Downpipe not connected properly to drain

MrBrindle

Good afternoon,

We moved into our house (purchased) 2 months ago. It is a 13 year old house on a medium sized estate. Unfortunately the house move badly triggered my anxiety, which I've been struggling with since.

The guttering downpipes are connected to the drains by slotting into a rubber adaptor, with chippings overlayed on top to hide them.

Being an anxious home owner I decided to scoop out some of the chippings to see exactly how each downpipe connects, thus finding the rubber adaptor thing.

However after scooping out around one of the downpipes, to my horror I saw that it was only hovering above the connector (around 1 - 2 inches) and not actually slotting into it! So not all the water will have been draining into the drain. I have fixed another piece of downpipe to this so water runs fully into the drain. Questions is, was this just laziness from the builders? Or has the drain actually sunk causing the pipe to come loose? I checked the depth of the drain on the other side of the house and it looks the same, so I don't think it's sunk or moved underground.

I'm now having nightmares about subsidence, as I know leaking gutters and drains will cause foundation damage. Unfortunately there is a house further down the estate which has a classic subsidence crack running diagonally up the front, so that's boosted my anxiety even more.

It also doesn't help that my partner decided to chop down some medium sized shrubs around the area which has further fuelled my worries!

Is there anything I can do about this? Contact the original developers?

The other issue is if subsidence does happen will we be insured when there was a fault with the downpipe?

I don't know if my anxiety is giving too much thought into this, and I need to chill out. Easier said than done when you're a natural catastrophiser.

Thanks

Head_The_Ball

Relax, you are almost certainly worrying unnecessarily. It has probably been like that since the house was built. Any water not going via the rubber adapter will find its way into the drain anyway, just like rainfall in that area will.

If there has been subsidence it would have shown up in different ways.

Did you and/or the mortgage provider get a survey done?

Did the surveyor check for subsidence?

There is little point contacting the developers after 13 years.

MrBrindle

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

Relax, you are almost certainly worrying unnecessarily. It has probably been like that since the house was built. Any water not going via the rubber will find it sway into the drain anyway.

If there has been subsidence it would have shown up in different ways.

Did you and/or the mortgage provider get a survey done?

Did the surveyor check for subsidence?

There is little point contacting the developers after 13 years.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes we had a full detailed buildings survey done privately, 30 page document highlighting problems etc. Nothing was mentioned about potential subsidence or the drains being problematic.

How will it find it's way into the drain??

Head_The_Ball

MrBrindle wrote: »

...How will it find it's way into the drain??

The same way that rain water finds its way into the drains.

Rain that falls on your roof is directed to the drains (or a soakaway if you have one) via guttering and downpipes.

Rain that falls on the land surrounding your house, or rain water that overspills from roofs and guttering etc, will find its way into soil, drains and soakaways etc.

After heavy rainfall, do you have a problem with water pooling around that drain, or anywhere else.

If not, then it is unlikely that you have a drainage problem.

Relax.

Head_The_Ball

MrBrindle wrote: »

T....Yes we had a full detailed buildings survey done privately, 30 page document highlighting problems etc. Nothing was mentioned about potential subsidence or the drains being problematic....

Does it include or exclude subsidence from the report?

I presume that you have buildings insurance. Does that include cover for subsidence? If it doesn't, then see if that can be added.

I really do think that you are worrying unnecessarily.

Keep a normal eye out for potential problems and make sure you are properly insured.

Then relax and enjoy your new home.

EmmyLou30

I think your anxiety will be blowing this up bigger than it really is. Chances are 90% of the water went the right way so won't have caused any issues. We found when we did the driveway that one of ours wasn't connected to anything, the developers had just shoved it into the soil and covered round it with gravel!! I then did like you and went and uncovered them all to check on them and they were all ok. But for over 20 years the water from the porch roof had been pouring into the corner of the porch/lounge on clay soil...nice. But seems to be no damage I can see anywhere in terms of movement and we've since had the pipe diverted into an actual drain. So I can't imagine a little bit of water escaping will have done any damage.

MrBrindle

Head_The_Ball wrote: »

Does it include or exclude subsidence from the report?

I presume that you have buildings insurance. Does that include cover for subsidence? If it doesn't, then see if that can be added.

I really do think that you are worrying unnecessarily.

Keep a normal eye out for potential problems and make sure you are properly insured.

Then relax and enjoy your new home.

Nothing is mentioned about subsidence in the report, and no major defects with the house.

I've just checked the insurance policy and it says under the water and oil escaping section:

'Cover does not include....

loss or damage caused by subsidence, landslip or heave as a result of escape of water'

Does this mean we won't be covered if the cause is a leaky drain etc?

Head_The_Ball

MrBrindle wrote: »

Nothing is mentioned about subsidence in the report, and no major defects with the house.

I've just checked the insurance policy and it says under the water and oil escaping section:

'Cover does not include....

loss or damage caused by subsidence, landslip or heave as a result of escape of water'

Does this mean we won't be covered if the cause is a leaky drain etc?

Buildings Insurance and subsidence are complex areas and most insurance companies will do whatever they can to avoid paying out.

However again I repeat, you are worrying unnecessarily.

Escape of water can cause subsidence as the water can soften the soil and weaken it or it can leach away fine particles of soil, reducing its volume and causing shrinkage under the house. This can cause the house foundations to subside.

However this type of escape of water is usually a long term leaking or burst water pipe.

It is very unlikely that your drain is doing anything to cause any significant sub soil softening or erosion.

Your house has stood for 13 years without a problem. It will probably outlast you and me.

Please stop worrying unnecessarily.:)