Friday Evening Drainage Question
Discussion
Hello,
Does anyone know who would be responsible for a damaged drain under a main road?
I believe that the drain from my house (the 'branch' that goes into the main sewer under the middle of the road) has been damaged by buses repeadedly pummeling the road immediately after a speed bump (there is significant damage and subsidence on the road surface in this region).
What's the best way forward? Council? Water Board? Some kind of survey?
Thanks in advance for advice!
Does anyone know who would be responsible for a damaged drain under a main road?
I believe that the drain from my house (the 'branch' that goes into the main sewer under the middle of the road) has been damaged by buses repeadedly pummeling the road immediately after a speed bump (there is significant damage and subsidence on the road surface in this region).
What's the best way forward? Council? Water Board? Some kind of survey?
Thanks in advance for advice!
TheEnd said:
First point would be a shoving a camera up there and seeing what's wrong.
You can hire them, but i guess dynorod etc would be best as they'll know what they are looking for, and should have a jetter onboard to clear any build up beforehand.
Cheers for the quick response.You can hire them, but i guess dynorod etc would be best as they'll know what they are looking for, and should have a jetter onboard to clear any build up beforehand.
Thing is, my house is about 50 metres, uphill, at the top of a drive from the road. Two other dwellings near the bottom of the drive feed into a common manhole at the bottom of my drive. Because I'm the one who always notices it overflowing, I'm the one who gets the f
king drain rods out and cleans it. This has happened about 6 times since this speed hump was installed, and I'm getting pissed off with it. After all, I'd be the last person of the three to get flooded with raw sewage (and since my neighbours are nice people / old dears, I'd hate for them to experience that!). We've established that the 'cloth' type stuff that keeps getting blocked isn't from any of us. It's a mystery.Cheers.
dr_gn said:
[We've established that the 'cloth' type stuff that keeps getting blocked isn't from any of us. It's a mystery.
Cheers.
Cloth type stuff.. it has to come from somewhere upstream.Cheers.
Personally, i doubt it'll be the buses on the road, clay pipes are pretty tough, and they don't need to be buried too deeply to protect them, but settlement could disjoint a pipe, although you'd see a depression in the road at least. Generally, if the pipes have been in for years, damage will only come from something getting close to the pipes, either the last time the road was dug up, or tree roots.
If it's old, many houses had a siphon, which i guess was something like a U-bend to stop the smell of the sewers coming up to untrapped gulleys around the house and other drains, and these were a bad idea as they silt up, but you can just remove and shove a straight bit of pipe in and that sorts the problem.
But anyway, all of this is just conjecture for now, and you will have to get them camera'd before you can go to the council. It's easy to take guesses at the cause, but that won't make the problem go away.
TheEnd said:
dr_gn said:
[We've established that the 'cloth' type stuff that keeps getting blocked isn't from any of us. It's a mystery.
Cheers.
Cloth type stuff.. it has to come from somewhere upstream.Cheers.
Personally, i doubt it'll be the buses on the road, clay pipes are pretty tough, and they don't need to be buried too deeply to protect them, but settlement could disjoint a pipe, although you'd see a depression in the road at least. Generally, if the pipes have been in for years, damage will only come from something getting close to the pipes, either the last time the road was dug up, or tree roots.
If it's old, many houses had a siphon, which i guess was something like a U-bend to stop the smell of the sewers coming up to untrapped gulleys around the house and other drains, and these were a bad idea as they silt up, but you can just remove and shove a straight bit of pipe in and that sorts the problem.
But anyway, all of this is just conjecture for now, and you will have to get them camera'd before you can go to the council. It's easy to take guesses at the cause, but that won't make the problem go away.
One neighbour has just called me to say that the water board are coming round tomorrow to have a look, so we'll take it from there.
Thanks again for the advice.
Well that'll make things easier, as if it does lie with them, you won't need to be holding onto rodding bills for months trying to get a refund.
Ask to have a look at the video if you can, i don't know if they are the type to try to get out of things, but they may lay the blame on whoever keeps flushing their pants down the toilet.
Ask to have a look at the video if you can, i don't know if they are the type to try to get out of things, but they may lay the blame on whoever keeps flushing their pants down the toilet.
TheEnd said:
Well that'll make things easier, as if it does lie with them, you won't need to be holding onto rodding bills for months trying to get a refund.
Ask to have a look at the video if you can, i don't know if they are the type to try to get out of things, but they may lay the blame on whoever keeps flushing their pants down the toilet.
Will do.Ask to have a look at the video if you can, i don't know if they are the type to try to get out of things, but they may lay the blame on whoever keeps flushing their pants down the toilet.
BTW, there are no rodding bills - I'm doing it myself, that's why I'm getting a bit fed up with it!
Cheers.
How large are the pieces of 'rag'? If it is an old property/drain system then they may have used hemp/hessian as a caulking in cement slurry to form a seal between the pipes. Which may (or may not!) be coming from the joints.
In respect of the ownership, speak to your highways & drainage dept. at your Local Authority (generally County Council level), they will tell you (or allow you to come and see) the 'adopted' drainage records. The drains will be owned by the 'adopting water authority' i.e. in the Midlands Severn Trent Water and IF the issue lies with their drains then it will be their problem.
However... there may well be a collecting manhole (inspection chamber) on your property (which you own) however you will also own the pipe that goes from that manhole into the one owned by the water authority and so even if the break/blockage/etc is 'under the road' you may still be liable for the costs of work as they have not 'adopted' this part of the sewer network from the original builder/developer as their ownership is the 'big manhole' in the road (or even on a piece of grass or in your back garden, etc. etc. hence why you need to see the adopted drainage records)
As already said, CCTC the drain and it will tell you where the problem is and then take it from there.
In respect of the ownership, speak to your highways & drainage dept. at your Local Authority (generally County Council level), they will tell you (or allow you to come and see) the 'adopted' drainage records. The drains will be owned by the 'adopting water authority' i.e. in the Midlands Severn Trent Water and IF the issue lies with their drains then it will be their problem.
However... there may well be a collecting manhole (inspection chamber) on your property (which you own) however you will also own the pipe that goes from that manhole into the one owned by the water authority and so even if the break/blockage/etc is 'under the road' you may still be liable for the costs of work as they have not 'adopted' this part of the sewer network from the original builder/developer as their ownership is the 'big manhole' in the road (or even on a piece of grass or in your back garden, etc. etc. hence why you need to see the adopted drainage records)
As already said, CCTC the drain and it will tell you where the problem is and then take it from there.
andya7 , jules s,
My property is 5 years old - self build.
The manhole/inspecion cover thing is on my land, and, one other pipe collects directly into this from a 40 year old house, and then, the pipe from 'my' collector to the road has a tee into it from a victorian house.
Before my house was built, there were no problems at all with the drains from the existing houses...I know what you're thinking, but, even though I've had to clear the drains about 6 times in 5 years now, the longest period between blockages was about 18 months. This suggests to me that there is no inherent problem with the drains being 'overloaded' (they were obviously passsed as suitable by the planning dept wrt my new build house). I'm sure it's someting to do with the join between the feed pipe and main sewer under the road. I have to shove about 15 metres of rod down before I'm getting anything out (well into the middle of the road). The new pipe from my house into the collector looks fine, in fact I took particular care to ensure this work was done correctly at the time of installation, since the last thing I wanted was, well, to have problems with drains!
We will see. Thanks for the advice once again.
My property is 5 years old - self build.
The manhole/inspecion cover thing is on my land, and, one other pipe collects directly into this from a 40 year old house, and then, the pipe from 'my' collector to the road has a tee into it from a victorian house.
Before my house was built, there were no problems at all with the drains from the existing houses...I know what you're thinking, but, even though I've had to clear the drains about 6 times in 5 years now, the longest period between blockages was about 18 months. This suggests to me that there is no inherent problem with the drains being 'overloaded' (they were obviously passsed as suitable by the planning dept wrt my new build house). I'm sure it's someting to do with the join between the feed pipe and main sewer under the road. I have to shove about 15 metres of rod down before I'm getting anything out (well into the middle of the road). The new pipe from my house into the collector looks fine, in fact I took particular care to ensure this work was done correctly at the time of installation, since the last thing I wanted was, well, to have problems with drains!
We will see. Thanks for the advice once again.
schmokin1 said:
From watching that programme a few years back about the guys around IIRC Bristol who were clearing drains, cloth type stuff bunging it up could be kitchen roll being flushed. Toilet paper breaks down in water, kitchen roll doesn't.
Yep, anything other than bog roll or tissue is called 'wet strength towelling' of various grades. The stuff I got out wasn't kitchen roll, it more like the fiberous stuff used for cleaning kitchen tops.Anyhow, the Water Board man cam round and said the main sewer is fine, and anyting else isn't his responsibility. So it's a case of getting someone in with a camera now. I have a horrible feeling this whole thing is going to be extremely financially painful: digging up road etc.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff