Blocked outside drains

smartdoodle

Hello

I hope this is in the correct place, sorry if not and move if needed.

I'm needing a bit of advice as I don't really know where I stand or what to do!!

Bit of back story. Last year we had a bit of a problem with blocked drains outside the house. When emptying the bath/sinks etc the drain outside would overflow and run down the yard to the drain at the bottom. No toilet waste was backing up or overflowing etc. It also started to smell.

We called somebody out to take a look and they mentioned we had a 'Blackpool Trap' and the previous owners (we own the house) must have concreted over the covering when doing the yard as it wasn't visable. A builder friend of ours helpfully came over to us and helped us find the covering by digging up a fair bit of our yard. Whilst he was here he also noticed fresh tarmac outside our back gate, which prompted us to remeber that united utilities had been about a month or so previous and dug up just outside our back wall.

So I rang united utilities and explained everything to them, after a lot of phone calls they came and cleared the drains as they agreed that they woudn't know if they had caused any damage until it had been cleared. When they cleared it they found loads of baby wiopes etc blocking by the the back wall of our property. Now I 100% know that I never flush baby wipes, I hardly ever use baby wipes and would not flush them anyway.

Fast forward a year with no problems and it seems to have started blocking up again. Called somebody out (no call out carge and free quote etc incase it was an issue with our drains) to find that it is again blocked with baby wipes! I have a feeling that somebody further up the street/drainage system is flushing baby wipes and they are coming down and for some reason catching by my drain pipes and blocking it, but one how do I prove this and 2 who is responsible? We live in the middle of a row of terrace and most other houses have kids (but doesn't mean baby wipes need to have kids in household).

Sorry for the long post but really could do with some sort of advice. If it's just up to me then I'll get them cleared and just have to keep getting them cleared each year or whatever, but it doesn't seem fair if it's somebody else thats causing me to have to pay out. If that makes sense.

Any help would be really appreciated.

keystone

You are clearly on a shared drain system and someone is stuffing unmentionables into it upstream of you. As such it's United Utilities responsibility not yours to sort it out despte the blockage occuring on your land. You do not need to prove who is responsible. You wasted your money calling the guy out. You should have called UI and as its their responsibility there will be no charge. Call them again.

Cheers

vaio

I'd have thought that as it is a shared drain then either it is the responsibility of you local water company or, at the very least, it will be shared responsibility between the houses that us it.

Having to pay to unblock the drains might well concentrate their minds on not flushing baby wipes.

smartdoodle

Thanks both for your reply. I'll give united utilities a call.
It was a free call out guy and free quite so i haven't paid anything out, (i didnt last year either) but wanted to make sure it wasnt actually my drains before ringing the utility company.

I really appreciate your quick and helpful replies. Many thanks

nocluewithdiy

I need advice on a blocked drain as well. I've recently had renovations done at our house - had an extension and new utility room built. As a result - they pulled up our old drain and built a new one which goes underneath the new utility.
In my kitchen I've actually invested in a waste disposal unit for the first time, but now it seems my outside drain is blocked somewhere underground, and the food waste is coming out all over my patio!

I'm unsure as well whether the pipe leading to the manhole on our drive has suffered some damage, as the drive has had a slight subsidence recently, due to many large vans being parked there. This could mean that there isn't enough of an angle on the pipe for the waste to flow into the street's pipes!

Where do I stand now though? Do I contact a drain unblocking firm? Do I contact the builder? Do I attempt to open my manhole? I'm trying to avoid massive call-out fees as I've paid out enough! Should my normal outside drain be able to cope with grinder waste? My husband is yet to be converted to this waste-disposal unit, and having this disgusting gunge flow all over his nice clean patio is not impressing him at all!!

keystone

You call the builder and get him to sort out why this is happening seeing as its started after he's done his work.

Your husband really isn't a thinking person is he?

Cheers