Discovered cavity under drive from broken drain

Uncle_Cuddles

I was washing my car the other day when I stood on a gravel border right next to my house and it gave way - this gravel has been in situ since we moved in 25 years ago and sits on a thin cement bed. The cavity drops about 10-12 inches and doesn’t appear the go far (about 2 feet by 1 foot). It appears to have been caused by a broken drain - the rain water drain pipe is shared with the downstairs bathroom drainage hole and it looks like it must be cracked or damage. It runs into a manhole in the middle of my drive about 2 meters away which then diverts to another outlet which runs down the side of my house. The drive is thick concrete slab and coincidentally we got a quote for block paving a couple of months ago which we have been mulling over but are going to progress with. The concrete slab drive has probably been the since the house was built in the 50s and has a few cracks in it which was why we were finally going to block pave it. My concern is that the cavity may have been there for many years and may be the cause of the cracking if the cavity goes further back than it appears to.

So my question to you is should I contact my insurers to come out, inspect and repair the drain and fill the cavity, or should I just ask the block paving company to sort it out? My insurance excess is £100 but does say it is £500 for an escape of water so I am not sure if damaged drains count as an escape of water.

I last made an insurance claim about 23 years ago also for damaged drains - I had cracks under my front windows which I initially thought it was subsidence, the insurance company monitored the cracks and inspected the drains and found they were damaged original clay pipes which they repaired and continued to monitor the cracks for another 6 months then eventually repaired the cracks. So luckily it was classed as drain damage with a £100 excess rather than subsidence with a £1000 excess. This drain replaced was different to the one which I think is damaged now.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

FreeBear

I'd be inclined to say nothing to your insurers lest it gives them an excuse to up your premiums. As you are having the area excavated, it is as well to get the drain fixed at the same time. The paving company may not want to mess with the pipework, so you might need to call on a builder.

Eldi_Dos

Cannot give any advice on insurance side of things, but think it would be good policy to replace all of drain pipework before laying new driveway. Cars have got progressively heavier over the years and may have done some damage to existing drain that has yet to show up.
The weight of some SUV's is substantial.

FreeBear

Eldi_Dos said: Cars have got progressively heavier over the years and may have done some damage to existing drain that has yet to show up.
The weight of some SUV's is substantial.

Range Rover - 2250Kg

But wait until you see how heavy some of the electric vehicles are - Up to 3,000Kg (Mercedes EQV).

theoretica

It might not even be covered by insurance, if it is counted as wear and tear/aging.