leaking downpipe

[shuggie]

My house is a semi with the down pipe in the middle of the building, between me and next door, its leaking at the joint, the reason for this is the hedge roots are growing up the down pipe as the underground pipe has collapsed, i discovered this when i dug down to find out what the problem was, and it seems to go through next doors garden.
As the down pipe is cast iron is it possible to drill a hole in it without breaking it, so that the water does not run down the wall at the joint.

 

[Burnerman]

It's certainly possible to drill cast iron, using a normal HSS drill bit. It may feel tough at first due to the chilled outer shell of the iron but once through that it will be fine. It certainly won't fracture!
John

 

[vinn]

Dont even contemplate drilling CI, simply replace the whole down pipe from ground level up to gutter outlet. Your proposal to create another leak doesn't make sense.
If the CI is rotten it will shatter on you.
Most CI pipework has not been back painted from the day of installation - the pipeback rusts & rots.
Replace with black ABS pipe of the same diameter as the CI.

Perhaps come back with more details ref the collapsed drainage? Replacing the down pipe to discharge into your foundation is not a good idea.

 

[shuggie]

Thanks for the replies guys, thing is Vinn it has been like this for some time so has been discharging into the ground, i have dug it up a few times to free the roots and noticed the underground pipe had collapsed which runs through next door at 45 deg angle so would be a costly repair, the council guys thought it would be a good idea to empty a bag of gravel at the base and call it a soak away??? My thought's (not ideal) would be to drill a hole in the pipe at ground level using a hole saw, but not sure if the pipe would shatter as you say, or cut the pipe and add a length of plastic pipe at ground level with some holes drilled in it to soak away from the house along side the hedge, but worried it would flood the garden.

 

[vinn]

You have to bite the bullet and consult with your neighbour - in a sense, you have an established "right of way" to drain through their property. I would imagine that its not a soak away but leads to a manhole.
How do you know that it will be "a costly repair"?
You seem more concerned about "flooding the garden" than undermining your property.

Your ideas and the "council guys"are Mickey Mouse - I've suggested how to do it properly, be my guest.

 

[shuggie]

If it was that simple, yes I agree with what you say do it right in the first place but, next door don't seem too concerned as to the damage this is causing, plus the fact that most of the digging would be in there garden then the pavement onto the road to reach the manhole they would not be happy, also the road has just been re surfaced, so as you can see not an easy fix, that is why I was trying to do something to ease the damage.

 

[shuggie]

Bit more advice needed guy's, dug down a bit deeper this time and discovered the clay pipe that is supposed to connected to the cast down pipe, looks like someone had put a half brick on top of the clay pipe and blocked it up on purpose, suspect council guy's did this and put down some bags of chips down to turn it into a soak away. I have now cleared this out and stuck a hose down to make sure it will not back up, seems to be clear as the water kept flowing.

Problem I have now is the cast pipe is 65mm and the clay pipe is 100mm and about 800mm length between the two, is there some sort of adapter i can use to connect them up, that will fit both pipes?

 

[Handymanjo]

Get a 100mm socket bung and drill out size out for downpipe.
Or place new down pipe into clay pipe,roll small piece of news paper around down pipe and the cement over top of news paper to seal pipe.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

In my previous house the down pipe was exactly on the boundary between the two semis, so was the underground clay pipe. This had caused a lot of problems with my new fence posts!! The clay pipe just ran 3m meters under the boundary then stopped. I just rerouted the pipe to my side of the boundary, it was just a crude soak a way. never caused any problems at all.
So I would check to see if your clay pipe actually goes into the drains at the man hole, it could just end under your neighbours garden. FWIW I reckon your hedge roots grew up the open joint between the cast and the clay pipes.
Frank

 

[Nige F]

With respect to the O.P. You mention council guys - is it a council house ? If so why worry.