How to confirm whether soakaway in place

F37A

Hi 

Quick one, I know you have these on front drive but if I cannot see one on my drive how do I confirm whether there is one at all?

Thanks 

davilown

Your either going to have to dig (normally just over 5m from edge of building depending when done of course!) or look at the building the plans of available 

F37A

Building plans ok. Hopefully this will tell me where exactly. Got to be a formal record of this.

theonlywayisup

F37A said:

Building plans ok. Hopefully this will tell me where exactly. Got to be a formal record of this.

There may not be, you would be surprised at what 'formal' plans aren't correct/available.  A friend of mine had a large auger in and came close to the main gas main. It was marked across her land as somewhere else entirely.  

weeg

You might not have one. I work in scotland, so I'm less up to date with English building regs, but I understand them to be similar. So, if you're in a new build estate the drainage may well be estate wide rather than one per house. Or if an older house there may not be any SUDs at all.

Can I ask whey it's important you find out if one is there?

Section62

F37A said:

Quick one, I know you have these on front drive but if I cannot see one on my drive how do I confirm whether there is one at all?
 

It isn't unusual not to see one as often they are completely underground and with no inspection/manhole cover.

It could also be under a lawn or garden, not necessarily a drive.

The least disruptive way of confirming if one is present is by CCTV survey of the surface water drainage. The drain(s) should end up in a chamber of some kind, rather than another drain/sewer.

However, CCTV surveys of soakaway systems can often fail due to blockage by silt or collapse. Also, the operator needs to be sufficiently experienced to know what they are looking for as the soakaway could be mistaken for a collapse or just a normal manhole, depending on the way in which it was constructed.

Digging a hole becomes the only option then - although the CCTV survey will give a better idea of where to start digging.

F37A

weeg said:

You might not have one. I work in scotland, so I'm less up to date with English building regs, but I understand them to be similar. So, if you're in a new build estate the drainage may well be estate wide rather than one per house. Or if an older house there may not be any SUDs at all.

Can I ask whey it's important you find out if one is there?

Surface water issue, puddling at door. Needs to be a way to get rain water away from house. Downpipe doesn't point to a hole in ground and puddling so assuming there's no soakaway. may have to stick one in in this case. Slight slope on road means rain water may come towards my house.

F37A

Section62 said:

F37A said:

Quick one, I know you have these on front drive but if I cannot see one on my drive how do I confirm whether there is one at all?
 

It isn't unusual not to see one as often they are completely underground and with no inspection/manhole cover.

It could also be under a lawn or garden, not necessarily a drive.

The least disruptive way of confirming if one is present is by CCTV survey of the surface water drainage. The drain(s) should end up in a chamber of some kind, rather than another drain/sewer.

However, CCTV surveys of soakaway systems can often fail due to blockage by silt or collapse. Also, the operator needs to be sufficiently experienced to know what they are looking for as the soakaway could be mistaken for a collapse or just a normal manhole, depending on the way in which it was constructed.

Digging a hole becomes the only option then - although the CCTV survey will give a better idea of where to start digging.

Yeah seems like I need to pay for drainage survey. More costs of home ownership. 

Section62

F37A said:

Yeah seems like I need to pay for drainage survey. More costs of home ownership. 

If you get them out to do the surface water drains then you may as well get them to do the foul while they are there.

It shouldn't cost that much more, and could forewarn you of future problems with them (and yet more costs of home ownership).

Rosa_Damascena

F37A said:

Section62 said:

F37A said:

Quick one, I know you have these on front drive but if I cannot see one on my drive how do I confirm whether there is one at all?
 

It isn't unusual not to see one as often they are completely underground and with no inspection/manhole cover.

It could also be under a lawn or garden, not necessarily a drive.

The least disruptive way of confirming if one is present is by CCTV survey of the surface water drainage. The drain(s) should end up in a chamber of some kind, rather than another drain/sewer.

However, CCTV surveys of soakaway systems can often fail due to blockage by silt or collapse. Also, the operator needs to be sufficiently experienced to know what they are looking for as the soakaway could be mistaken for a collapse or just a normal manhole, depending on the way in which it was constructed.

Digging a hole becomes the only option then - although the CCTV survey will give a better idea of where to start digging.

Yeah seems like I need to pay for drainage survey. More costs of home ownership. 

Home ownership is a privilege. Young people today struggle to get a foot on the property ladder, whereas in North Korea people are denied the right completely.