House with several manholes
Discussion
We currently have our offer accepted on a 120 year old mid terrace victorian property and the building survey came back indicating that there are several manholes in that house. This led us to think that the neighbours drains converge at this property before leading to the main drain (would be interested to hear if anyone can think of any other reasons for the multiple manholes). We are waiting for the final report from the surveyor to see where the location of the manholes are.
Our concerns:
1. Does being the point of convergence for the multiple manholes indicate more potential problems with drain blockages (as opposed to if we had just 1 that serves our house)?
2. It being an old house, are victorian drains likely be at a crumbling point hence more potential problems ahead?
3. We are thinking of a major side and rear extension which would likely mean having this manholes in our new open plan living room. Are we crazy?
We were thinking of getting a drain specialist to have a look of the reason behind all these manholes and if our suspicion holds true, we were wondering if it's worthwhile buying a house like this with extension in mind. Would you buy a house given the above?
Our concerns:
1. Does being the point of convergence for the multiple manholes indicate more potential problems with drain blockages (as opposed to if we had just 1 that serves our house)?
2. It being an old house, are victorian drains likely be at a crumbling point hence more potential problems ahead?
3. We are thinking of a major side and rear extension which would likely mean having this manholes in our new open plan living room. Are we crazy?
We were thinking of getting a drain specialist to have a look of the reason behind all these manholes and if our suspicion holds true, we were wondering if it's worthwhile buying a house like this with extension in mind. Would you buy a house given the above?
Its worth noting that when the drains from two properties meet, from that point onwards, they have now been adopted by your local water/sewage company, so they own them, and have responsibility for them, so any building work interfering with them will require a build-over agreement or similar permission (they are also entitled to refuse said permission as far as I am aware. Some generic info, but its worth looking up the specifics on your local water companies website: http://www.southwestwater.co.uk/index.cfm?articlei...
A house with lots of manholes wouldnt put me off per-se, if anything, more manholes means sorting any potential future issues is easier!
As above, the only drains you have responsibility for are up to the first "communal" manhole, so if they are crumbling, it should be the water company who puts them right from that point onwards, so possibly you have a much shorter lengh of drain to pay for, if indeed multiple properties join on your land.
Hope that helps, Im no expert on drains, but that is my understanding, and am happy to be corrected by anyone else!
A house with lots of manholes wouldnt put me off per-se, if anything, more manholes means sorting any potential future issues is easier!
As above, the only drains you have responsibility for are up to the first "communal" manhole, so if they are crumbling, it should be the water company who puts them right from that point onwards, so possibly you have a much shorter lengh of drain to pay for, if indeed multiple properties join on your land.
Hope that helps, Im no expert on drains, but that is my understanding, and am happy to be corrected by anyone else!
Regarding point 3, you can relocate drains / manholes whilst doing the groundwork, does depend where they need to move from / to but not impossible.
When we had the plans drawn up for our extension the soil stack and manhole were initially kept inside but we didn't like that idea so told the architect they needed to move. The soil pipe went from the back of the house to the side and the manhole was also moved into the side passage. Wasn't much trouble to do once it was all dug up and exposed.
When we had the plans drawn up for our extension the soil stack and manhole were initially kept inside but we didn't like that idea so told the architect they needed to move. The soil pipe went from the back of the house to the side and the manhole was also moved into the side passage. Wasn't much trouble to do once it was all dug up and exposed.
As above AFAIK multiple drains are now adopted.
This is a pain if you want to build over / near them.
They will want them camera'd before and after and there will be cost and time delays.
Obviously you can't have a manhole in your room so you have to move the manhole / sewer - if there are multiple one this may not be possible.
This is a pain if you want to build over / near them.
They will want them camera'd before and after and there will be cost and time delays.
Obviously you can't have a manhole in your room so you have to move the manhole / sewer - if there are multiple one this may not be possible.
t!!We have a manhole in the back garden, which is in theory shared - we're end of terrace. It collects water from each drainpipe drain at the back. The domestic sewage is a totally different system out the front.
However, the back drain is explicitly not adopted, all searches confirm that it is "ours". So worth doing a search.
However, the back drain is explicitly not adopted, all searches confirm that it is "ours". So worth doing a search.
Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Confirms our concerns. Feeling sad to walk away from a property which took so long to find. If only the drains weren't120 years old with risk of crumbling...than again, as pointed out, it could be neighbours causing blockages and I don't want to be rodding sewage in our brand new living room every so often.
keai7 said:
Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Confirms our concerns. Feeling sad to walk away from a property which took so long to find. If only the drains weren't120 years old with risk of crumbling...than again, as pointed out, it could be neighbours causing blockages and I don't want to be rodding sewage in our brand new living room every so often.
Worth having them surveyed if the house is otherwise so good?But I'd have reservations, one internal manhole is one too many IMHO and often could be avoided if more care taken during extension works but "lots of manholes" indicates either major intersections and/or flawed/inelegant/butchered design.
Sorting out some rat eaten cabling for a landlord right now, he has his refurbs done on the cheap by the usual visiting bodgit brigade and he's had at least two rat infestations in as many years in one mid terrace victorian- last time they munched through the plastic plumbing and caused a flood (don't see that with copper do ya) and this time it's the electrics. Think they're getting in via an internal manhole and moving about via boxing around the poo pipes around the house. Admittedly thats a worst case scenario and shoddy building work has contributed but all the same.
keai7 said:
Thanks all for sharing your thoughts and experiences. Confirms our concerns. Feeling sad to walk away from a property which took so long to find. If only the drains weren't120 years old with risk of crumbling...than again, as pointed out, it could be neighbours causing blockages and I don't want to be rodding sewage in our brand new living room every so often.
No house is perfect. If you give up so easily you will never find a house to buy. If you are worried 120 year old drains "could" be a problem, you are best to buy a new house on an estate. How many manhole covers are there? I have 5 in my back garden. All of them belong to my house and are a mixture of soak a ways and sewage. It seems strange to just say I'm going to walk away, rather than just pay a few quid and have a survey done, if the house has taken you so long to find. The shared drains will be the responsibility of the sewerage provider so no real issues.
If you do want to build over them, you will need permission from the sewerage provider and they may refuse. If you get the permission, make sure you use the proper double seal internal manholes which will stop any possible smells or sewage leaking out and ensure you plan your flooring accordingly!
120 year old drains will have various cracks and displacements, but clay doesn't degrade and I see clay systems every day functioning perfectly well (work in the industry).
Any problems of blockages won't cost you a penny as the system is shared and will therefore be the Water company's to resolve.
If you do want to build over them, you will need permission from the sewerage provider and they may refuse. If you get the permission, make sure you use the proper double seal internal manholes which will stop any possible smells or sewage leaking out and ensure you plan your flooring accordingly!
120 year old drains will have various cracks and displacements, but clay doesn't degrade and I see clay systems every day functioning perfectly well (work in the industry).
Any problems of blockages won't cost you a penny as the system is shared and will therefore be the Water company's to resolve.
Are we sure these manholes are definitely related to sewerage? They might be a well - I know of an older house in Lancaster with a couple of manholes in its cellar, there is a sizeable well under there...
Talking to the current residents and asking if they've had issues with flooding from these manholes might (
) be fruitful, and the local water authority must also maintain records of internal sewage flooding (on the so-called DG5 Register). The 'local' DG5 register was searched back when we had HIPs and I'd be surprised/horrified if they're not searched nowadays?
Talking to the current residents and asking if they've had issues with flooding from these manholes might (
) be fruitful, and the local water authority must also maintain records of internal sewage flooding (on the so-called DG5 Register). The 'local' DG5 register was searched back when we had HIPs and I'd be surprised/horrified if they're not searched nowadays?Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff