Sewage under kitchen floor

ashe

TadleyBaggie said:

Murmansk said:

A few years ago I had a drain problem which resulted in a two inch deep pool of sewage ending up covering quite a few square metres of the area as the side of my house. It was HIDEOUS and HORRIFIC but after a couple of weeks it had turned into the kind of compost you'd get in a nice sealed plastic bag from B&Q - I'd happily have picked it up, sniffed it and run it through my fingers - it was totally transformed!

Once went to a recording of a science radio show, the subject was bacteria. One expert claimed that if bacteria didn't exist, the whole earth would be covered with several metres deep of waste matter.

This is what used to happen with wood, before things developed that broke wood down. 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-fantastically-strange-origin-of-most-coal-on-earth

Bendy_House

Section62 said:

Murmansk said:

...I'd happily have picked it up, sniffed it and run it through my fingers - it was totally transformed!

That's Ok if you know all you are handling is your own "stuff" - the problem with other people's is not knowing what is in it.  Running someone's discarded needles and other sharps through your fingers isn't such a pleasant experience.  Hence the precautions (and additional cost) that sensible professionals will apply to dealing with a situation like the OP's.

I have to say, ambioni does come across as well dodge.

Bendy_House

TadleyBaggie said:

Once went to a recording of a science radio show, the subject was bacteria. One expert claimed that if bacteria didn't exist, the whole earth would be covered with several metres deep of waste matter.

If bacteria didn't exist, not would we. We are bacteria. Some of us, leastwise.

Section62

Bendy_House said:

Section62 said:

Murmansk said:

...I'd happily have picked it up, sniffed it and run it through my fingers - it was totally transformed!

That's Ok if you know all you are handling is your own "stuff" - the problem with other people's is not knowing what is in it.  Running someone's discarded needles and other sharps through your fingers isn't such a pleasant experience.  Hence the precautions (and additional cost) that sensible professionals will apply to dealing with a situation like the OP's.

I have to say, ambioni does come across as well dodge.

The problem has been there 25 years.  ambioni has lived in the property for 7.

That gives a potential 18 year's worth of accumulation of goodness knows what, without needing to comment on what ambioni and their friends/family might have done more recently.

The conversation has also moved on to dealing with sewage residue generally, not just ambioni's situation, and any sensible professional called in to deal with a sewage spill should be treating it as a potential risk to their health and safety, without having to make any judgement about the people involved.

More importantly, you don't have to be "well dodge" to regularly use needles and other sharps.....

Bendy_House

Good point, well made.

That's DIY sewer unblocking off of my list. And clearing all the garden rubbish left behind. And I shooor ain't going up into the loft. Could be a literal minefield.

Section62

Bendy_House said:

And I shooor ain't going up into the loft. Could be a literal minefield.

Yup.

https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/defence/bomb-squad-called-to-brighton-home-after-hand-grenade-found-in-loft-977117

stuart45

I worked on the houses in that road back in the 80's. The kids were always trying to nick your tools. 

Rosa_Damascena

Murmansk said:

A few years ago I had a drain problem which resulted in a two inch deep pool of sewage ending up covering quite a few square metres of the area as the side of my house. It was HIDEOUS and HORRIFIC but after a couple of weeks it had turned into the kind of compost you'd get in a nice sealed plastic bag from B&Q - I'd happily have picked it up, sniffed it and run it through my fingers - it was totally transformed!

So I hope something similar can happen under your house - after all it's not as though it's toxic chemicals like where they have to come and take all the soil away in an industrial site?

Presumably the same would apply to dead animal carcasses, eg mice / rats that lie there dead as long as there is moisture about? Although I can appreciate that they may take longer to self-deodorise than a bit of sewage.