A resin liner cured inside the existing drain, sealing every joint. In a block that keeps twelve flats connected and leaves the common courtyard exactly where it is.
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Relining is usually sold on tidiness. No trench, no mess, the garden left alone. In a house that is the whole argument.
In a Randwick walk-up there is a stronger one. The alternative to lining a shared stack is excavating through common property and taking the building's drainage out of service while it happens. That is not one household inconvenienced, it is every flat in the building without a usable toilet.
And there is no good week for it. This suburb runs on hospital rosters and university terms, so the building is occupied at every hour rather than empty between nine and five.
Relining goes in through existing access points. The line is out for hours rather than days, the courtyard stays where it is, and the outage can be put on the noticeboard in advance instead of arriving as a surprise.
Nobody should be voting on a drainage repair they have not seen. The footage is the whole basis of the decision.
Original stacks in these buildings are frequently cast iron, and cast iron corrodes internally, losing bore steadily over decades with nothing showing from outside.
So the problem is not only that things catch in it. The pipe genuinely carries less than it used to, and it keeps getting worse.
That is a different situation from a blockage, and it has a different answer.
The liner is drawn through, inflated against the wall and cured in place, leaving a smooth continuous surface with no joints and no corrosion product.
On a narrowed cast iron stack that is a capacity improvement as well as a repair, and the smoother surface carries better than the original ever did once it had aged.
It is one of the few situations where a repair genuinely leaves the building better than it was.
Replacing a stack or the line under a courtyard means excavation through occupied property, and you cannot take twelve flats off their drainage for three days.
So the practical comparison is not liner against pipe. It is liner against a job that is extremely difficult to schedule at all.
That is why relining is frequently the only realistic method in this housing rather than the cheaper one.
A shared stack is common property, so the person with the blocked toilet is not the person who can authorise the repair.
That is not a brush-off. It is the reason a written finding matters more than a complaint, because a committee acts on documents.
In a self-managed block it also means somebody has to actually put it on an agenda, and that person is usually an owner.
If a stack has blocked twice inside a year in different flats, the pattern is already clear and the question is when rather than whether.
A planned job is quoted, scheduled around the residents and comparable against another quote. An emergency one is none of those things.
The work is identical. What differs is the price and how many people are inconvenienced.
A resin-loaded sleeve is pulled into the damaged section and inflated against the wall of the existing pipe. It cures hard. You now have a continuous pipe inside the original one.
It gives up a few millimetres of bore and gains a smooth jointless surface, which on most runs is a net improvement rather than a compromise.
It goes in through access that already exists, so no ground is opened at any point.
It restores the pipe. It cannot change the gradient the pipe was laid at, because the liner takes the shape of the host it cures inside.
So a run that films as sound but keeps blocking in one place is a fall problem, and no liner addresses it.
In a building where relaying a line means opening a courtyard, knowing that early matters a great deal.
A liner needs enough sound pipe to press against. Cast iron that has corroded past a certain point may no longer provide it.
That is a real argument for filming sooner rather than later, because a stack that can be lined today may not be in five years.
Where that is the finding we will say so plainly, even though it is the harder conversation.
The liner passes over each branch connection on the way in and each is cut back open from inside once the resin has set. Routine, and confirmed on camera.
In a block there is a junction for every flat served, so the after footage matters more than it does on a private line.
A missed one stops that flat draining, which is immediately obvious rather than hidden.
Before and after recordings, a written account of what was found and done, and a clear statement of which length was lined.
In a building where residents turn over every year or two, those documents are the only continuity there is.
They belong in the building's records rather than with whoever happened to be on the committee that year.
Lining a stack means the flats on it are without drainage for part of a day, and that has to be arranged rather than announced.
It is entirely workable and it is the main reason these jobs need a date agreed weeks ahead rather than a week ahead.
It is also considerably less disruptive than the alternative, which is excavation through occupied common property over several days.
Quoted at a fixed price off the camera footage rather than off a guess. These are indicative 2026 ranges. For an owners corporation the footage and written scope come at no extra cost, because a committee cannot approve what it has not seen.
Down the stack with footage handed over. Comes off the reline if you go ahead.
One failed joint or a short damaged length, sealed without touching the rest.
Priced on length, diameter and how many bends are in it.
Cast iron taken back to clean wall so the liner forms properly against it.
Footage plus a written scope and figure, in a form a self-managed block can vote on.
We film the stack and hand the footage over before anyone quotes, because its condition decides whether lining is even possible.
Footage plus a written scope and a figure, so a self-managed block has something concrete rather than an opinion.
Cast iron taken back to clean wall, then the liner drawn through and cured. No trench, no courtyard opened up.
The finished stack filmed end to end, so the owners can see what they paid for.
In a building of this age that pattern is usually the pipe, not the people. A camera will show which, and give the committee something it can actually act on.
Call 1300 381 569A resin-soaked liner is drawn through the existing drain, inflated so it presses against the pipe wall along the whole run, then cured until it sets hard. What results is a continuous pipe formed inside the old one with no joints along the lined section. Since joints are where roots enter and where corrosion opens gaps, removing them is the point. The old pipe stays put and becomes the mould.
Because of what the alternative does to everybody else. Replacing a shared stack or the line under a common courtyard means excavation through common property and taking the building's drainage out of service while it happens. That is not a inconvenience for one household, it is twelve flats without a working toilet, and in a building full of shift workers and students there is no convenient week for it. Relining goes in through existing access and the line is out of service for hours rather than days.
Usually, and it is the most common thing we line here. Cast iron corrodes inwards, so the rust scale builds on the bore while the outside still looks sound. Provided there is enough wall left to press a liner against, lining restores a smooth full-diameter bore and stops the scaling process. What rules it out is a section that has actually collapsed, or one so far gone there is nothing to form against. The camera settles it.
The shared stack is generally common property, so it is the owners corporation's decision and its cost. That is worth knowing early, because it means the person with the blocked toilet cannot simply book the work. In a self-managed block the practical path is footage and a written scope the committee can actually vote on, which is what we provide rather than a verbal opinion.
For a sectional patch, usually a few hours. For a full stack, most of a working day. We give you the window before anything starts so it can be put on the noticeboard, because in a block the difference between a planned outage people knew about and a surprise one is most of the complaint. Compare that with excavation, which is days and a fenced courtyard.
In a building of this age, often. An original stack was installed once for the whole structure and has aged uniformly. If it has blocked twice in a year in different flats, the pattern is the pipe rather than what anyone is flushing. Lining it on a planned date is considerably cheaper and less disruptive than doing it in an emergency, when it will be a Sunday and half the owners are unreachable.
A sectional patch over one failed joint runs about $900 to $2,200. A full stack or a run to the boundary is usually $3,500 to $7,000 depending on length, diameter and bends. A camera inspection is $250 to $450 and comes off the reline if you proceed. For an owners corporation we provide the footage and a written scope at no extra cost, because a committee cannot approve what it has not seen.
Tell us whether anyone has filmed it, and whether the block has a strata manager or runs itself. Both change what we bring and what the committee will need from us.
Quoted off the footage at a fixed price, with the finished line filmed again afterwards.
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