Blocked loo - Help

[HelenA]

Hi - HELP !!! Quite a long post but please read........
I bought a David Wilson house in December 2003 and since we moved in the downstiars Loo has blocked 5 times. Each time a David Wilson employee clears it all out and does 'something' to the drains and all is OK - the last time it blocked a sub-contractor attended our house and informed me that the 'junction that had been used was a t-junction and it has to be a y-junction.......and it has to be changed' The site manager was called who talked to the sub contactor, out of my earshot, but I did hear the words 'in the foundations' The site manager then proceed to tell me that they had fixed it and all was now OK - he didnt realise that the sub contractor had told me about the junction thing. When I told him about this he back pedelled and has agreed for a camera to be put into the drain to see........Can anyone tell me how a drain should be laid in a new house for a downstairs loo and whats this 'junction' business. Sorry to waffle. Thanks for any help that you can give.

[flowjoe]

HelenA

The t junction you describe is what we call a square junction meaning that the branch line in the junction enters the main line at a 90 degrees, the y junction is an oblique junction where the branch line enters the main line at 45 degrees.

Hope your paying attention i will be asking questions later.

Square junctions are for storm water only, obliques are for storm and foul water so that the waste sweeps into the flow of the main line, what tends to happen if you put toilet waste through a square junction is that the solids hold in the line while the water runs away which leads to blockages.

I would have thought on a new build property that a WC should enter into an access chamber of some description, in any event the juncion shouldnt be within the foundations.

Get your own survey carried out or ask for a copy video of their survey, even if they have put in a square junction i wouldnt expect it to block so often, you may well find that a rubber seal from one of the joints has worked loose and is hanging/lay in the pipe work.

[HelenA]

O thank you flowjoe, thats fantastic. I do now understand the Y's and the T's, what a yukky business !!! - I think I will get an independent survey done too. Thanks for your advice. Helen.

[danensis]

It may also be worth contacting the Building Control department of your local council, as they should have checked that the drainage was correctly installed.

[HelenA]

Thank you too Danensis..............we have now had the camera put down the drain to take a look and I have been informed that the drainage pipes are holding water....anyway, they will inform David Wilson Builders who will (I hope) be in touch with what needs to be done to fix it.