Drain bung nightmare - Punter needs advice

[nickc]

I have a problem in our block of flats that relates to a bung that has been left in a drain running to the public sewer.

Of course the bung should have been removed by the builder, but on closer video inspection from Dyno-Rod showed that the reason for our blocked/filling up drain is partially dislogded drain bung!

We know where the bung is from the length of the drain rods used to temporarily allow flow. However its under the floor of the basement flat's living room!

Naturally the resident does not want to dig up the living room!

Could any of you offer some advice on what we should do?
I thought it may be possible to ram the dislodged bung from our manhole cover in the back yard into the main sewer and arrange to dig up the pavement afterwards! Is that possible in any of your experiences?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

We have no NHBC guarantee on the property so the developer has washed his hands of responsibility....its an awkward situation legally but since sewage is building up again we want to tackle the problem asap!!!

[nickc]

btw - if i was to purchase rods to try and ram the bung down the drain to the sewer - which ones would be recommended?

The bung is tilted sideways - we saw it in a video!

Thanks for any replies in advance!

[danensis]

It might be worth having a word with the Building Control Officer at the local council - after all, he will have checked the drains before they were concreted over......

[nickc]

Building control officer did not actually look at the drains as it happens. He seemed remarkably impotent about whole thing.
If the ramming does not work then we have little choice but to go the expensive way and redig the drain!

Thanks

[danensis]

I don't know what its called, but there's a sort of three pronged thing that you can fit on the end of drain rods for grappling things out of drains. The problem with jetting is that it can compact things even further (not to mention the damage it does to joints).

[Tony McC]

The three-pronged thing is known as a 'screw'.

If the BCO has signed off these drains, then the BC office is responsible for any failure. If they can argue that the bung must have been inserted following final inspection (and the slippery gits probably can), then you have no option other than to try forcing the bung downstream to the nearest IC or access point.

It might be cheaper to get a local groundworker, builder or even a drainage company to undertake the task at a fixed price rather than get yourself involved in buying rods, screws, wellies, gauntlets and the like.