Sewerage smell problem

Rhino666

Unfortunately a long time ago (20 years) previous occupants of my house built a garage over my sewerage inspection pit - this would not be allowed nowadays but after such a long time there is nothing that can be done. This garage is attached to the house and smells from the sewer sometimes get drawn into the house. My house is at the end of the road, so all the sewerage from other properties travels along my pipes to the main which is only a few feet the other side of my inspection pit.

The pipework near to the main and inspection pit has caused problems in the past because it has a sump and rodding eye arrangement which caused it to get blocked several times when I first moved to the property. I have sealed the inpection hatch with grease but the smell still seems to seep through the surrounding paving slabs. Basically the sewer is a very old design and is finding it hard to cope with modern usage.

The pipes are all maintained by Severt Trent so unlike modern stuff I can call them out free for problems. I want to get rid of the smell problem which I guess will involve swapping the sump and rodding eye pipes for a straight through pipe and repositioning the sewer inspection hatch. I was wondering that as this is a kind of a health and safety issue whether I would be able to get Severn Trent to cough up some or all of the cost of this ?

advice much appreciated.

dennyboy

Have you tried contacting your local councils health and safety department? maybe they can get things moving for you. I would speak to Seven trent first though and see if they will cough up. Maybe tell them you intend contacting the HSE about it.