Internal sewage drain flooded kitchen

kaggy30

Hi all,

I'm after some intelligible advice regarding a flooding of sewage water inside my kitchen 2 nights ago.....sorry, it's a long post!

I live in a 1 bedroom maisonette. I started to smell sewage early in the evening and assumed it was from the sea as we live close to it.

We suffered torrential rain for the best part of the day and it is typical for me get rain in my porch coming down from the steps. I knew it was raining and took my usual precaution of making sure my small drain was unclear of leaves etc

I then started to noticed wet patches on my carpet by my front door and in front of my kitchen sink....but was confused as my porch was clear of water and my drain was fine. I checked the sink drain and pipes and everything was dry. The stench was getting worse and puddles of water was coming out from under my feet. Luckily my 3 year old was asleep upstairs!

Pictures of the start of it...







I went round to next door to ask if there drain was blocked as my porch is adjacent to theirs and I could smell the stench. He checked his drain, it stunk and was high with water.

After texting my landlady, she text back saying that there is a drain cover under my carpet in the corner of the kitchen which I was never aware of in the 2 years I have been here.

My ex partner who lives local came rushing down, pulled the corner of the carpet up to find a large concrete manhole cover leaking sewage water. I immediately contacted Southern Water and they said someone will be out later in the evening.





Southern Water rang again and confirmed that they were busy, we said we were going to get rods to see if we could unblock it ourselves because it would get worse.

He unscrewed it then we saw that the skirting board had been fitted on top of it so we had to rip that of to get cover off. The cover was heavy and we had to wedge screwdrivers underneath. He then dropped it as it was so heavy and suffered splash back (probably too much information lol)

When it was opened we could see there was toilet tissue in it confirming it was sewage. I know the risks of what goes down my sink and toilet etc and I am cautious of this so I was a bit shocked as to how this was caused?





I later had it confirmed by Southern Water that the drain is shared with my neighbours next door who live in a separate house and my upstairs neighbour. So I effectively had mine and everyone elses faeces flooding in my kitchen!

I wrapped my arm up with bin bags and tried to get the tissue out but nothing was happening. We contacted a friend who had drain rods and used 27ft of them to unblock it which would of gone right out to front garden/street - nothing happened! We tried to push them through the other hole facing towards my door and it bubbled up with a horrendous smell (causing us to throw up!) behind the wall in my neighbors porch which sounded like it was bubbling up through their drain - nothing happened!

We then ripped the carpet up and got it outside quickly!





We then discovered that there was a small round access point in my front garden under the gravel. We plugged it with less than 1metre of rod and everything disappeared! Yes, we did cheer!

My landlady came to inspect yesterday and said that 3 years ago there was a problem with the drain in my porch and she had to pay a few thousand to a local company to attach it to the drain in my kitchen. She stated that they obviously didn't reseal the drain properly. We asked her if she would replace the carpet ASAP she said it would take her a few weeks but she would replace the whole of the kitchen carpet. I later received a text off her to say that she would only replace the 'missing bit of carpet' as it would be quicker and more convenient for her! Am I right in thinking that she will need to get professional cleaners in and replace the whole carpet that had received splashes and us walking around on it etc. I have bleached most of the concrete floor but I still don't trust that it is gone and my 3 year old plays on the kitchen floor! Also, the water went under chipboard cupboard under sink, surely this would also need to be gone? including the skirting boards?

Please can someone advise me what to do ?

Sorry for the lengthy post, it's actually made me feel better typing it all out lol...

G_M

Get a LETTER to your landlady documenting the issue.

It should be short (shorter than your post) friendly and factual. I would bullet point first

* what happened
and then
* what problems remain and
* what you want replaced, cleaned, fixed.

Finally ask her for confirmation that these actions will done and ask for a timeframe.

As sewage was involved, you might want to ask your Environmental Health officer for advice too.

kinger101

Too long to read it all, but really, she just needs to provide some serviceable sort of floor covering. That isn't covered in 5hit.

da_rule

If the carpet has been 'soiled' and presents a health risk (which I would argue human waste is) then yes anything that could have been contaminated should be professionally cleaned.

This is not just the carpets but could also include the floor under the carpet, and maybe even the walls and skirting if there was 'splashes'. She's also going to have to find a carpet fitter who's willing to cut out the damaged parts and refit it.

I assume that the carpet is still outside, potentially being damaged by the weather, so could require a lot more work.

As long as what the landlord is suggesting leaves you with a clean carpet then there may not be much you can do about it. However you could highlight to her the costs of cleaning, cutting and replacing the existing carpet plus the cost of the new bit of carpet probably wont be much higher than a new carpet.

kaggy30

Thanks for the advice everyone

phill99

And stop flushing flushable bum wipes down the pan. It is these that are the leading cause of blocked sewers in the UK now.

When_the_going_gets_tough

My understanding is that an internal drain cover must be sealed and not just liftable with a scredriver. I would be inclined to inviolve environmental health. Others may know a bit more about the regulations here.

tlc678910

You seem to have saved your landlady a considerable amount of money and stress getting this sorted yourself - how much would it have cost if you had an emergency tradesman to come and unblock? Your actions have also saved further damage to the property and fittings. I would think new kitchen floor covering would be the very least they coukd do. Some people!

anselld

Why have you got carpet in the kitchen anyway?

kaggy30

anselld wrote: »

Why have you got carpet in the kitchen anyway?

I asked my landlady the same thing :cool:

kinger101

Could you ask her to put lino down instead? Might be cheaper. Hope it's not in the bathroom as well.