I live in a terrace and have a shared sewer with my neighbour. All pipes and surface water goes into a sewer chamber then down a 4″ pipe to the main under the shared path between our houses. It’s a Victorian sewer and is a bit undersize so only really copes with the fundamentals.

Neighbour has had builders doing some internal repairs and they have washed cement down the drains and I suspect emptied slurry into the sink outlet.

I know it was fine before they came as I rodded the drain a week before Xmas and it was free flowing after. I had suspicions they blocked it after they left today. Lifted manhole and there’s a layer of grey silt/slurry filling the chamber above the exit pipe with clear water on top.

I’m hoping they will be back tomorrow so I can ask them to sort it. I am concerned they are cowboys and will tell me where to go.

What options do I have to make sure they fix it on their expense? And quickly.

I would speak to neighbours and get them to sort it.

Take pictures first of all, and document everything you can, this could get messy. no pun intended.

hopefully neighbour hasn’t yet paid in full.  I’d talk to them

Pre 1950’s and it should have been adopted by the local water company. Ours is.

when my idiot neighbour downstream blocks it with wet wipes I phone them up and they’ll be out in a couple of hours.

Get those old Bombers out and get them owned.

I was planning to do that. I am a little concerned though as she’s on her own, had always seemed a little naive and I think is severely bipolar. I don’t want them to take advantage.

Get those old Bombers out and get them owned.

Aye and wee in their shoes because if you use your bog the drive will stink of piss

Pre 1950’s and it should have been adopted by the local water company. Ours is.

This, but actually the last time ther was a mass take over of shared sewers was 2011. All shared sewers constructed before this are now the responsibility of water authorities.

Get onto the water authority for your area.

, but actually the last time ther was a mass take over of shared sewers was 2011. All shared sewers constructed before this are now the responsibility of water authorities.

Get onto the water authority for your area.

Well the sewerage undertaking, there are 25+ water companies and 10 or so sewerage

It’s old and shared so it’s theirs. Anything newer is likely to be theirs as well, just a different adoption process

All sorted. I told my neighbour, she told the builders, they got the rods out and cleared it.

It did back into my downstairs shower cubicle this morning though which was less than pleasant. I managed to keep my cool and not go non-linear when talking to the builder which was for the best.

They won’t have cleared it with rods if it’s concrete, only pushed it further down. It need jetting from downstream, a CCTV of the line and if there is still any trace of concrete in there it’ll need cutting out (water companies use robotic cutter to cut concrete out as long as it’s not plastic pipe).
If you don’t do this the pipe bore is reduced, and there will be edges and restrictions for waste to catch on them and build up to cause another blockage.

Ring the water company to come and check. They WILL want to to avoid any internal floding which they can be fined by OFWAT for (although if they saw concrete in the line it may be able to chalk it down to “network abuse” and avoid the £36k fine from OFWAT).

I’ve seen plenty of pictures of internal sewage floods and believe me you do not want it happening to you.

BTW I’m a technical specialist for the sewer networks for my water company.