Surface drain blocked

[chumley0312]

That seems to be the case. I'll post a picture of the inside of the pip tomorrow. I was scraping out lots of gravel at this level I've got to.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I was scraping out lots of gravel at this level I've got to.

Gravel, might suggest a soak away.

 

[noseall]

the soakaway drain has reached the end of its useful life. Probably a decade or two ago. They can be prolonged with a trapped gully at the end of the RWP.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wot he said, last month.

 

[Doitproper]

Would agree with freddiemercurystwin that a surface water pipe is unlikely to be more than 2.5ft down. Are you saying the down pipe is still going down or stops at / near the surface ?

Problem with utility companies is they are not interested but they hold maps of the network that “may” provide an indication where your pipes may be connected. Getting a plan will be easier than getting them out or admitting they have any duty to fix it.

At the moment you cant find any connecting pipe so its down to you. When I had an issue I found the carrier drain (serving several properties and fully clogged) within about 6’ of the property but the pipe from the house was only 1 – 2’ down.

Still, took about 3 months of visits and meetings to get them to agree it was their problem. It took over a year to get it fixed. Their final solution was to connect the carrier drain into the foul sewer. Red card if I was to do that but they never confirmed in writing.

Given your house was constructed in 73 it is possible the local council may still hold the plan but many LA’s have now ditched them without making a record. You can check if the local Building Control still have plans but the plans for the Planning Application will still be available (initially check their Planning Portal and if not they will hold the record on microfiche) but may not show any drainage details. It is also possible a plan of the house could be with your deeds bundle.

Seems as if the gravel around the house is acting as the soakaway and not desirable. If nothing else I would suggest getting a pipe laid to take it further away from the house or being able to direct it away from your property.

 

[chumley0312]

Thanks. I've attached some photos. Rather embarrassing but it's not 2 1/2 ft, but it seemed like it when I was digging it out.... So far down to the gravel its just over a foot down. It's still going down. I'm going up have to get something or some rods to see how far it goes down, and try the council. I do have the deeds and plans for the house but nothing obvious is marked on.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Ahh you mean you've been digging down inside the pipe/gully? You need to dig down on the outside to see where the pipe goes as (obviously) you can only dig so far down the inside.

I wouldn't waste any time trying the council, they will only charge you £150 or something to look through their archives and they may not have anything anyway. And any Building Regs stuff they might have is not public knowledge so under no obligation to share it with you. Though I'd be amazed if any record drawings from 1974 planning or Building Regs would show anything useful anyway. And it still won't confirm what's actually been built because people have a habit of not building what the drawings show.

 

[chumley0312]

The grate is surrounded by paving stones secured in place with concrete. Will be a pretty major task to get all these up to check where it runs to. I would have thought I would have come across the exit whilst digging down this far by now inside the pipe. I'll try rodding down further to see if I actually hit the bottom, or does it keep going down

 

[StephenOak]

Will be a pretty major task to get all these up to check where it runs to.

I can see three options:
1. You give up and leave this as it is.
2. It is a blocked (probably dead) soakaway - fixing this will involve digging some of those up.
3. It is a blocked drain - fixing this will probably involve digging some of those up.

I would have thought I would have come across the exit whilst digging down this far by now inside the pipe.

Why? The horizontal section of a pipe is very unlikely to be a huge distance down but it may start to turn from vertical to horizontal just another couple of inches down.

BTW, what are you using to dig out the hole. I would use an auger, something like this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taylor-Brown-Adjustable-Planter-Diameter/dp/B08VVX7KC6

I asked if neighbours gully looked like yours then could probably find out something about the layout by putting a drain rod down their gully. Have you done that?