Etobicoke service area
Plumbing in Islington Village
Islington Village grew around an old crossroads on Dundas Street, and its residential streets hold a mix of interwar brick homes and post-war houses. The plumbing reflects that: cast iron, clay, and in some cases original service lines.
- Housing: Interwar brick homes, post-war bungalows, low-rise apartments
- Service lines: Some lead or galvanized in older homes
- Drains: Cast iron stacks, clay laterals
- Landmarks: Dundas Street West murals, Montgomery’s Inn, Mimico Creek valley
- Licensed, insured trade work (details confirmed when you call)
- Diagnosis before anything is cut
- Emergency calls taken
- Etobicoke and the west end
Plumbing profile
- Housing
- Interwar brick homes, post-war bungalows, low-rise apartments
- Service lines
- Some lead or galvanized in older homes
- Drains
- Cast iron stacks, clay laterals
- Landmarks
- Dundas Street West murals, Montgomery’s Inn, Mimico Creek valley
Service lines in older homes
A house from the early fifties or before may still draw its water through lead between the curb and the meter. Glance at the line coming through the front wall tells a lot: soft, dull grey pipe that scratches shiny is the giveaway. Replacing it improves pressure and water quality.
- Coordinating with the city on the public portion is the sensible way to do it; we can explain how that works and leave you to check the current terms.
Cast iron and old repairs
Stacks in these houses have often been patched over the years with rubber couplings and short pieces of plastic. Some of those repairs are fine; some were made without proper support and now sag. We look at the whole stack and laterals, not just the piece that leaked.
- Hub joints that weep after a bath are a common call.
Storm backups
Several pockets of central Etobicoke have had basements fill during violent summer downpours. Backwater valves and sump pumps, installed with permits and the right placement, are the main line of defence.
- A camera inspection first confirms the pipe route for valve placement.
Apartment buildings and small landlords
The low-rise apartment buildings around Dundas and Islington have their own patterns: shared stacks where one tenant’s grease ends up in another tenant’s kitchen, old boiler-fed hot water systems, and laundry rooms that drain into overworked floor drains. For small landlords, scheduled drain maintenance on the kitchen stack and a camera record of the main are the two habits that cut emergency calls the most.
Calls we often get here
- Soft grey service pipe at the meter
- Weeping cast iron joints
- Sagging plastic patches on the stack
- Floor drain backup during storms
- Brown water after a shut-off