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just spent a few unsuccessful hours trying to unblock the drain on my 95 yr old neighbours driveway after she rang me in a panic cos shes got sh1te overflowing onto her driveway.
its inadvertently highlighted a problem for us tho, as it looks like we're the last house on that line of 4 or 5 houses that end up there, and our bathwater has been overflowing our drain and disappearing down into the grass down the side of our house. i flushed our toilet and you can see it just adds to the lovely mixture on her driveway.
ive got a few drain rods with a hook, and found a hole down that drain but it took all the rods without making any difference. i also found a smaller hole which seems to lead to our bathwater drain, but rodding that out until the hard stop of ourr house didnt give any joy either.
the larger hole i found tho points towards her back garden, i cant find one in the direction of the road (and the sewers id expect) that id expect to find.
ive looked through our deeds, but they dont give any drainage plans for the property, so i just wondered how you go about finding out which properties lead to which drain, and the individual layouts of kitchen/bathroom/toilet waste etc etc. i found a website called digdat that seems to imply that they can provide plans, but im not sure whether thats for professional companies before they dig the roads up.
ive had to call the experts in now for a monday morning visit, paid the excess and claimed on our drainage policy so i guess theyll sort it, but just curious as to whether theres an easy way to access the drainage plans for our house.
we're on anglian water territory if thats relevant.
thanks. (and no thanks to the forum dropdown which has the default dropdown of 'no forum', which meant i lost this the first time i typed it grrrrr)
Ahahahahahahaha.
Plans for drainage ?
You will get plans for the main sewer you connect into generally in the road.
You might get plans for your shared drainage o forget what a shared drain is called when a branch cuts through properties boundaries before moving onto the next one. But there won't be plans for how your house and all its drinage points connect.
If it's a shared sewer between several houses then your water company could be responsible - call them first, don't get a private company in.
https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/nonhouseholds/supply-and-standards/responsibility-supply-pipes/
From your description the blockage is in a shared part of the drain run. That would make it the water company's responsibility, give them a ring.
We were given some architect drawings when we bought our house from when the building had been divided up. They had plans on for the drains, after a blockage and a drain survey it turns out they were largely made up to get past buildings regs.
But there won’t be plans for how your house and all its drainage points connect.
no? ahh cr@p.
If it’s a shared sewer between several houses then your water company could be responsible – call them first, don’t get a private company in.
From your description the blockage is in a shared part of the drain run. That would make it the water company’s responsibility, give them a ring.
bah, already paid the deposit now but im sure when neighbours have had this before its always turned out to be the homeowners responsibility. the drainage bods (homeserve) are subbies of anglian water anyway so im sure theyll put me straight on who's responsible.
thanks
but im sure when neighbours have had this before its always turned out to be the homeowners responsibility.
It used to be in some cases but rules were changed a few years ago to make things a lot clearer.
the drainage bods (homeserve) are subbies of anglian water anyway so im sure theyll put me straight on who’s responsible.
They'll probably know a lot more!! We had a new water main installed to our office last year and the subbie people doing the work were taking the piss out of Severn Trent who were digging up the road outside at the same time. They could see how much of a ball-up they were making (and sure enough Severn Trent were back two weeks later!).
The only way I got drainage plans for my house was by paying for a cctv survey....
Have you got a plunger attachment for the end of your rods? Couple of quid and they are pretty effective in my experience
Have you got a plunger attachment for the end of your rods? Couple of quid and they are pretty effective in my experience
nope, just a 'double hook' thing. didnt know plungers existed for that size of drain.
EDIT: just googled them, looks a worthwhile punt for the future. thanks
Don't use cheap rods, if they break you'll be charged an arm and a leg for getting them out (guess how I know)
Rothenberger or Bailey polypropylene rods are good