Problems with drain run to sewer

[GaryinAshby]

Someone elses post reminded about a recurring problem we have.

Our house was built in 1973, it is in a cul-de-sac of three detatched houses & two pairs of semis. Originally there was going to be five detached houses, but the builders "shuffled things round" to squeeze in the semis in place of two of the detached (all confirmed by next door who have been here from when they were new).

We keep getting blocked drains right out in the road and it takes all of two sets of rods to clear the blockage. This is incredibly difficult due to there being a 90 degree bend in the pipes. Looking at the picture below (my house is the one with the caravan in the drive), the blockages occur between the bend and the triangle manhole (this is the start of the sewer run). Rodding this is a pain in the backside due to the bend and takes ages. When I lost a rod down there I had a company out to retreive the rod and also put a camera down.

They found no damage to the pipes but have said that there is no fall whatsoever between the bend and the sewer & in one place the pipe actually runs uphill (right near the end of the run). In there opinion this is where my troubles are.

Severn Trent state that is is the householders responsibility from the property right up until it joins the main sewer (about 60 feet from the edge of my boundary).

Any suggestions or advice? I hate to think what it would cost me to have 60 odd feet of new pipe laid......

 

[Shytalkz]

You're caught between a rock and a hard place with that layout.

As the sewer is maintained by your water authority, then the road must be adopted, as they don't have sewers under un-adopted roads.

That means you would have to use a contractor who carried £5m PL insurance and take out a bond as well. £££mucho.

If the blockage is only at the bend, then the cheapest solution (relatively speaking) would be to construct a manhole at that position. This has to be one that is in accordance with your water company's standards, usually concrete manhole rings.

However, that solution does not address the fact that the run is fleet and backfalls in one area. Depending on relative levels, you could redo the runs within your property boundaries, but it looks like it runs across next door as well, before it even gets to the road.

All in all, a right pig's ear of a layout and no easy answer that I can think of, unfortunately .

 

[noseall]

don't your neighbours to the left ever have any trouble?

 

[GaryinAshby]

don't your neighbours to the left ever have any trouble?

Yes, they sometimes do, but not as often as us. Apparently the builders started to lay the drains to suit five houses & then re-hashed them to suit the seven that were built. Things have improved slightly since we stopped using "Kandoo" toilet wipes for my young daughter (those things don't break down at all) & the frequency of blockages has decreased.