Ugh! Kitchen floor covered in sludge..

kataklysm

We noticed last night that the waste pipe under the kitchen sink appears to be surrounded by a metre wide puddle of brown sludge... it's pretty gross.

So while I wait in for the plumber, any ideas what could have caused it?
The sink / Wm seem to be draining fine, just looks like this stuff has erupted up the waste pipe somehow.. storms? cracks? or good old fashioned blockage?

Also I called the insurance company.. rather dismayed that they won't pay for the plumber, or the work to repair whatever it is doing this, but may replace a couple of cork tiles and a bit of MDF cabinet.. in return for the £150 excess of course. Feel like I might have made this more expensive by even calling them.

Maybe this is what all those leaflets about drain insurance are on about..

googler

If the sink and WM are draining OK, how did the sludge get UNDER the sink? Is it in the sink as well? The only way it could get under the sink is if the waste pipe is fractured or not making a seal. In which case you'd get some leakage when draining the sink and/or WM.

Can you investigate where the pipes go after they leave the sink & WM? Do you have external drain covers you could open yourself and see if drain water is flowing free?

kataklysm

Well it's odd, on the surface everything seems normal, sink working fine etc, I just noticed a tiny bit of moisture seeping out from under the cabinet, thought Uh-oh.. removed the plinth and discovered we had a problem.

It's literally like a couple of mm of sludge has covered the concrete floor around the waste pipe underneath the cabinets themselves. The plastic pipe taking water away from the WM/sink goes down through a cutout in the cabinet and enters this main waste pipe, I'm not sure how well sealed that is mind. <-understatement of the century.
Looks like material has backed up and literally spilled over the top and accumulated everywhere. What I'm wondering is.. why? _pale_

We tried to get the drain cover outside up, too heavy.. so we'll have to wait and see I guess.

googler

If it's leaked out through the joints, there'll be sludge on the pipework below that joint, leaking down onto the concrete. Is there?

Otherwise, could it be groundwater seeping up around the pipe? On the assumption the sink is close to the edge of the house, what's the ground like around the outside? Does it slope down to the house, or away from it? What's the ground level in relation to the concrete floor level? How much rain have you had in your area in recent times?

kataklysm

googler wrote: »

If it's leaked out through the joints, there'll be sludge on the pipework below that joint, leaking down onto the concrete. Is there?

Indeed there will be, sewage seems to have leaked around the pipe itself, so it must be going somewhere. I'll try and post a pic...

It is against the outside wall of the kitchen on the front of the house, but looking at the soil etc outside, it's bone dry out there.. And the kitchen seems to be well above soil level.

kataklysm

Here ya go

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59760407@N03/6007921811/

Now that's a problem..

kataklysm

The more I look at that, the more it looks like a fine silt. Would the contents of a blocked pipe come out looking like that?

I'm beginning to think we have a bit of a problem under the floor. Maybe a cracked pipe seeping water somewhere, destabilising the soil and concrete and whatever's under there, and what we're seeing is like an updraught of that movement through the only outlet it has, the spaces around the pipes going up through the concrete.

Please tell me that's not true

googler

If it was sewage coming back up the pipe, you'd smell it before you see it.

Without seeing your house and its location, it's difficult to speculate, but my money is on some kind of groundwater seepage....

If you suspect it is sewage, then a trip to the shops for some anti-bacterial spray, some gloves and a facemask would be in order....

Get the gloves on and explore - is it wet or dry? May have happened a while ago, for it looks all dried out on photo?

kataklysm

Thankfully, it was just a blockage, but due to a lack of sealant in the join between the sink pipe and the soil pipe, water was just bubbling up over the top.. I doubt whether that would be covered by insurance, but we'll see. Well, time to clear up :P