Surface drain blocked

[freddiemercurystwin]

Have you asked the neighbours yet? It's impossible to say if it's a soakaway or not without investigating by some of the means already suggested several times over in the thread.

 

[chumley0312]

Apologies. No neighbours have no idea. We've lived here longer than anybody the neighbours apart from one next door, who are quite elderly and had no idea what I was talking about

 

[Doitproper]

Your water bill will state whether your surface water goes into the public sewer. Otherwise it will discharge into soakaways.

If there is a common pipe from your neighbour(s) it will be the responsibility of the Water Authority to clear & maintain – the single pipe from the gully (until it reaches the combined pipe) will be down to you. They will probably resist at first but if it serves more that one property will eventutally cave. There is normally a digram on their website that illustrates which pipes they are responsible for.

 

[chumley0312]

I'll have a look at my water bill. I'll ring them today as well.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

That still won't confirm it, water bills can be wrong with respect to this. The only way is physically looking/tracing/digging.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Hole would have probably been where the original round downpipe went into the gulley, they were often done like that so the water (and debris) went straight into the Hopper and didn't cause issues with blocked grids. Original downpipe has since been replaced with square, which has been terminated with a 'Shoe' above the grid.

 

[Koolpc]

Just keep digging out all the earth from the drain. You will then see which way it is running. I would then get some drain rods and give them a go...

 

[chumley0312]

That's the plan, and well as moaning at united utilities as they haven't bothered getting back to me. Waste of space company
Once it stops raining if course

 

[chumley0312]

And yes downpipe was replaced around 15yrs ago when soffets and bargeboards were replaced

 

[StephenOak]

No neighbours have no idea.

If the type and location of their gully looks the same as yours, could you, with permission of course, try putting a drain rod down their one and see where it goes?

Your water bill will state whether your surface water goes into the public sewer. Otherwise it will discharge into soakaways.

Even if the bill is correct it may not be informative. If all the surface water goes into soakaways then you get a discount, but if any goes into the public sewers you don't. So, say, a soakaway at the rear and a RWP going into the public sewers at the front = no discount.

 

[chumley0312]

Good idea, I'll ask next door. Been in London all weekend but I'll get more out of mine when I get back and see where neighbours goes.

 

[chumley0312]

Managed to get onto this again. United utilities deny any knowledge of anything on the front of the house. Dug down again, now around 2 1/2 ft down, and still no sign of any other pipe. I'm now to a layer of gravel. When it has rained, it's filled up the drain to the cover but not overflowed, and it slowly drains back down once it's stopped raining.

 

[jono_h]

Don’t rule out past bodges, even at the time of construction.

I’ve just excavated a gully, expecting to connect my new extension into the surface water drain; only to find that I have a gully that isn’t connected to anything and all the rainwater has been draining into the soil right next to the house.

 

[chumley0312]

Sounds like mine. I would have thought that I would have come across the drain how far down I've got. The builder was known to be a bit of a bodger so I've heard. House built 1973, if so it's been draining into that for 50yrs or so.....

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Managed to get onto this again. United utilities deny any knowledge of anything on the front of the house. Dug down again, now around 2 1/2 ft down, and still no sign of any other pipe. I'm now to a layer of gravel. When it has rained, it's filled up the drain to the cover but not overflowed, and it slowly drains back down once it's stopped raining.

So are you saying you've dug down 2 1/2ft and you've not found the end of the down pipe? I'd have thought any builder crap or not wouldn't bother taking a pipe down that deep without good reason.