Damage to drain from roots

yllop1101

FreeBear said:

Mickey666 said: As for being expensive to fix, well probably if builders are involved, but it's really not a difficult job.  I had a similar problem with a blocked pipe to our septic tank, again well away from the house.  I already had a mini-digger on site but they only cost about £250/week to hire, which is plenty of time for such a job.  I replaced a 6m length of multiple old 'salt glaze' pipes with a single length of modern plastic pipe which costs peanuts.  I can't remember the exact cost but even with two connection adapters I doubt the pipe work cost was much more than £100.   This is the sort of job where the materials costs and skill level is negligible but it's the time that costs money.  If you can DIY it then the savings will likely run into £1000s.

Hired a lad with a mini-digger for a day to do some "landscaping" which involved digging a hole for a soakaway plus associated trenching for the pipe - A cost of £250 which I thought very reasonable considering the amount of work we got done in a day. Ring round a few groundswork companies and sole trade landscapers.

If the OP's work is to the foul water drain, then the work needs to comply with building regulations - New pipes should be bedded on to a layer of gravel and capped with the same before filling in. Also need to ensure there is the correct fall on the pipe... Up to you if you want to get Building Control involved. Once the trenches are filled in, no one is going to know, and you can save yourself £500 plus the delays.

Thanks for the practical suggestions and advice.
Unfortunately the pipes are below a concrete patio as well as a set of concrete steps (our garden is 1m below our house), so I suspect these may all need to be dug up and removed! 

FreeBear

Depending on access and space at the front, it is worth having a look at a grab hire to get rid of any waste - Prices vary, but I had been quoted £200-280 to remove 18t of waste (soil, gravel, concrete). A small half tonne dump truck is a great little toy tool for shifting the spoil and doesn't require any real skill to operate (unlike a mini-digger).

For concrete removal & leveling of ground, do look at a company that does ground works rather than a general builder - They will have the machinery to hand and should be quite a bit cheaper.

yllop1101

We're a terrace, with very difficult/impossible access to the rear (the little path along the back is full of other peoples junk), so it is going to be a manual through the house job regardless, one which I don't really fancy taking on myself. 

Mickey666

I agree with FreeBear - this is definitely a 'groundworks' sort of job rather than a general builder and a 'man-with-a-digger' is a good alternative to hiring one yourself.  I've done it myself a few times when trenching work was required for new gas and electricity supplies.  A competent digger operator can get an enormous amount of work done in a day where a first time DIYer will inevitably be slower (albeit have fun!) but that's ok if you have the time because hiring a digger for one day is not a lot cheaper than hiring one for the week so you'll have time to learn (it doesn't take very long).   

I also agree with FB's comments about bedding new pipework in gravel, which I omitted as I was glossing over things.  If anyone does fancy DIYing such work then https://www.pavingexpert.com/ is a wonderful resource for information about such things.  Getting the 'fall' right is not really a problem when replacing a section of existing pipe.  As for building control, I'm sure FB is technically correct but I didn't bother and I'm not leaving until they carry me out in a box, so it wasn't because I wanted to do a cheap job before selling on!

The concrete removal does make it a bigger job, though again you might be surprised how quickly a digger would deal with it.  Mine had a 'thumb' attachment which meant picking up lumps of things like concrete or tree trunks was dead easy and if it's really thick concrete then a good groundworker will have a hydraulic hammer attachment to break it up.  All things are possible and with the appropriate tools not too difficult!

yllop1101

Mickey666 said:

I agree with FreeBear - this is definitely a 'groundworks' sort of job rather than a general builder and a 'man-with-a-digger' is a good alternative to hiring one yourself.  I've done it myself a few times when trenching work was required for new gas and electricity supplies.  A competent digger operator can get an enormous amount of work done in a day where a first time DIYer will inevitably be slower (albeit have fun!) but that's ok if you have the time because hiring a digger for one day is not a lot cheaper than hiring one for the week so you'll have time to learn (it doesn't take very long).   

I also agree with FB's comments about bedding new pipework in gravel, which I omitted as I was glossing over things.  If anyone does fancy DIYing such work then https://www.pavingexpert.com/ is a wonderful resource for information about such things.  Getting the 'fall' right is not really a problem when replacing a section of existing pipe.  As for building control, I'm sure FB is technically correct but I didn't bother and I'm not leaving until they carry me out in a box, so it wasn't because I wanted to do a cheap job before selling on!

The concrete removal does make it a bigger job, though again you might be surprised how quickly a digger would deal with it.  Mine had a 'thumb' attachment which meant picking up lumps of things like concrete or tree trunks was dead easy and if it's really thick concrete then a good groundworker will have a hydraulic hammer attachment to break it up.  All things are possible and with the appropriate tools not too difficult!

Sorry, i'm using the term builder loosely. I'm using a company which pull in a variety of trades to complete specific jobs. The decking project involves other aspects, such as turning our utility into a downstairs loo, for which there will be the relevant people pulled in to do the pipework, and so on. 

It's going to be impossible to get anything like a digger into our back garden unfortunately! 

FreeBear

yllop1101 said: It's going to be impossible to get anything like a digger into our back garden unfortunately! 

You can get micro-diggers small enough to go through a standard doorway - That might be an option if the passageway is not usable.

Skiddaw1

yllop1101 said:

We're a terrace, with very difficult/impossible access to the rear (the little path along the back is full of other peoples junk), so it is going to be a manual through the house job regardless, one which I don't really fancy taking on myself. 
I guess if the drains people do all of that it should lower the cost of the decking project as the builder won't have to do it. Or, the builder who is doing our garden project does that aspect of the project now then the drains people come and do the required work (which should be less pricey too). We shall see what todays CCTV survey yields and go from there. 

OP, we had exactly the same issue in our previous (Victorian mid-terrace) house. One of the drains (Victorian) was blocked with ivy roots. Drain company dug it all out and replaced drain. They managed to get the required equipment through the house but there's no way they'd have got a digger out there! We claimed on our insurance and it was fine.

Mickey666

FreeBear said:

yllop1101 said: It's going to be impossible to get anything like a digger into our back garden unfortunately! 

You can get micro-diggers small enough to go through a standard doorway - That might be an option if the passageway is not usable.

Yep . . . something like this: https://www.chaseplanthire.com/mini-diggers/micro-digger/

(not an endorsement btw, just a random example via Google search)

AdrianC

yllop1101 said:

AdrianC said:

I bet your survey highlighted various other "You may wish to commission..." things, too. Electricity, gas, plumbing, possibly asbestos and damp.

Did you have ALL of those?

You're making a lot of assumptions, most of which are incorrect. It didn't actually recommend any other surveys. 

Really? That would be VERY unusual.

What did the survey say about the electrics?

Falafels

Check with your insurance company before you do anything else.

Way back, the sewer at the back of a terrace where I lived partially collapsed (nice) and it was necessary to have it replaced and a pumping station installed. It was covered by insurance, and each of the four households involved claimed on their own policies.

Worst case scenario - they send someone out from the insurance company who then reject the claim. Even then, they often offer useful advice as to how to proceed even if they won't be covering the cost.