The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:49 pm**

I'm planning my new patio and am trying to work out what to do with an inspection chamber that I don't think I need anymore. The IC used to have the soil stack entering it but I have moved the soil stack and placed a new IC about 4 metres further down the drain. Consequently it now only ever has water passing straight through it (and only from a sink in my outbuilding). Unfortunately the current lid for the IC is only removable by sliding it out from beneath the (timber) outbuilding wall by about 2 inches. This means when I lay my patio it will be difficult to fit a recess tray, also I plan to potentially replace the timber wall with blockwork at some point in the future which would need to sit on top of where the lid currently is.

What I want to do is just dig out the IC about a foot, place something over it and concrete over it and lay my patio on top. Rodding shouldn't be a problem as there's another IC so close by. Does this sound like something I'm allowed to do? If so any advice on how best to do it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Posted: **Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:07 pm**

I'll plead the 5th on this one I honestly haven't got a clue but I'd say do the blockwork before the patio because you'll be ripping it up at a later date to do it otherwise. Also the blockwork footing will need to be dug down to good ground so you'll have to lintel over the chamber anyway even if you totally remove it the ground will be to disturbed to build on. Can anyone else ad to this a photo may help get some more replies.

Posted: **Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:58 pm**

I am sure we have all done it but its bad practise to cover an ic even if a new one is installed
flowjoe has jobs coming out of his ears due to this as the disused IC becomes a haven for rats
the correct way is to remove the ic entirely and replace with a length of pipe
I have covered them over and there has been rat problems down the line
LLL

Posted: **Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:55 pm**

we did a footing that included an ic within the it, the builder wanted a quick fix so we sleved the drain with a cut half of pipe. benched it in place with grano then when we poured the footing we filled it with concrete. not the best but better than leaving it.

Posted: **Mon Apr 02, 2012 7:29 am**

Thanks for your replies, I'll think I'll probably end up digging it out and replacing with a length of pipe as that's really a proper job, better get the spade out!

The Brew Cabin

Covering unnecessary inspection chamber