Should neighbour have come through my side of wall?

TomsMom

Just used another hosting site, hopefully no pop ups on this one (but it's very slow if you click, not doing very well am I ).






Sorry Keystone, I'd done that before seeing your message.

Whats the black pipe that appears to be running horizontally across the back of his property in the first pic or is it the copper PRV discharge pipe looking different because of the different angle/lighting?

The one running under his window? That's a gas pipe.

So, showing my total ignorance here. What's a condensate drain? Is that the thinner copper pipe with the outlet on the end that's pointing directly at my wall? And that's the overflow thingy from the boiler?

TomsMom

flashg67 wrote: »

Images open fine with no nasties for me?

Oh thank goodness for that, didn't want to corrupt everyone . Perhaps you have a pop up blocker like mine and ic doesn't have one or isn't blocking those particular ones.

keystone

TomsMom wrote: »

Just used another hosting site, hopefully no pop ups on this one (but it's very slow if you click, not doing very well am I ).

Should have asked the hosting site to resize the images. Its the size of them that makes it slow.

The one running under his window? That's a gas pipe.

Yes can see that now.

So, showing my total ignorance here. What's a condensate drain? Is that the thinner copper pipe with the outlet on the end that's pointing directly at my wall? And that's the overflow thingy from the boiler?

All condensing boilers (and its now almost impossible to fit a boiler that isn't condensing) have to have a drain to remove the byproducts of the condensing process which is a rather acidic fluid. Typicaly a condensing boiler will produce up to 7 litres a day of the stuff and it has to go somewhere. Hence the 32mm waste pipe.

The smaller 15mm pipe is the Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) discharge pipe. If the pressure in the system gets too high the PRV lifts and lets some out. Inevitably there will be water flowing and again it has to go somewhere - hence the pipe.

Can see now the gas pipe clearly funny how it looked different on the very small pic but its interesting that it seems to come out of your wall.

Not now worried about the discharge being into that drain as the obvious soil stack immediately adjacent to it suggests that its a foul water drain anyway.

The key issue now is where exactly is the property boundary? The answer to that affects everything.

Cheers

TomsMom

keystone wrote: »

Should have asked the hosting site to resize the images. Its the size of them that makes it slow.

Sorry, didn't see that. Not much good with techy stuff , Tinypic is so easy, shame it's wasn't playing before.

All condensing boilers (and its now almost impossible to fit a boiler that isn't condensing) have to have a drain to remove the byproducts of the condensing process which is a rather acidic fluid. Typicaly a condensing boiler will produce up to 7 litres a day of the stuff and it has to go somewhere. Hence the 32mm waste pipe.

The smaller 15mm pipe is the Pressure Relief Valve (PRV) discharge pipe. If the pressure in the system gets too high the PRV lifts and lets some out. Inevitably there will be water flowing and again it has to go somewhere - hence the pipe.

Right, OK, thanks for explanation

Can see now the gas pipe clearly funny how it looked different on the very small pic but its interesting that it seems to come out of your wall.

A couple more pics (Tinypic now working )




The gas pipe goes from the meter box INTO the wall (into the white sawn off poly pipe) and the smaller PRV discharge pipe (I'm learning ) is coming out of the wall above the white waste pipe and for some reason it has been directed against my wall instead of directly down into the drain.

Just to stir things up a bit, that's the front of my house and the back of his house. I have two entrances (I rarely use the front one) and he has one.

Not now worried about the discharge being into that drain as the obvious soil stack immediately adjacent to it suggests that its a foul water drain anyway.

Son did check by using hosepipe and found that it went to a manhole in my side yard. I think there's about 3 manholes on my property altogether.

The key issue now is where exactly is the property boundary? The answer to that affects everything.

I have plans showing all three of our properties. The boundary walls between me and the cottage seems to be as it is on the photo (black his side, cream my side), the property boundaries are the front of the houses as they are directly onto the public footpath. So the drain is actually outside the property boundary but it does seem that the rendered wall is definitely mine.

DVardysShadow

My take on this is that the neighbour should have sent a Party Wall Application. Tom's Mum, I reckon that to save himself space he has hacked into the party wall which for your 2 storey property is IMO probably entirely your structure - he only owns to the surface of that wall.

You should get a surveyor inside ASAP.

Gloomendoom

DVardysShadow wrote: »

My take on this is that the neighbour should have sent a Party Wall Application. Tom's Mum, I reckon that to save himself space he has hacked into the party wall which for your 2 storey property is IMO probably entirely your structure - he only owns to the surface of that wall.

You should get a surveyor inside ASAP.

OP, if you do take this advice, and you want to remain on good terms with your neighbour, be careful about the surveyor you engage. There are some unscrupulous surveying firms out there that make a fortune by charging outrageous fees for party wall disputes, even non-disputes.

There are several tales of woe on this board as a result.

DVardysShadow

Sorry, I mean a real surveyor, not a PW surveyor.

TomsMom

DVardysShadow wrote: »

My take on this is that the neighbour should have sent a Party Wall Application. Tom's Mum, I reckon that to save himself space he has hacked into the party wall which for your 2 storey property is IMO probably entirely your structure - he only owns to the surface of that wall.

You should get a surveyor inside ASAP.

Gloomendoom wrote: »

OP, if you do take this advice, and you want to remain on good terms with your neighbour, be careful about the surveyor you engage. There are some unscrupulous surveying firms out there that make a fortune by charging outrageous fees for party wall disputes, even non-disputes.

There are several tales of woe on this board as a result.

Thank you both. If I do go to a surveyor then the structural surveyor that did the survey for my property 4 years ago (who also did the cottage last year) would probably be the one I would use. He is trustworthy. Hopefully it wont come to that.

My son has just been round. He went into the cottage at the weekend to speak to the owner about knocking through the wall and he went into the bathroom. The pipe does come through at an angle but it's a relatively slight angle.

He also just said that the small copper pipe which would discharge any acidic fluid should be plastic. This is something that I had to have changed in my house as the acidic fluid had eaten away at a copper pipe and it was paper thin so my plumber changed it for a plastic one. He is going to come round again when the plumber (or owner) comes back and have a word about that as he says he doesn't want this fluid leaking into the wall if it corrodes the copper pipe.

He reckons the gas pipe could have gone behind the bath inside the room (the bath is underneath the window) and would have been hidden, rather than have it go along the outside wall and back into the property through the hole. The previous owner actually had the gas pipe going through the window frame and this was removed.

He's also going to keep on top of the making good of the wall and will insist that pebbles are used to try and match up the rendering rather than just cementing around the pipes. He wont let it go, he will keep on until it's done to his satisfaction.

Do you know, I really don't mind his waste water pipe being there, it's just the fact that he didn't ask if he could knock through my rendering (and probably my wall) and all that rubble was left in the drain. If he had asked I would have said yes. It's just his attitude, he has two older ladies as neighbours and it's much easier to walk all over them than be courteous, after all he wont be living here so he probably doesn't give a stuff about trying to be neighbourly.

Thank you all for your thoughts and advice, much appreciated.

ETA: Sorry, if anyone is still reading this, the 32mm pipe under the window is taking gas into the property, it's not a waste pipe. There is only the one waste pipe, the smaller pipe. Both are shown in the second pic in my previous post.

System

I'd be worried about a gas pipe running along a wall on a public path only held on to the wall with plastic clips.

It won't take many people putting their weight on it (for one reason or another) for it to get damaged. Copper isn't that strong so I would have expected some extra protection

keystone

TomsMom wrote: »

Thank you both. If I do go to a surveyor then the structural surveyor that did the survey for my property 4 years ago (who also did the cottage last year) would probably be the one I would use. He is trustworthy. Hopefully it wont come to that.

Yes do that. As DVS says it needs a proper surveyor. It's too late for any Party Wall Act action - the work has been done.

He also just said that the small copper pipe which would discharge any acidic fluid should be plastic.

Thats the PRV drain and NOT the condensate drain. They are different. The condensate drain is (well it must be) the 32mm waste pipe with the two push fit connectors.

Sorry, if anyone is still reading this, the 32mm pipe under the window is taking gas into the property, it's not a waste pipe

Thats a piece of 20mm overflow pipe acting as a sleeve for the gas pipe. Incidentally that is very poorly done and the soldering is pretty amateur too. I'll let SCRGI rip into that side in a bit!

Cheers