poor installation of plumbing

jo03gra

Hello All
I did post a while ago with regards to bad drain/sewage smells in two rooms of the house I bought last August.

So this is mostly a continuous problem, intermittently disappearing, but on the whole my kitchen and en-suite pong morning, noon and night. Much worse when its heavy rain I have noticed. There is no obvioussmell coming out of plug holes etc.. the kitchen smell is even in my base kitchen cupboards

The house is about 7 years old, built by REDROW on a new estate with unadopted drains at this moment in time.

I have had Dyna out as have insurance with British Gas, they have investigated (not with cameras, so limited) at the kitchen under sink and en-suite. Immediately checked the inspection ports in garden and discovered the two rooms are using the same drain before they meet the other drains for my bathroom and W.C, which neither have any smell issue what so ever.

The drains look amazingly clean, but that's all my bleach, boiling water and drain unblock-er I assume:cool:

The Dyna plumber noted right away there was an issue in the en-suite as no trap fitted under the shower tray, he didn't remove anything but said when he flushed the toilet he can hear it at the shower tray drain.
He says this is definitely an installation problem. He says British Gas will not cover this, its a build fault.
So I spoke to Redrow who were quite unhelpful. They simply said 'you're too late' so I explained I only just moved in and regardless of being 'too late' the installation was done wrong and there was never a trap fitted in the shower. They refuse to help.

I tried the NHBC but they have quoted some 'conditions' and summarised it needed to be reported to the builder within 2 years.

Can anyone advise if there is anything I can do that will not cost an arm and a leg as i'm becoming really concerned about the smells and mostly about the kitchen as if the drains look clean could there be a sewage leak under the house somewhere around that drain that joins the en-suite and kitchen to the main drain ?

Is there anything the council, enviro health can do to check the drains?
I really appreciate any help regarding this matter.

Thanks

davidmcn

jo03gra wrote: »

Is there anything the council, enviro health can do to check the drains?

Unless it's somebody else's drains causing the problem, I don't see why environmental health would get involved. Sounds like it's your plumbing which needs fixed. If you want to know whether or not it will cost an arm and a leg, get some quotes from plumbers.

strongboes

You already know the problem don't you? No trap means open sewer into your house. Rectify this and see if problem persists. I'd suggest going through ceiling below if possible.

G_M

As you did notbuy from Redrow you have no contrat with them. Other than under 'goodwill' I doubt they will help.


NHBC might cover it- have you read/checked the T&Cs? Don't just take their response as gospel - check for yourself.


No, BG won't cover an installation problem.


Do you have legal cover with your insurance? Though I'm not sure who they'd go after......


But step one is to get quotes so you know what's involved and at what sort of cost. To be honest, I doubt lifting a shower tray, installing a trap, and re-laying the tray would be that expensive.

AdrianC

No trap at all fitted under the shower? Not even the usual shallow one?

Gawd alone knows why one would be fitted without - it's not as if they're expensive, and it'd be easier to fit one than to molish some kind of lash-up to go without.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/floplast-shower-trap-chrome-40mm/16391

Can you post some pics of the shower's "plug hole"? And, if the grid on top removes, what's underneath?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

On our new build of 17 years, the runaway water from the gutters goes into the main drains. I think this is the norm now for every build, as such, you will find that after a heavy down pour, you could get smells back into you house where there are now u bends. get this fixed first, and it should reduce the smells. just plonking bleach down the open aspects is not solving this issue.


As with NHBC, it is two years to report issue! When we redid our bathrooms, the bits missing from them was beyond comprehension!

foxy-stoat

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

On our new build of 17 years, the runaway water from the gutters goes into the main drains. I think this is the norm now for every build, as such, you will find that after a heavy down pour, you could get smells back into you house where there are now u bends. get this fixed first, and it should reduce the smells. just plonking bleach down the open aspects is not solving this issue.


As with NHBC, it is two years to report issue! When we redid our bathrooms, the bits missing from them was beyond comprehension!

Quite the opposite - surface water should rarely, if at all, discharge into the foul sewers.

That is why there is so many ponds built with new developments - so they can handle the 1 in 100 year storm and not flood the surface water drainage system. A standard foul system will not be able to handle storms like that without overloading the main drains.

ComicGeek

So the kitchen and en-suite share the same soil stack? And how is this vented, with an air admittance valve or up through the roof. I would check that this is working properly before doing anything major. The gurgling at the shower tray while flushing the toilet would normally suggest an issue with ventilation, not the lack of a trap.

Freecall

AdrianC wrote: »

No trap at all fitted under the shower? Not even the usual shallow one?

I find this very difficult to believe. It would be seriously difficult to fit a shower tray without one.

Much more likely that the trap is having the water sucked out when the WC is flushed due to a faulty air-admittance valve or a bird nesting in the soil pipe vent.

jo03gra

Thanks for replies so far
AdrianC its a bit hard to see taking a photo because you really cant see enough to know what is under the drain. I know when the Dyna man came out he said 'oh its one of those' means nothing to me. He also said 'dont quote me' when he said there was no trap at installation!

All I can see is a cover, a long narrow hair trap which removed shows a aprox 8-9cm long narrow channel drain opening to what looks like a normal white waste pipe. I just flushed loo and looked down and couldn't see any water or hear any gurgling from shower drain.

CominGeek The ventilation pipe looks to be middle of roof.

Is there any way to check to see if there is definitely a trap before pulling my bathroom apart?

Would dynarod be able to investigate for any cracked pipework with rods and cameras?

Also one more point I've noted...occasionally the smell disappears for a week or two and its usually after ive seen a huge tanker on the estate with a huge suction pipe going into a drain cover near the sub station. Any relevance?

Thanks

AdrianC

jo03gra wrote: »

I know when the Dyna man came out he said 'oh its one of those' means nothing to me. He also said 'dont quote me' when he said there was no trap at installation!

Riiiiiiiiiight.

Sounds very like a perfectly normal shower trap, tbh. Maybe somebody's simply mislaid the actual central bit - they're removable for cleaning...

A photo would definitely help.