Ok...the sh1t hit the fan tonight....

Let me set the scene....my house is situated up on a hill with the road a good 14 feet below the house....The sewage from the house obviously has to get to the road....so it also has to drop a large distance over a few meters...so I suspect there are 90 degree bends in the pipes somewhere....

Over the past month we have started to see moisture seeping out of the retaining wall...at first I thought it was natural ground flow....

but tonight I came home to descover that the manhole inspection things up by the house are all backed up with poo and stuff....

As far as I can tell there is a blockage somewhere in the drop between the house and the road....or, a crack which explains the seepage...

Getting to the pipe is going to mean removing a 6 foot high stone retaining wall and removing a lot of soil.....


Obviously this is a serious problem...I cant keep draining the inspection holes at the top using a bucket to the inspection hatch by the road....

Whos responsibility is the sewage pipe?...Is it mine, or the water companies?

Its going to be a fecking expensive thing to get sorted, but it has to be done really soon because we cant take a poo for fear that it might spray out everywhere....

Anyone have any ideas?

It is yours if it is on your property.
Because of bends, I doubt you can rod it, so you will need to get someone with a proper pressure washer to clear it. And I don't mean a karcher jobby!
Don't use the yello pages merchants unless you want to get fleeced.
Try to get a recommendation for a proper contractor.
Good luck!

Karcher Drain Cleaning Kit
IT WORKS ITS ON EBAY
do tampons go dow the loo OR RICE ???
I HAVE UNBLOCKED LOADS WITH THIS BIT OF KIT IN MINS.

SORRY IF THE OLD CLAY PIPE CRACKED YOU WILL NEED TO DIG IT UP AND REPAIR IT

SORRY IF ITS ON YOUR LAND THEN ITS UP TO YOU TO FIX.

agreed, unless your water company claim reponsibility for it (which they usually dont) they usually take care of the main foul systems usually in the roads.

Best way is as nitram says jetting. On larger diameter pipes they can be relined but i dont know the remedial measures for smaller damaged claywear pipes. For intrusive roots ive seen centrifugal blades used to cut them out also, all depends on whether they can access it though.

What sort of retaining wall is it, is there no way of accessing the side of the line from the wall?

Nath

If your house was built before 1900 then I think that the sewerage system is classed as comunal and it is down to the council. Oh and by 1900 I mean the year year 1900.

It has NOTHING to do with whether its on your property or not.

My sewer runs off down the road for at least 25m before it joins the main sewrw, up until that point it joins the main sewer its my responsibility.

Mine is (was) broken under the road and they wanted in excess of 6K to dig the road up and fix it!

If one or more properties share a part of a sewe then its your local authaurities problem but if its just you thats attatched to that bit of pipe then its yours.

do a yell search for drain people, they will come out with a jetting hose and litterally blast the $hit out of it!

Not that expensive either.
Good luck

A lot depends on what's causing the blockage - 8 times out of 10 it's roots in which case I'd recommend the professionals to clear it. The rest of the time it's cracked and/or displaced pipes and/or some unsuited object.

If the pipes have had it then I'm afraid replacement is the only cure

As a first step I would try pushing the garden hose with a spray nozzle set to give a solid jet up the pipe from the bottom manhole and when it won't go any further give it a good strong blast of water for say 5 minutes. If that doesn't work I'm afraid it's the professional's turn.

Normally backdrops have rodding eyes - are you sure there are none in your system. Also water behind a retaining wall is seriously bad news unless the wall drains realy well so don't waste too much time getting problem sorted.

If the pipe is shared by another house then in SA and I imagine in the UK as well it will be a municipal problem.

Mine blocked recently, and drain cleaners wanted a fortune to come out and jet it.

I had an idea.....my compressor..!!!

I fed a stiff plastic pipe down the pipe from the man hole cover as far as I could.

Then I filled the chamber with water to give it some back pressure, then I gave it a good few blasts of air, hey presto, it cleared..!!!!

its probs worth getting it blasted by a decent company and then when they are out see if they will do a camera inspection cash in hand. At least then if its broken they may be able to tell you where at.

The hardest part will then be digging it up. Fitting a new section isnt too difficult (if the hole isnt in a bad place or deep). Most builder places will sell the joining connectors and new pipe.


Other option is to keep your eyes out for the drain guys at someone elses house and try tapping them to call at yours for a cash job.

I had to get one out once but they were very late turning up. The guy cleared the blockage in minutes then put down on his sheet that he was late so job cancelled as no-one in. I then just bunged (pardon the pun!!) him a few quid.

Set up a web cam looking at the retaining wall, link it to a website:

www.wallpooexplosion.com or something and then take bets on when it lets go.

You could make a fortune!


helpful as ever,

Cheers,
James

quote:

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Originally posted by DarrenW
its probs worth getting it blasted by a decent company .

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FIRST check your house insurance, before you spend your hard earned pennies.
My next door neighbour had a similar problem. His insurance company paid for a firm to come out with cameras and do an inspection and report. The drains had collapsed. The insurance company then paid for the remedial work.

I'd agree that it's worth going for some place reputable (IE no-one in the yellow pages!!).

I got shafted (the worst thing was I knew it at the time) but some rodding "experts".
My main drain blocked and started backing up. I rang them up at 2pm and said "I don't want it jetting, it just needs a good rodding". They finally turned up at 5.30pm with a jetting machine and said "we're not going to rod it, we're going to jet it- if you don't like it you can try calling someone else out but now its after 5pm you'll pay double". By this time the poo was creeping up over my door-step.... They even charged me for hiring the jetting machine. What a load of jz... I should have beaten them to death with a kipper and then charged their estates for the price of the fish

Not surprisingly, shortly afterwards I bought a set of rods from Screwfix for 14 pounds (40 times less than what I got charged)...

IIRC building regs advise that where there is a change in direction of your foul drain there whoulc be either a rodding point or preferably an inspection hatch so i doubt it if your rain consists of 90 deg bends.

Roots would probably be the main cause of this blockage.

It would be ununual for a drain to just suddenly collapse with no reason such as digging or excavation works nearby, or indeed a small earth quake.

I speak from bitter experience of having to empty my bath (not got a shower) water etc with a bucket for 7 weeks. at least you know where your drain is, it tooke me 3 weeks to establish where my drain went from the insoection hatch which was over flowing!

i had a drain collapse once, someone on here knew a local builder who came and dug it up. I was daunted at the time but its a fairly straight forward proceedure. Dynorod were useless as the pipe had had stuff push down it by a previous tenant. had to dig a trench all the way down the garden!

My advice would be to buy a rod set, (remember its clockwise only), and if that proves fruitless dig it up yourself with a few mates to help. Can save a bit if you do pay someone to finish it, esp if you find the problem.

Erm.. hope this wasn't you

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6766657.stm

quote:

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Originally posted by Confused but excited.
FIRST check your house insurance, before you spend your hard earned pennies.
My next door neighbour had a similar problem. His insurance company paid for a firm to come out with cameras and do an inspection and report. The drains had collapsed. The insurance company then paid for the remedial work.

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