#Drains advise needed

furley

Hi,

I hope someone can help me: Love my house but have had repeated problems with the drainage up to the road which is a higher level than the house and about 50 feet up a drive. Over 15 years we've had to have numerous callouts for jetting/blockages, etc. One obvious problem was the drain went into one manhole up the drive, exited, doubled back on itself and entered another manhole virtually nextdoor to it. Have had several camera surveys done but everyone said something different, including part of the drain was pitch fibre and had collapsed.

So decided to finally deal with the situation and hired a company remove the old drain and fit a new one with a plastic pipe directly from the house to the manhole that goes up to the road and so bypassing the the manhole where the pipe had to double back on itself. Turned out there was no pitch fibre pipe but a ceramic pipe all the way. Oh well. Job was not straight forward because company had assumed the tarmac drive was just tarmac and had not realised there was concrete under it. (and they never asked!) They finished the job, just, left me with a mess which eventually they came back to partially rectify. They also took the metal manhole cover from the bypassed manhole, filled it but didn't compress it, laid some mortar over it but without concrete and now that has collapsed into the drive. However pick your battles and this was not it.

Now less than 2 months later, there is barely any movement of water visible in the manhole, certainly not enough to move solids and not like it ran when the company finished the job. If I run lots of water, it backs up a bit in the drain in the back of the house but never overflows and t hasn't backed up into the house or downstairs wc.

Considering I'm using a dishwasher, washing machine, shower/bath and toilets I'm wondering where this waste is all going. Is it possible they have done a bad job and the joins in the pipe sections have broken or the ground has shifted and this waste is somehow going into the ground and not up to the main drain in the road?

I have contacted them but the company has not been yet to check.
Should I be notifying the city council and building regs or the environmental health people? I'm 62 and still working to live so haven't a lot of money to further put into the drains over the £1800 I already did and realise the company is not brilliant but they are who I went with, having accepted their quote.

Thanks for any advice.

furley

I posted query on drain advice in 2010. After paying a company to come a repair what I thought was wrong in addition to what I'd be told was wrong (incorrectly) by DynoRod, I ended up with the same problem but £2000 poorer. In despair, I finally turned to my home insurance company. They were brilliant. The drainage problem came with the house when we bought it (not discovered on homebuyers survey). The problem I had not wanted to own up to was the drainage pipe to the mains sewer had not been laid properly - there was no fall on it, so there was always going to be a problem unless relaid. My house slopes down from the main road. The insurance company's contractor spent a week at my house removing the old drain pipe, digging further and further down to connect to the mains. It was a mammoth job and I am so grateful to them. Problem corrected but couldnt' have done it without the house insurance (LV) by the way.

muckybutt

Good of you to come back and post a report :T