Lol.

I actually quite like the kitchen ! not sure on the graphics but that is easily sorted. It looks like normally the table will actually be over the inspection pit so if you don’t like the look of it it is easily hidden.

Not moving the inspection pit may have been budget, or it may have been a limitation of the plot. I wouldn’t even want to get into what a pain in the ass it would be if it was a shared sewer with your neighbours and you wanted to move it. Can you ask them to not flush the toilet for a few days whilst you relocate?!

Presumably you would complete the new drain and then divert the connection reasonably quickly once it was ready to accept passengers?

Perfect opportunity to do something like this…

I wouldn’t even want to get into what a pain in the ass it would be if it was a shared sewer with your neighbours and you wanted to move it. Can you ask them to not flush the toilet for a few days whilst you relocate?!

Sounds like the hard way to do things.

Assuming the inspection covers on a straight bit of pipe Moving the inspection cover can be done entirely non invasive.

The issue comes if as they often are -on a change in direction you can’t do much about it without moving lots.

How’s the rest of the house

not great 😬 Entire garden seems to be on a slope (though you could build a little jump 😀) and there seems to be some common grassed area next to the house so the neighbourhood kids will be kicking footballs off your wall every day in the summer 😂

We would have this issue if we go more than 4 metres out at the back, it’s the same with every house in the row, nobody has taken that jump to go past that point yet, 3 metres is the furthest due to all the issues raised already, especially permission.

If you’ve got 450k to play with then surely you’d be looking at the towns outside, i lived in Ilchester for a few years and Yeovil was the place you visited on safari 😁

Moving a drain isn’t necessarily straightforward if you’re limited by the fall in the pipe.

Right it’s off the list now then.

Where in Somerset is nice, I don’t know the area that well!

Looking in shepton mallet and midsomer norton tomorrow.

midsomer norton tomorrow.

I’d not move there the murder rate is sky high.

Right it’s off the list now then.

Live, laugh, leave.

Where in Somerset is nice, I don’t know the area that well!

Statistically, Sandford is the safest village in the country.

Where in Somerset is nice, I don’t know the area that well!

somewhere near the quantocks.

not bridgewater…

We may as well post the link now – seeing has everyone has image searched it! 🙂

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/96614539#/?channel=RES_BUY

4th ‘bedroom’ is barely a cupboard.

I’m actually surprised at the price of that. I thought everything down south was sky-high. Properties like that are going for the same, if not more in Derbyshire.

Right it’s off the list now then.

Where in Somerset is nice, I don’t know the area that well!

Looking in shepton mallet and midsomer norton tomorrow.

It really depends where you need to get too, Sherborne was always the nice/posh bit, less house for your money, but the nicest postcodes, if you’re looking as high as Shepton then Wells is just across the way, Midsomer is nice, as is Frome.

Again, it’s up to where you need to get too, Midsomer and Yeovil are a long way apart, and especially on those roads, there’s a lot of nice places inbetween as well!

I’m actually surprised at the price of that. I thought everything down south was sky-high.

You’ve never been to Yeovil, have you 😂

A friend had one of those in his flat. It had been hidden under laminate flooring. You can guess as to how he discovered it.

You’ve never been to Yeovil, have you 😂

Nope! 🤣

Just pop an offer in now. You have no idea what it is.

Market conditions dictate you need to offer now and think about it later. If you don’t you will miss out.

They will know all about whatever is down there and will be in nervous anticipation of a buyer pulling out because of it

When the survey comes back, they have found their next dream home, and you know exactly whats what, chip them down. Before then its just speculation.

Honestly house transactions in England are a nightmare, we should be more Scottish then you know exactly what you are offering on from the outset.

If it is drains or sewer, get it moved.

It might not be drains at all, my sister has a similar access hatch in her downstairs loo, this provides access to the “cellar” – more like an under floor void.

Secondly you could get rats

Rat in Mi Kitchen

Then what are you going to do?

Looking around the outside of the house I can’t see a stench pipe anywhere. Certainly none on that back wall next to the grass area which is where you’d expect it to be given the location of the bathrooms.

Kind of suggests the drains run internally anyway.

On the rats point, I cant see the relevance. If the rats are in the sewer, the only way they can get into your house from the drains is via the toilets

So you would think…
We had rats in our cavity walls and loft space, eventually found the ingress point after putting a lump hammer through the plasterboard in the kitchen. Some **** had built our extension over the original, exterior inspection cover, with not only 1, but 2 levels of suspended floor (original house has a 1ft void space running all under the house) Kitchen tiles etc were ripped up in order to discover this. Lifted the inspection cover to find a branch off that was completely exposed to the void under the house, with just the washing machine waste pipe running into it. Rats had chewed this pipe back as well, meaning part of washing machine empty cycle was depositing straight under kitchen. Much remediation work and £000’s later, we no longer have a rat problem!

looking at the wider photos. it doesn’t really make sense it being an inspection hatch for a sewer. bathrooms are in teh middle of the house, mains sewer would surely be under the road at the front of the house. you can get a map from the water company and its new enough it should be up to date-ish.

I think its a hatch to access the area under that extension as it’s likely to have some space where the ground falls away to the side.

If it’s a recent extension details me still be available on the council planning site.

I quite like it. You could have a nice warming barbecue in winter whilst the kids are sledging down the lawn.

The biggest problem is it’s in Yeovil, not the drains.

Mother in law is in West Chinnock, nice but dull village, there’s some nice places around that general area but a lot of building going on in some of the villages making them less twee than they were.

We have this in our house. Due to the litations of the site we had to build over a manhole cover.
Key thing was it is serving our property only. We had to specify a double sealed manhole cover which we set into the concrete slab above the old manhole cover.

If however it is a public sewer then you need permission and have to leave access for them. That lid you are looking at looks easily accessible if required.

I’m lucky that I have a other manhole cover downstream in the driveway so every couple of weeks I lift it and run water through the drain that goes through the internal cover to ensure it is all flowing properly.

If it serves that property only then it shouldn’t be a problem as you know what’s going into it. If it serves someone else then you have the problem that they may flush nappies etc down the toilet blocking the pipe and you only find out about it when you are ankle deep in sewage.

We were never told as students that we were not on mains sewage, so a house of 5 woman put stuff down the toilet that needed flushing.  Only found out when the manhole covered lifted in the garage 3 doors down…

Really really not good!  Avoid if its shared – like others have said.

Who does the plot next door belong to ? If its not with the house, it looks like the perfect place for the local kiddies to play football, using the house wall as a goal post 😉

So what’s wrong with Yeovil then? Work from home so don’t need any specific area.

A friend had one of those in his flat. It had been hidden under laminate flooring. You can guess as to how he discovered it.

We have one in our kitchen, we discovered it when we replaced the flooring just after we bought it and moved in. It’s under the extension and in a direct line between the original soil pipe (boxed in inside the extension) and the point where it joins the shared drain across the front of the house.

Next door recently rebuilt their single storey garage to a double storey extension, and the shared drain runs right under that…

Yeah – what’s wrong with Yeovil!? Always sounded like a pleasant Somerset market town! 🙂

This estate agents thinks…
Yeovil is a thriving market town surrounded by beautiful countryside offering good shopping, business, cultural and leisure activities including a multi-screen cinema and adjacent ten pin bowling, public swimming pool, Nuffield Health Club, the Octagon theatre along with an excellent range of restaurants and bars. There are excellent transport links as Yeovil is situated within easy reach of the A303. The Dorset coast at West Bay is 20 miles distant.

Assuming the inspection covers on a straight bit of pipe Moving the inspection cover can be done entirely non invasive.

Normally a manhole is built where there is a bend or where connections come into the line. There not really any reason to build one on a straight line unless it’s a very long run. They are needed on bends and connections as that’s where you get most issues and where a jet hose or rods is needed to be put down.

If it’s in a house it’s probably a junction allowing the kitchen waste to be hooked up to the rest of the system.

it doesn’t really make sense it being an inspection hatch for a sewer. bathrooms are in teh middle of the house, mains sewer would surely be under the road at the front of the house

You can get sewers absolutely anywhere. There’s never a rule where they will be, every house is different.

Water company may have a map but they aren’t usually very detailed at the house level as they only took responsibility of the pipes leading up to individual houses in 2011. Before that they only dealt with the main sewer.

Not moving the inspection pit may have been budget, or it may have been a limitation of the plot.

Not moving it is a bodge. It’s rare to have so little fall that moving it a short distance isn’t possible.

Only 2 houses on that drain us and them not my cup of tea

If it’s a shared drain then it probably is (or was) your cup of tea.

Shepton Mallet is good if you want to start all your bike rides with a climb.

Yeah – what’s wrong with Yeovil!? Always sounded like a pleasant Somerset market town! 🙂

it’s not a small market town anymore but a sprawling place with crap traffic and lots of it seems to be on the bones of its arse. Been lots of expansion recently with new estates springing up.

I only go there because the father in law lives there but I find it’s got none of the charm of a village nor the advantages of a city. Horses for courses I’m sure it’s got it’s great parts though.

Almost…it was Michaelangelo 😛

*sings song in heas* balls you’re right.

They’re fine if done properly, eg sealed, screwed down airtight lid. And, as others say, it has permission if it’s a shared sewer build over. Nearly every commercial building of any size has them, due to the fact it isn’t possible to get all the chambers outside the footprint of the building.

Normally a manhole is built where there is a bend or where connections come into the line. There not really any reason to build one on a straight line unless it’s a very long run. They are needed on bends and connections as that’s where you get most issues and where a jet hose or rods is needed to be put down

Every house on our row has one in the straight section to allow everyhouse their own rodding access houses.

Much handier to have a hatch than a rodding eye. But yes costs have been cut in new builds and this is less likely.

I have a second in my garden at the change in direction.

My next-door neighbour built their kitchen extension over the shared lateral drain and over the grate that takes their own domestic foul water.

Thankfully, when the extension on my own house was built whoever did it saw fit to move the drains properly.

All this was done before I moved in. The neighbours one was done about 10 years ago. My own extension is probably about 30 years old, I estimate.

Talking to my neighbour, they probably never had planning control sign-off on anything. Some amateurish builder basically just built it, and this was reflected in the shoddy roofing work where the adjacent structure joins to mine. This cost me about £1500 to fix a few years ago when improper construction caused water ingress next door. It really pissed me off.

I doubt they have a build-over agreement either because she (the neighbours) doesn’t seem aware of this. If I owned next door I’d be worried about sewer surcharge issues (as mentioned) and the possibility of the utilities having to get access, which could, in the worse case scenario, mean they need to start knocking things down.

Lots of little things to look for when buying a house. Sadly, you don’t become aware of them until you’ve owned a house for a while or working in the trade.

not my cup of tea

Should be ok if you boil the drain water first 😀