Sewer in front garden on new build, can it be a problem?

james_uk

Hi, we have bought a new build which i still currently being build, up to now the front garden has been covered with various items; tonight for the first time we noticed there is a big sewer right in the middle of the front garden (about 2 metres from the house).

I’m not overly concerned as such but just didn’t realise it was there and was a little disheartened when i seen it lol

The obvious things come to mind though, like what if it ever over filled or work needed doing on it and if it could be an issue, or if it will just be fine and forget about it?

Does anyone here have any experience with one in their garden and can it cause problems, will it smell in time or during summers etc..

Do newer ones have any safe guards where they can’t overflow or have issues?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

James

mpet

Do you mean a sewer with an inspection cover? We had one on the driveway of our old house. The house was built in 1911, and the drains fed into the main sewer. The inspection chamber was to clear any blockages that ocurred.

Don't know if it was the age of the property, or the way the drain connected to the main sewer, but occasionally we did get blockages and the inspection chamber would fill up (yucky). It never overflowed and hubby always knew when it had happened as the water in the toilets used to drop. He would open inspection cover and rod the blockage.

IMHO this was a better arrangement than my BIL who had a shared sewer and if there was a blockage - all the crap ended up in his inspection chamber, as it was shared by 5 houses - he could never be sure who had caused the problem. I guess that would be my concern - if this was a shared access point - if there was a blockage caused by a neighbour, would you be expected to deal?

Davesnave

No here one can tell you it will all be fine and dandy, but having a sewer in the garden is usually no big deal.

However when you say a sewer, do you mean an inspection cover? If so, what have you been told about it; will it be carrying just your home's sewage, or that from a number of houses?

At my old house, all the sewers from the other 39 houses met in my garden at a place where there were three inspection chambers. I lived there 21 years and never once had a problem with this. In my time, the water company replaced one of the covers and that was the only 'event.'

Davesnave

mpet wrote: »

I guess that would be my concern - if this was a shared access point - if there was a blockage caused by a neighbour, would you be expected to deal?

By law, all shared sewers are now adopted by the local water company, so if there's a problem, they are the ones who have to sort it.

james_uk

Hi and yes it is an inspection cover, i was lookingat the peoples next door and both sides next doot dont have one in their garden so i assume its taking the waste from theirs as well.

so if there was any blockages or anything it would be the local water company that would sort it out anyway?

i guess it just got my thinking mainly about them 2 things.
1 if it over flowed / blocked
2 if it will smell

Grenage

It shouldn't smell, and it's unlikely to end up overflowing with effluence.

We had some in our front garden at the last place, also somewhat raised due to settlement over 40 years. I planted a hedge around the perimeter and covered the middle with bark chippings.

Hidden, but accessible if the water company ever needed access.

davidmcn

If it overflows or blocks, you're going to have problems in the house no matter where the main sewer is.

[Deleted User]

I have lived in two houses with shared sewer pipes. One had the cover in my back garden, the other had the same in another house.

Because it was shared, I never had to pay for repairs. It was easy to call the water company if there were problems.

I preferred having it at my house, I knew I'd spot problems (toilet not working properly) and call the water company immediately. No hanging around wondering when it was going to happen, how long there'd be a problem etc.

There was never any odour from it. And erm, as I have dogs, disposal of their waste was easy. If I cleaned the back yard, I would just brush the water straight down the sewer lol. But that's a personal advantage.