Sewer drainage under garden advice
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minicooper272 wrote: »My mum actually was pretty good with divining for culverts, it's worth a shot
Severn Trent came and divined for our water main!Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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Glad it's not too off-the-wall an idea. A friend suggested divining to us when we came here, so I gave it a whirl. Cutting off the entire village wouldn't have made us very popular, which is nearly what happened when we were choosing the spot for a field gate post.Doozergirl wrote: »Severn Trent came and divined for our water main!0 -
Glad it's not too off-the-wall an idea. A friend suggested divining to us when we came here, so I gave it a whirl. Cutting off the entire village wouldn't have made us very popular, which is nearly what happened when we were choosing the spot for a field gate post.
Yes, I've divined quite a few sewers in a professional capacity myself
It doesn't always work for me, but on occasions where a group of engineers were standing around scratching heads and the sond was apparently not working, some bits of bent wire kept in my boot sometimes did the trick. I think it is a skill that a lot more water company employees might have used before electronic tracing equipment became relatively cheap.
Very few public sewer maps will show private drains and sewers, and even the public (Section 24) connections to houses are generally very poorly recorded.
The best source of information on drainage at a household level would be the plans held by the Building Control department. These might not be accurate (due to un-notified changes) but should give a good indication of what (and where) to look for."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
Ok so I need at least 1 inspection chamber to meet building regulations and the work will need to be signed-off by building control? When shall I call the inspector?
Birmingham city council inspections are run by company called Acivico.
You mean signed off by building control at Acivico?
What does divining mean?
Ok where to get the best information from, severn trent or building control?
The CON29DW is a name of a company?0 -
Ok so I need at least 1 inspection chamber to meet building regulations and the work will need to be signed-off by building control? When shall I call the inspector?
Hang on, it's a bit more complicated than that!
First, you need to identify where everything is to work out the best route for your new drain. Then you'll need to submit a plan of what you intend to do to Building Control, together with the appropriate fee. It will help if someone with experience draws up the specification and plan for you as there are rules that must be met. No one here can tell you exactly what you'll need.
Once building Control approve your plan, you can go ahead with the drain work.
Birmingham city council inspections are run by company called Acivico. OK. When the drain work's complete, before covering it up, an inspector from Acivico will come and check what you've done. If you liaise with whoever it is, they'll come quickly, as you won't want the trenches open long.
You mean signed off by building control at Acivico?
Yes, if that's the company BCC have given the job of inspections to.
What does divining mean?
Divining is best looked up on the internet. When I do it, I hold two bits of thick bent wire in front of me and try not to make them do anything except sit freely in my grip pointing straight ahead. When I walk over something I'm looking for, the two bits of wire move inwards and cross each other. It sounds daft, but it works for big pipes etc. I don't find it works so well on small wires or pipes and some days it doesn't seem to work at all. I have no idea why it works, when it does.
Ok where to get the best information from, severn trent or building control?
Building control approve and check people's work to make sure it meets the regulations. They don't know about the position of sewers and things like that. The planning department of the council might know something.
Planning and building control are two different departments of the council. They have different staff.
The water company may know where drains run or you may have to employ a company to find them for you.
The CON29DW is a name of a company?
CON29DW is a search your solicitor may have done when you bought the house. It asks the water company (Severn Trent) to supply details of the services they are responsible for in the immediate area of your house .When my solicitor did mine, I was given a copy along with all the other paperwork to do with the sale. You may have yours with your house paperwork too.
I think you will need some professional help with this job. It's not something you can do alone, without experience or without understanding the regulations. Fitting the pipes together is the easy bit! I have just done that on my house, but I got someone qualified to draw and submit my plans and another person to do the excavations so that the fall of the pipes worked out properly.0 -
Building control approve and check people's work to make sure it meets the regulations. They don't know about the position of sewers and things like that. The planning department of the council might know something.
Building control normally have responsibility for keeping the Council's building records, which are copies of all the plans and applications deposited when people apply for building regs or notify work. These might, but not always, show the locations of drains and sewers serving a particular property.
Traditionally a copy of the public sewer plans would be deposited with the Council's Local Search Team. These would be the plans checked whenever anybody asked for a property search to be done, they were also available for public inspection. When the records were switched to a digital format the information was held by Local Searches in CD form, I suspect that now the searching is done online, or provided by the water company on request.
The Local Search Team could be in one of several different departments depending on the council. It might be part of Planning, but more usually falls within the Legal Services team.
Otherwise the Planning department wouldn't normally have any knowledge of where sewers are located unless, as with Building Control, there is something on file for that particular property.
As the OP will need to get Building Control approval for the work, I'd suggest the first stop would be a request to that department to see a copy of the plans held for the property. Some councils charge for that service, but it is worth it if it means you avoid the need to get surveys carried out."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
Another complication could be that you will need Consent to Connect from Severn Trent. Building Control may not be the overseeing authority for this work...
With respect to finding drainage plans for your area - Building Control may not have overseen the building of your estate as the builder may have used HNBC. This is the case for our estate.
Good luck with both.0 -
Johnhowell wrote: »Another complication could be that you will need Consent to Connect from Severn Trent. Building Control may not be the overseeing authority for this work...
With respect to finding drainage plans for your area - Building Control may not have overseen the building of your estate as the builder may have used HNBC. This is the case for our estate.
Good luck with both.
Ok who are the HNBC?0 -
Consent to connect is for a new property. This doesn't particularly sound like something Severn Trent need to be involved with.
You are clearly out of your depth here and need some professional advice to get this right. We cannot do it from here.Everything that is supposed to be in heaven is already here on earth.
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