Finding the drains

[marsaday]

I have bought an ex council terrace in a row of 6. Mine is second from one end and has an access corridor running next to it. All the houses have their soil stacks at the rear. Behind the properties is an industrial works.

Will the drains run in a line behind all the houses and then branch off and head forwards to the front side where the road is ?

I ask because i am wanting to put the bathroom upstairs at the front of the property and i can run the soil pipe along the side of the house and round the back, but finding a drain at the front would be easier. I haven't seen any manhole covers yet.

Any pointers ?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Look for any manholes in your front or rear garden and in your neighbours.

Use drain dye in your toilet to work out the flow from weather the drain runs from left to right or right to left, by looking in the manholes.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/monument-...=Search-_-SearchRec-_-Area1&_requestid=769596

Also ask your neighbours as they might already know, normally the old bloke who has lived there for the past 50 years.

Andy

 

[marsaday]

thanks Andy. Will have a look around

 

[jockscott]

I was once asked by a friend if I could unblock a drain at her terraced house. Eventually (after an hour of trying to rod several drains unsuccessfully) I found that her's and the next three neighbours, all ran along the back of the houses, before running out to the main road, under the communal passage way through the houses. Neighbours drains,on the other side of the passageway also ran into this. Turns out all 6 neighbours shared this one junction into the main sewer. Almost all of them knew their drains had been blocked, but no one wanted to pay anyone to find out where it was blocked. (tight barstewards)

 

[marsaday]

It would be lucky if my passage was the one with the drain in it. I am lowest in the chain as road is sloping downwards past the houses.

 

[rjm2k]

It would be lucky if my passage was the one with the drain in it. I am lowest in the chain as road is sloping downwards past the houses.

Yes and No, if it's shared between all of you it's the property of the water authority so you would need to ask permission.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Worth a phone call to the Water Folks, possible they have a map showing where the sewer runs on the property. If you're lowest then quite possible the sewer runs through your property on route to the road, but with sewers, always expect the unexpected.....

 

[marsaday]

Yes i have called them and we have a sewer running down the back of the houses and in the front gardens.

So my life is much easier and i can easily locate a new soil stack on the front of the house.

Now i need to find the sewer and tap into it.

I have their instruction sheet which i need to fill in and it is asking quite a lot of info. It looks like they want me to use a junction to connect into the pipe.

I now need to do some research on all these connections. I am sorted with the initial downpipe connecting into a sweeping bend which has legs on it and sits on a paving slab. Just need to gem up on the connection bit. I also will put in an inspection chamber if i can.

Looking on toolstation the underground pipes come in 110 or 160mm size. Is the size determined by the pipe you are tapping into ? I would like to use 110mm as this will be the soil pipe stack size.

Looking at these junctions i can see i will need to make the pipe goes sort of diagonal across the front garden. More workings out needed here i see.

Do you just use 2 clay to pvc collars to couple the new junction onto the old sewer pipe ?

any utube videos showing this work being done ?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Have a gander here: http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain15.htm This and associated pages have a wealth of useful info.

Pipe size will be determined by the pipe you wish to connect into, for 6 houses its unlikely to be any bigger than 160mm, but maybe wise to check prior to purchasing any fittings. Assuming 160mm then you need a 160mm junction or chamber with 110mm branch or side channel inlets. Do not reduce the size of the existing drain! You dont need to run diagonally, provided the connection sweeps into the direction of flow a 90 ° connection is fine.

Clay to PVC collars to make connections to existing, make sure no sharp edges on clayware where rag etc could catch and cause a blockage. All this depends on the depth of the existing drain, if too deep I would really consider getting professional help in to make the connection and run the drain to the property wall. Any excavation carries the risk of collapse, and suitable precautions should be taken to shore up sides of any excavation if required. (Legally anything over 1.4m deep must be supported.)

You will also need to be aware of buried services, gas, electric, water etc whilst digging! Hitting one is at best expensive, at worst possibly fatal....

 

[marsaday]

Good points Hugh. Thanks for that.

Hopefully it will not be too deep.

The gas is in the alley connecting between the front and back. Is this likely to go in the same line into the front garden and out into the street ? If so i am pretty sure the gas will not be an issue.

The electric also comes in on the corner of the house next to the alley way. So i assume this is in a similar area.

Are sewers usually lower in the ground than the services ?

 

[kbdiy]

If I understand your plan correctly then I would have thought it would be essential to have an inspection chamber at the point you break into the existing drain run to allow for future access. Also does this not require an interceptor trap if it's the last connection before it enters the public sewer? I don't know for sure but just curious.

The one thing I would be looking out for is that the existing clay drain is likely to be encased in concrete for its entire length, so breaking into it may not be as easy as you seem to think and connecting to it will be even harder. As this is the last point in the run before the main sewer any problems with a bad connection could end up with your front garden knee-deep the the brown stuff.

 

[marsaday]

Possibly, but i am second to last on this run of 6 terraces. We have another 3 blocks of terraces below us, so i dont know if our block tees off into the main sewer in the road or just continues running down the road to pick up the other terrace blocks ?

 

[kbdiy]

So i assume this is in a similar area.

Never assume what you can't see for sure! As I was taught a long time ago "to assume makes an ass out of u and me"

In other words, it probably won't be.

 

[noseall]

So i assume this is in a similar area.

Never assume what you can't see for sure! As I was taught a long time ago "to assume makes an ass out of u and me"

In other words, it probably won't be.

Deary me, are people still spouting this age old 'management speak' phrase.

We have to assume all the time in the building trade because our "see through six foot of soil glasses" are at the menders.

Ask any architect, it is one of their favorite of all drawing notes.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Interceptors on household drains went out with the ark. The Victorians favoured the idea as they were concerned about rats and 'drain air', so fitted interceptors to seal the house drains from the main sewer. If anything, people are having them removed where possible nowadays. They dont serve any purpose and are often a culprit for blockages.....

Sewers can be any depth, from a few inches to a number of metres down, and as for services, assume nothing other than a very large bill if you hit one. If hand digging, take care until you locate them all, if machine digging then a 'Cable Avoiding Tool' is a must. (Last time we 'assumed' there were no services we were proved wrong. Luckily that cable was only 415V.....)