Drain under pavement

ElephantBoy57

I am helping a friend tidy his old house up. Its an old terraced house, with a yard surrounded by a fence, then the side of the house and a path.

Water from the gutter goes down the drainpipe and into a drain, this drian also serves run off water from a few houses as its on a slight slope.

The drain is at the side of his fence, actually next to the pavement. So I am assumiming that drain is the responsibility of the local water company?

It drains, but not freely.

Ebe_Scrooge

Not sure whether it would be the responsibility of the local water company - it could well be if it's a shared drain.  However, if you say it's draining but slowly - it's pretty simple to lift the manhole cover and give it a blast through with an ordinary garden hose.  If it's just a build-of leaves or muck or similar, and it's not totally blocked, then this will often cure the problem.  It's got to be worth 20 minutes of your time giving it a go before you start digging around trying to find out who should be responsible, and possibly shelling out for a professional to come round and sort it out.

Of course, the simple garden hose trick might not work, in which case you'll need to do a bit more investigation.  But if it were me I'd try this first for the sake of simplicity and zero cost.

ElephantBoy57

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Of course, the simple garden hose trick might not work, in which case you'll need to do a bit more investigation.  But if it were me I'd try this first for the sake of simplicity and zero cost.

It was filled with silt, as it has not been attended to in a long time. I got that out, with a ladel and putting my arm down as far as I could reach.

It seems to go around a bend, no water at the house.

Having thought about it, surely it cannot be the housholders responsibility, as he wouldnt be allowed to dig up the pavement.