Soil Pipe Vent Stack Leakage ?

Leodogger

JWhite wrote: »

Hubby has now taken off the "cap" put on the soil stack which was boxed in by the previous owner and guess what - "bodge it and scarper", the previous owner, had either damaged the cap and removed it for some reason and the soil stack was open ended so nothing to stop the smells from feeding back down the stack box and into the bathroom. We have covered it now temporarily with a plastic bag until we can go out and obtain the Durgo valve mentioned above and the bathroom is now a delight to be in

I cannot believe he did this after bragging to neighbours that all his DIY had made his bungalow the best on the development, plus his mother was an invalid in the bungalow and was left to use the bathroom in these gasses escaping from the soil stack. All we have done is correct his rubbish work. He even tiled in the kitchen right up to the electric sockets and grouted them in so we had to break the sockets off the wall to retile when we moved in. We couldn't even wire our electric cooker without breaking the box off the wall to get at the wiring. We have spent £6,000 correcting his crap work !

Thanks to all for their advice.

Just to be absolutely accurate the soil stack is located on an inside wall (no bathroom window) and we have a terraced bungalow.

keystone

and when you put it back then it must be available for access and not tiled in boxed in.

As a matter of interest (and I know Balders will probably disagree that its needed) does the property have a stack which vents to atmosphere in addition to this stub stack?

Cheers

googler

keystone wrote: »

and when you put it back then it must be available for access and not tiled in boxed in.

THe other consideration being, of course, that the valve is designed to admit air to the stack (from atmosphere). If it's boxed in in an airtight fashion.. where will it get the air from?

Leodogger

Apparently it doesn't suck in fresh air, just air from the bottom.

It doesn't have a stack that vents to atmosphere, how can it when it is located in an inner room (bathroom) and the wall it is on backs onto the next door neighbour's bungalow living room wall? I would have thought the pipe runs underground

We are going to ensure it is accessible, it should never have been tiled over the edges of the lid on the box in the first place which meant the lid had to be broken to get it off.

keystone

JWhite wrote: »

Apparently it doesn't suck in fresh air, just air from the bottom.

You misunderstand its purpose. It IS to let air in to conteract the vacuum cause by the contents of the loo (having been flushed) proceeding in the opposite direction.

It doesn't have a stack that vents to atmosphere, how can it when it is located in an inner room (bathroom) and the wall it is on backs onto the next door neighbour's bungalow living room wall? I would have thought the pipe runs underground

Of course the pipe runs underground. You have misunderstood my question. Is the loo concerned your only one or does your bungalow have a second loo that empties into a second stack or alternatively if its the only loo do you have a second stack that doesn't appear to have anything joined to it either on an outside wall or going up through the roof?

What have your neighbours got (assuming similar design building?) If they have a similar layout to yours but on each one you can see a vent pipe sticking out of the roof vertically where yours would be if you had one that suggests to me that Mr Bodgeit has cut yours off and replaced the dry section with an AAV because he didn't want the vent pipe going up through the roof or in the bathroom.

How this develops depends on your answer because I'm not convinced you have a compliant soil system (yes, yes Balders will disagree) and I would like to try and help work it out.

If this bathroom is on an inner wall and backs onto th neighbours living room wall how is the bathroom ventilated? Is it a second bathroom?

We are going to ensure it is accessible, it should never have been tiled over the edges of the lid on the box in the first place which meant the lid had to be broken to get it off.

You can make it accessible by means of an access hatch which can be tiled so that visually it all looks nice and tiled but you don't have to break anything to access it. And whatever you do the box will not be airtight anyway.

Cheers

Leodogger

We only have one toilet and all the bungalows are designed exactly the same. There is no soil stack that goes through the roof as far as I am aware and my husband confirms this. All the bungalows are joined together in a block of 7 in each, there are 3 blocks. I don't know if there is a stack through the roof of the last one in each block though.

keystone

OK thanks so the nearest manhole (inspection chamber) will be at one end or the other and there should be a vent pipe venting to atmosphere presumably attached to the last bungalow nearby the manhole. My apologies to Mr Bodgeit.

Still intrigued as to how the bathrrom is ventilated if its in the centre of the property though.

Cheers

Leodogger

keystone wrote: »

OK thanks so the nearest manhole (inspection chamber) will be at one end or the other and there should be a vent pipe venting to atmosphere presumably attached to the last bungalow nearby the manhole. My apologies to Mr Bodgeit.

Still intrigued as to how the bathrrom is ventilated if its in the centre of the property though.

Cheers

Presumably it is ventilated with the Durgo inlet valve ?

Anyway we have today purchased the valve one and hubby had to cut the soil stack pipe down to fit it as there was not enough room between the top of the 4" pipe and the lid on the box. It had to be that or retile the bathroom which we were not prepared to do.

Fingers crossed that we have cured the problem :j

southcoastrgi

JWhite wrote: »

Presumably it is ventilated with the Durgo inlet valve ?

Anyway we have today purchased the valve one and hubby had to cut the soil stack pipe down to fit it as there was not enough room between the top of the 4" pipe and the lid on the box. It had to be that or retile the bathroom which we were not prepared to do.

Fingers crossed that we have cured the problem :j

I hope he hasn't cut it down too much the durgo needs to be fitted above the highest spill level normally the top of the basin, no the durgo doesn't vent anything it let's air in to prevent the water in the traps being pulled out.

Leodogger

keithgillyon wrote: »

I hope he hasn't cut it down too much the durgo needs to be fitted above the highest spill level normally the top of the basin, no the durgo doesn't vent anything it let's air in to prevent the water in the traps being pulled out.

He said the Durgo is sitting above the height of the top of the basin so it should be OK - I hope !:)