New Soil Pipe - Digging down to existing drain

KiwiB

Hi,

Hopefully someone here has some advice. We live in an ex-council house built in the 60's and have the misfortune of having an internal, cast-iron soil pipe.

We would like to cap off this soil pipe, and install a new one on the outside of the house so that we can easily change around the layout of our upstairs bathroom and add a downstairs cloakroom without cutting into the current pipe. If we can get away with it, we want to leave the internal waste where it is so that we don't have to pay to have it removed - a huge job and simply not worth the money for our little house.

My question is, who would it be that would dig down to the existing drain (about 5 foot) and install the new soil pipe? Many of the plumbers we have spoken to seem very reluctant - are we speaking to the wrong people? Would it instead be a drain company, a builder?

We have had such a negative response about this from plumbers that we thought that maybe we are askign the wrong people? They tell us what needs to be done, but then don't come back to us with a price, or tell us they're busy, or simply that they don't want to do it!

Thanks, Beth

Kiran

You're after a groundworker ideally (there are a good few of them out of work at the moment so you can probably get a few quotes), failing that a builder. Are you on a shared drainage system as 5ft seems quite deep. You may have an inspection chamber close to the house that the new stack can be connected into at a higher level and therefore making it a far simpler job.

ormus

last time i need a digger i just went around the local area till i saw some working paddys.
i gave one of em 50 quid to dig me a trench. worth every penny.
he was quicker than a JCB.

Wookey

As Kiran says its a ground worker/semi skilled labourer your needing. Your cast iron soil pipe will probably terminate just below ground level into a 4" clay pipe, digging down outside to connect into these is a pita, if you have a manhole/inspection chamber for sewerage nearby then running new sewer pipe over into this will be an easier job. There shouldn't be any problems leaving your existing cast iron pipe in place as long as the WC connection is correctly sealed of to prevent smells.

KiwiB

Wow, thanks for your quick replies! The drain is shared, and you're right, it probably isn't quite 5 foot deep.
The place that would have to be dug up is in a bit of an annoying place, it is inside our back porch, next to the manhole - hence a slightly trickly job, but your answers have been great and have given us somewhere to start from.

Wookey

Check which way your upstairs joists run, if you can run the new soil pipe under a floor upstairs and outside to a more suitable place then it may save you some hassle, the joists will need to run the same direction as the pipe, as cutting/drilling 4 1/2" holes in joists isn't recommended