Plumber in Oak Bay

Oak Bay at a glance

Oak Bay, incorporated in 1906, sits on the southern tip of Vancouver Island between the City of Victoria and Saanich. It began as a middle-class streetcar suburb and is mostly residential, named for the Garry oaks that grow throughout it and for the bay fronting Willows Beach.

What that means for your plumbing

Streetcar-era and interwar houses are often still on original clay or cast-iron sewer laterals, and big Garry oaks love cracked joints. If your floor drain backs up or the line needs clearing every year, a camera inspection will show whether the lateral needs replacing. See sewer lateral repair.

Sandy soils near the shore

The eastern side of Victoria, next to Oak Bay, has sandy loam soils that drain faster than the clay to the north. That helps with basements, but older homes can still have failing perimeter drains or none at all.

Tod House and the Uplands

John Tod built his farmhouse here in 1850, and it is considered the oldest continuously occupied home in Western Canada. The architect Francis Rattenbury, who designed the Legislative Buildings and the Empress Hotel, sat on Oak Bay's first council. In 1912 old Hudson's Bay Company farmland was subdivided as the Uplands, though the First World War slowed building. Houses this old reward careful work: plan renovations around original floors and finishes, and ask the plumber about routing new pipe where it won't disturb heritage details. See renovations.