Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:19 am
I am an avid reader of your forums ever since we discovered a big problem with disposal of storm water in our road.... I know that with all the experts that post here, someone might be able to help.
(Sorry, this may be a long explanation)
I have recently done a great deal of detective work to discover a shared storm sewer that runs along the back gardens of all the houses on one side of our cul-de-sac. To try and explain what is happening, I will number the houses from 1 (at the highest point) to 8 at the end of the drain run.
We live at house number 3 and (in a whole other story) have just replaced our 6 inch pipe along the back of our property. So, houses 1, 2 and 3 all have a free flowing 6 inch pipe, and a catch pit in the garden.
Houses 4, 5 and 6 also have catchpits, and my husband has rodded through their pipes to discover that they don't seem to be collapsed or removed, however they are extremely silted up and require proper cleaning. (The houses are 50 years old).
Number 7 has a catchpit, although we know from previous history that for at least 6 years there has been a pump in this catch pit, pumping water to the foul system. The owner who set this up has moved on.
The Council plans (which to house number 7 seem 100% accurate) show that the water flows to a catchpit in house 8 and from there the water is carried through more pipe to a culvert in the road.
Our very civilised residents have all met with Dyno-Rod and agreed to pay for a day's work cleaning the pipe; the way it was sold to us was that as we had a system that ended at a culvert, we would be able to 'wash' the silt and mud down stream and no need for a tanker to remover the materials.
So - on Friday Dyno-Rod arrived at 9am. By 10am they had cleaned the entry and exit pipes in house 8, and were convinced that the pipes only extended 6 inches out of the catchpit. They could see the clean far edge of the pipe and said that when jetting they did not see any evidence of broken pipe. Also, the drain contracter said that the bricks in the catchpit at house 8 were not fully mortered and that meant it was actually a soakaway.
As there was no pipe in from house 7, the drain man felt that 7 was the end of the run, and that house 8 was independent of the system.
All work stopped, and there is talk now that houses 7 and 8 need to lay pipe to complete the system, and that a tanker needs to be employed to clean houses 4 5 and 6.
The questions we have are:
Why would such a carefully laid system suddenly stop and change into a soakway (Dyno-Rod say that builder probably ran out of money, but he was a very reputable local builder who built hundreds of houses in this area).... and secondly, would it be normal practice all those years ago to site a soakaway 6 metres from the house when it would serve rainwater from 7 houses?
If in the worst case scenario, we have do have to lay the pipes, how on earth will we go about joining them into the culvert, which by all accounts is a hugh 4ft diameter pipe!?
Something just doesn't add up.
At the moment we are pumping from our catchpit to the foul drain until such time that we can send our water downstream.
I have been fighting for so long to get this situation sorted and suddenly feel it is all too much - any ideas would be REALLY gratefully received.
Backgound info about the site - we are very low down at the bottom of a hill, and soil is mainly clay.
Thanks for reading.
(Sorry, this may be a long explanation)
I have recently done a great deal of detective work to discover a shared storm sewer that runs along the back gardens of all the houses on one side of our cul-de-sac. To try and explain what is happening, I will number the houses from 1 (at the highest point) to 8 at the end of the drain run.
We live at house number 3 and (in a whole other story) have just replaced our 6 inch pipe along the back of our property. So, houses 1, 2 and 3 all have a free flowing 6 inch pipe, and a catch pit in the garden.
Houses 4, 5 and 6 also have catchpits, and my husband has rodded through their pipes to discover that they don't seem to be collapsed or removed, however they are extremely silted up and require proper cleaning. (The houses are 50 years old).
Number 7 has a catchpit, although we know from previous history that for at least 6 years there has been a pump in this catch pit, pumping water to the foul system. The owner who set this up has moved on.
The Council plans (which to house number 7 seem 100% accurate) show that the water flows to a catchpit in house 8 and from there the water is carried through more pipe to a culvert in the road.
Our very civilised residents have all met with Dyno-Rod and agreed to pay for a day's work cleaning the pipe; the way it was sold to us was that as we had a system that ended at a culvert, we would be able to 'wash' the silt and mud down stream and no need for a tanker to remover the materials.
So - on Friday Dyno-Rod arrived at 9am. By 10am they had cleaned the entry and exit pipes in house 8, and were convinced that the pipes only extended 6 inches out of the catchpit. They could see the clean far edge of the pipe and said that when jetting they did not see any evidence of broken pipe. Also, the drain contracter said that the bricks in the catchpit at house 8 were not fully mortered and that meant it was actually a soakaway.
As there was no pipe in from house 7, the drain man felt that 7 was the end of the run, and that house 8 was independent of the system.
All work stopped, and there is talk now that houses 7 and 8 need to lay pipe to complete the system, and that a tanker needs to be employed to clean houses 4 5 and 6.
The questions we have are:
Why would such a carefully laid system suddenly stop and change into a soakway (Dyno-Rod say that builder probably ran out of money, but he was a very reputable local builder who built hundreds of houses in this area).... and secondly, would it be normal practice all those years ago to site a soakaway 6 metres from the house when it would serve rainwater from 7 houses?
If in the worst case scenario, we have do have to lay the pipes, how on earth will we go about joining them into the culvert, which by all accounts is a hugh 4ft diameter pipe!?
Something just doesn't add up.
At the moment we are pumping from our catchpit to the foul drain until such time that we can send our water downstream.
I have been fighting for so long to get this situation sorted and suddenly feel it is all too much - any ideas would be REALLY gratefully received.
Backgound info about the site - we are very low down at the bottom of a hill, and soil is mainly clay.
Thanks for reading.
