Soil pipe enters ground inside house??

[Chud]

Asking for a friend.

They're looking to buy a property but they've noticed that the soil stack runs vertically through the conservatory at the rear of the property into the ground. The conservatory has obviously been a later extension but is it permitted for the soil pipe to enter the ground inside the property?

The conservatory/sun room is in need of replacement so they're concerned it's location may cause problems when they renovate etc.

Cheers

Richard

 

[stem]

It's quite normal and is done frequently. I've had two houses that were new builds with it installed running through the kitchen (boxed in) so that it didn't look ugly on the outside of the house. The only problem that comes with a conservatory is, if it is built over an inspection cover rendering it inaccessible.

Not that it matters in relation to your question, but strictly speaking, from a building regulations point of view a conservatory is not classed as part of the property so the pipe isn't "running though the property" anyway. Building regulations specify that a conservatory because of the amount of glass it has, needs to be exempt from the building regulations about heat loss and so is classed as being separate from the main house, hence why it must have external doors between it and the rest of the property and independent heating.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Internal soil stacks became a building regulation in the 70's, although it was later relaxed again. Normal practice, but as Stem has said, if there is a manhole cover, it should be accessible, (rolling a carpet back is ok, burying it under a fixed floor isn't), as one day you may need to get to it.

 

[Agile]

If a metal inspection chamber cover has been covered over then it will be detected by a very simple cheap metal detector.

Try looking at similar properties nearby to see where their chambers are.

Tony

 

[dilalio]

This is in my kitchen extension.
Never had to open it up in the 23 years we've been here, except to fit the double sealed cover when we tiled the floor 15 years ago.