HELP PLZ...Drain blocked by tile adhesive

zita

Hi everyone...

I have a drain in my garden, this is near a manhole cover (which is the sewage drain) but its not connected to it.

Anyway, I did a very stupid thing and washed away the remains of tile adhesive down this drain and now its blocked.

I have put on a pair of gloves and soaked up all the water with an old towel and removed some of it as far as I can reach but now there is a bend... , tried using the pressure washer but that didn't work, went and bought a set of rods but no luck either. I was told to try some Hydrochloric Acid to dissolve it... does anyone have any idea if this works??? I'm getting desperate now and I cant afford to call out the experts.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

keystone

Bagged or tubbed? How long has it been down there.

Cheers

justjohn

use the corkscrew(?) type fitting on the drain rod

zita

Hi and thanks for reading my post. It was the powder stuff you mix with water, when we finished tilling the floor and went out and washed the remains down the drain...2 days ago.

keystone

Cement based then. Oh dear it'll be as hard as a rock by now. Do you have any sort of flow whatsoever or is it completely blocked. The average drain jetter is far more powerful than the one you have so calling one of them out might get it broken up and shifted. Otherwise you are going to have to get someone out to do some digging - sorry.

Cheers

zita

Well what I managed to get out was very soft just like the stuff I put in, and when I tried the pressure washer and it filled up, over a few hours it went down a bit.
I have no idea where this drain goes, we lifted the manhole and there's nothing else apart from the drain that comes from the house so i assume its not connected there, I'm just worried that it might block up all my neighbours garden drains as all the houses have the same.

keystone

Well it might be that it has fetched up against an existing blockage, stopped and solidified there. I think I'd get the drain jetted. Obviously the blockage is downstream of the inspection chamber that you have lifted the cover off. Does any of your neighbours drains join up with yours at that chamber? Have you moved down to the next chamber and checked that one. Is the blockage between the two chambers or is it downstream of the second. Does anyone elses drain join at the second chamber?

What I'm driving at is that once two houses drainage systems join together then its now the responsibility of the water company if there is a blockage at no cost to you. So if you can determine that the blockage occurs after two sets of drains join, ring them up, play dumb about what you actually put down there and let them come along and jet it.

However, if its in your drain soley its still your responsibility o you'll have to divvy up for a drain jetter yourself. Whatever you do though do not phone Dyno-rod - they charge a small fortune. Find a local guy.

Cheers

zita

_pale_Oh I'm all confused now...chambers?? The manhole cover we lifted is for the sewage tank, but the blocked drain does not go into this. My neighbours have the same drain as me (I think its called surface water drain?) and I'm worried that they are all connected together at some point and that by blocking mine I have blocked theirs as well. Oh what a nightmare...what was I thinking

macman

'Sewage tank'-do you mean you are not on mains drainage but have a septic tank?
The chamber is the recess under each cover.

Rovver125

Are you on a septic tank / cesspit or mains drainage? If you have a tank and it is a surface water gully you have poured the adhesive into, it will more then likely flow to a soakaway. This could be the case even if you are on mains drainage. What type of property do you own and how old is it? Gully lines are very difficult to jet without downstream access as most have a trap, like the u bend under your kitchen sink which makes feeding a high pressure jetting hose in very difficult. My company use 'mini-bore' hoses which are quarter inch diameter and flexible enough to get round these traps, but shifting hardened adhesive in this way is extremely difficult. In all honesty, it's very hard to advise on this without seeing your drainage set-up. As Keystone says, you will probably be best off getting the professionals in. Even the smaller firms in my area charge £60+ for a call out. Even if they can't clear it, they should be able to advise you of your options for fixing it!

zita

The house is a terrace about 30 years old and we have a heavy round manhole cover at the front of the house (possibly mains?) and then at the back of the house (in the garden) there is another square manhole cover not heavy though more like made of metal, and I know that the bath and the kitchen sink run into this because we can hear the water falling inside when emptying the bath/sink. Near to this there is a drain about 6 inches wide with a plastic grid on it and this is the one that is blocked, now I don't know where does this run into, as we checked and its not into the near one. All the houses along the road have the same in their gardens.