Hi all again, just a quick question in regards to a shared drain. My dad is on a shared drian with 3 other houses and he is last in line and when it rain hard his property mainly the garage gets flooded as the water lifts up the manhole cover in his yard and it also lifts the water covers up from the roof water.
This happens mostly when there is heavy rain and my main question is would all the houses be liable for his problem as in run a larger pipe going from his property to the main drain/sewer in the road as it only looks like a 75mm- 100mm pipe at the moment and to move all the water I would think it needs double this.
The united Utilities water inspector has been out last week and because it was not blocked they told my dad that they could not do anything.
He is a bot stuck now what to do and I have recommended he goes to the Local council and see the environmental health inspector as human waste comes into his property and garage when it happens.
Is it a combination sewer, surface water and foul?
How old is the property? Is there an inspection chamber between your property and the manhole as lateral drains should have an IC minimum i metre in inside your boundary. 75 ml pipe with so much going onto it is a definite no no, should be 100ml at least , 150 if serving more than 10 dwellings. Need more info really ie inspection chambers, any soakaways, catchpits etc: with your drawing there doesn't seem to be any provision for surcharging of the rain water drainage. Is the water in the man hole flowing, or backing up, or is it backing up between your property and manhole? Could be you might need to dig a soakaway if your sub soil drains well. Is it possible to post photo's?
Combined drain sewer and surface water.
Inspection chambers x2 on my dads property both lift up when it rains hard......so backing up.
Not possible for pictures yet as dad lives a bit away.
House was built in the 80's
I thought I would mention the other properties sharing the drains all have since had large extensions or converted into large dwellings 6 beds 4 toilets and was a farm shop before. This problem is ONLY since the refurbishment and extensions of all the other properties he never had any trouble before.
If built in the 80s you will/should have a foul run and seperate surface water runs and inspection chambers. It might go into a combined system via a lateral drain. It would seem that either your lateral drain is blocked, collapsed, or the manhole is blocked etc: sometimes if the existing is deep then it could be connected via back drop system, which if not done by a competant person could of failed, i doubt if it is that because building control should of inspected it before signing it off. As the backing up only started since the new works there could be debris layig in the pipework causing it.
It may be that a simple rodding could shift the blockage but i would call a drain clearing company and get your neighbours to share the cost. Drain clearing in deep manholes can be highly dangerous, so best to get the experts on it. Is your dads drainage adopted? The main drain outside your property should be adopted so should be the responsibility off the local authority.
Thanks for the reply and I am not a drain expert so don't understand all the lingo but I do know United Utilities has been out and checked the drains and none are blocked just too much water ending up at my dads end when it rains heavy.
I think the trouble is the new dwellings and large extensions more roof space equals lots more water trying to get down the same pipe .
Not sure to be honest mate and installing a soakaway sounds very expensive.
If the pipe going from my dads house to the main drain was larger then this would solve the problem but not sure if it his sole responsibility or everyone on the shared drain.
Don't know the set up of your IC to the main manhole. I was assuming it goes into a main rd, so you would need street works set up and that can be very expensive. Without knowing more i can only suggest less intrusive options. If your ICS are shallow then the water is struggling at the IC outlet and although needed a pipe ugrade may not silll cope as good as a deeper chamber would, because no surcharge. You really need to let us know more like depths, chamber size ie 450 or is it a shalliw IC about 220 dia'? No doubt a larger pipe would help a great deal but as you stated new builds have addrd to the volume of water going down a " 75/100ml pipe run." That's why i suggested a soakaway or attenuation cell. You really need to take the pressure off the foul run before solids start coming up out of the IC. look here and here
I'm no expert on drains but I understood that foul drains (sewers) that serve more than one property are now - since 1st Oct 2011 - the responsibility of the water and sewerage company. If this really is the case then it seems to me that nearly all the drains in the diagram above are no longer the "Dad's House" holders responsibility. The only bits that now belong to the individual householders are those short stubs linking their house to the shared section. And Dad's bit is tiny. Am I correct?
