwater can rise quickly during the spring melt and after heavy summer storms. A basement that stays bone dry for years can surprise you during one wet April.

Winter is mostly about outdoor taps. Many original hose bibs in this neighbourhood are not frost-free, so they must be shut off from inside and drained each fall. Forgetting once can split the pipe inside the wall, which then leaks the first time you use the hose in May. Swapping to a frost-free sillcock is a modest job that ends the yearly ritual.

Summer brings heavy laundry and lawn-watering loads, and that is when a weak pressure-reducing valve or a failing washer hose tends to show itself.

Getting the van and tools to your door

We reach these streets via Davis Drive or Mulock Drive and Leslie Street with no fuss. Parking in the driveway is usually easy, though on garbage day in the townhouse rows it helps to leave a spot clear for the van. The Armitage neighbourhood next door shares many of the same house types, and much of what is written here applies there too.

Asked on site

How old is too old for a sump pump?

There is no fixed number, but many pumps are replaced within roughly ten years. Test yours every spring and replace it if it struggles.

Why does my basement floor drain smell?

A dry trap, nine times out of ten. A jug of water every few months refills it and blocks the odour.