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Spent the weekend cutting down some 25 year old leylandii hedging along a boundary at my mums and discovered that [presumably] a root has grown underneath a surface water drain pipe that runs across her land and pushed the pipe up so that it has broken the plastic collar attaching it to the hopper/gulley which is on the neighbours side of the boundary and only services their property.
This gulley has carried very little water over the years as the only downspout going into it is from a balcony but they have just installed a washing machine in a new location that also discharges into the gulley. It now turns out that the gulley is completely blocked as when they run the washing machine the waste water flows over the gully and into mums garden.
So there are two issues, the blocked gully on their property and the disconnected pipe on my Mums. Obviously mum needs to pay for the pipe to be dug out and repaired but the neighbours are suggesting that the gulley is blocked with roots and I suspect they're trying to get mum to pay for this also although they've not mentioned it.
I'm pretty sure that the gulley has never been cleaned out since installation and that it's just full of compacted cr@p - indeed the neighbour said it felt like it was full of stone.
Builder chap says it 'may' take two days to fix but hopefully less - their gulley is set into a stone patio so there would be a bit of work involved in replacing it.
My feeling is that the bill should be split 50/50 with the neighbours but just wanted to check with the hive first.
discharging waste water into a surface water run off
up here you dont get to do that .....
Shouldn't the washine machine be foul water rather than surface? 😕
Edit: Beaten to it!
Firstly, as above, you can't drain a washing machine into a surface water drain. Do you have separate foul and surface? Ours is combined but it's an old house.
Does your mum's waste connect into the pipe anywhere? Once you are past the point it is shared it becomes the water authorities responsibility. Sounds like it doesn't so it'll be between the two of you.
As for who pays that's tricky if the damage is on their land but it was your mum's trees that caused it. I'd say your mum should pay as the neighbour has done nothing other than start using their drain. Does the gully actually need replacing or can it be cleaned out. I'd say your explanation of being full of muck would be the most likely. Any inspection chambers or rodding points?
I'd say your explanation of being full of muck would be the most likely. Any inspection chambers or rodding points
Not that I can see. The drain def originally only served their balcony and then my mums balcony. I didn't realise about the washing machine being foul water but it's obvious I guess - not sure if the houses are combined surface/foul drainage, they are about 30 years old if it makes a difference.
Their gulley is undamaged but blocked (I can see into where the pipe connected to the gulley and I can't see any roots), the only damage is the broken collar where the pipe on mums side has been lifted up - pipe seems intact.
Gulley seems to be full of stone? Is it actually a drainage gulley leading to a sewer or similar or just the top of a soakaway? If it is the neighbour needs to find somewhere else to empty the washing machine. Is there an inspection cover nearby you could lift to see if any of the water from this pipe ever makes it to?
Edit: can you get a hosepipe into it downstream of the break/blockage to check?
In most urban areas aren't surface and foul drained together anyway - this needs checking.
Who owns the trees? I think that this is the main thing
There are also changes to who maintains drainage up to a point so it may be the water companies responsibility or theirs.
BTW, her house insurance might cover this work - mine covers damage from tree roots to drains.
In most urban areas aren't surface and foul drained together anyway
Not here they're not, and having recently examined drainage plans for new build (including comments from the authorities who didn't approve of them) they're treated very differently. My first comment was going to be the same as the first few above.
if lifting the root has popped pipe out of gulley it may also have pulled out of other end leaving no place for water to go and/or allowing spoil into pipe to form blockage,if not to deep get a spade an expose it ,with all the flexi pipe /plastic fittings available nowadays if its not to deep it would be an easy diy job
1 it is against building regs to combine surface water and foul water.
2 get a new builder- he should know this.
3 reinstall new surface water drain, without connecting any foul water.
4 if your neighbor requires a new foul water drain, its nowt to do with you
it is against building regs to combine surface water and foul water.
That might be the case, but most older houses do the same eg mine has everything going into the same sewer as do all the neighbours...
the law is simple on this - you are responsible for the parts on your land - so your mum must repair the break on her land, and they have to clear the blockage on theirs
Jusrt ram some old soiled nappies up the neighbours end of the drain, and say thats what caused the pipe to break then charge her for replacing and cleansing it.
Ah therein lies the difference mr flaps
Surface water to sewer - not much of an issue
foul to soakaway - not good. - sending it straight back into the water table.