Locating sewer pipe

FunkyMunkey

Hi,

Does anyone have any idea how I go about doing this? We're trying to put in a waste pipe for a new toilet coming off the back of the house. The stack for the current toilet is on the side of the house.

We've dug down over a meter next to the house (the hole is about 2ft wide), but have yet to find anything and because we're now into clay, it's getting very difficult to dig through.

Any ideas?

Thanks

ormus

where are you actually digging the hole?
start from the existing stack pipe.

ps.
how old is the house?

FunkyMunkey

The hole is currently right next to the house, where I want the new stack pipe to be. I was trying to avoid digging up near the stack pipe!

The house is mid 30's

tanith

Does the drain actually extend beyond the 'old' stack pipe? It may not run round the back of the house, and you may have to run the new drain to meet with the old one . Have you found the inspection cover for the foul drain? If you lift it you can usually see how many branches there are and which way they run...

ormus

most semis and detached houses, have their main drain (from the stack pipe) running down one side and then into the street/road. (main sewer).
very few will have a main drain running along the back of the house.

macman

They run in straight lines, where they do have to turn corners there will be an inspection hatch.
So if no inspection hatch at the back corner of the house, unlikley to be a drain back there. The exception would be if 2 or more houses share the drain (common until about the date yours was built), in this case the drain would probably run across the back of the properties and then down the side of one.

27col

You seem to be excavating where you think that you would like the sewer to be, rather than finding out where the sewer actually is, and excavating from there. You need to establish exactly where the existing sewer runs, before you do any digging. As Macman says, the inspection chambers(manholes) will tell you where to dig to intercept the existing drains. At that time you can decide how to make the connection. Also, opening up the existing inspection chambers will tell you how deep the sewer is and whether there is room in it to add an extra pipe or whether you need to build a new inspection chamber.

mariahussain

Your local building control dept will have copies of the sewer map and they are viewable by the public. Whether it helps u locate it or not i dont know but just a suggestion! Or ring ur local building control and they might be able to tell u over the phone.

Mojisola

ormus wrote: »

most semis and detached houses, have their main drain (from the stack pipe) running down one side and then into the street/road. (main sewer).
very few will have a main drain running along the back of the house.

Anything's possible. Our 1930's house has the stack pipe on one wall. The drains run down that side of the house, under the extension(!) and back up the other side of the house to the road. There is also a extra loop made for a new toilet which goes round the extension. All done before we bought the house - we're not responsible for the mess.

It's easy to see how everything works if you lift all the manholes you have and flush a toilet or pour a bowl of water down a sink. You can follow the progress round the house and, from the position of the drains entering and leaving the manholes, you can trace where the pipes go.

ormus

yes of course it is. thats why i said "most".

and yes ive seen semis where one single pipe is used for both houses.