have I had some illegal plumbing work done?

Annouck

Hello everyone. Not sure you can help with this one, but I hope so...
My Dad had a conservatory built. They changed the kitchen sink waste pipe from the main drain to go to a soakaway. I think this illegal but I'm not sure. He took out insurance at the time in case the builder went bust. They went bust, but the insurers have told him he cannot claim for any repair as 6 months had lapsed between the time he discovered the problem to the time he reported it to the insurers. He didn't think it was a problem until he mentioned it to his friends, so didn't think to claim.
So, has he got a case? As it may be against building regs does this matter and is it actually a problem at all.
Lots of questions for my elderly parents... I'm trying to sort for them to take the worry away.
Thanks
A

rich13348

If it's just kitchen sink water I don't think it's a massive problem.. might just get a bit soggy sometimes.

tony6403

The kitchen sink should certainly not be connected to a soakaway.
If the local authority became aware it would have to be redirected to a lateral or foul sewer.
It will eventually clog with bits of food etc. and might stink.

globalds

would it be possible to reconnect to the main drain ?

what was the reason it was diverted ?

Annouck

Thanks everyone. The kitchen sink drain came out of the back wall to the drain. They had a conservatory built on the back and the builders built over the drain and redirected the sink out to the grid for the soakaway on the right, instead of the other drain on the left. So builders did it, went bust, insurance taken out with builder refused to pay due to 6 month lapse in time between discovery and report to insurers. But if it is against building regs does that make a difference?

macman

If building regs approval was not obtained then it possibly invalidates the whole policy..it's certainly not going to help your claim.

roddydogs

Obviously, only rainwater can go down a soakaway, hope they didnt connect the toilet to it as well!

27col

The sink waste in our bowling club has been running to a soak away ever since the club house was built in 1993. Without any problems at all. The council knew about this at the time and did not raise any objection.

DTDfanBoy

It's quite possible to run grey water to a soak pit successfully, one of our properties has had such a setup for the last 80 year's since it was built.

Just be careful with what goes down the drains, too much of the wrong stuff will clog everything up

Annouck

Thanks everyone. We have a sink strainer in place and mesh over the grid to the soakaway to catch anything else. Luckily they didn't re-direct the loo! I have a drain camera on loan for the weekend so will do some exploring. Comforting to know that others have had this for years though and will take away some of Dads panic. Thank you!