Soakaway below garage? - Where does the surface water go

[Terry49]

We live in a detached house built in 1960. Is it possible that the builders put a soakway for surface water under the garage floor? (The garage is intergral with the house and the garage floor has started to sink). I tried to get a CCTV survey done today from a surface water gully in the driveway to see where the outet pipe goes (towards the garage?), but they could not get the camera round the bend - so no survey.

Is the only alternative to dig up the drive to find out where the outlet pipe goes?

[flowjoe]

If it does go to a soak-away chances are it will be half full of silt and a camera will not show anything, if you just want to know the line of the drain and where it stops you need a sonar trace.

It is possible to smash out the trap on most gullies in order to access the outlet however you would then have to replace the gully, its easier to carry out a small excavation on the outlet of the gully and carefully cut into the crown of the pipe, once the trace has been carried out the cut out section can be replaced and covered in mortar/concrete.

HTH

[Terry49]

Thanks Joe (I hope I'm doing this reply right, it's my first day on Brew Cabin).

I've not heard of a sonar trace - are they expensive to do?

[flowjoe]

Usually cheaper than a camera survey because there is no paperwork/report involved so you would normally be looking at £60 to £75 if done in the hour, some additional cost for the excavation (around £30) if you don't do it yourself.

PM me if you need a number for a local contractor

[Terry49]

Thanks Joe. The guys who came today (who could not do a camrea survey) said they could lift the paviors on the drive, dig to the pipe (18 inches), break into it, survey and repair - for over 400 plus VAT. Sounds a lot....?