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Some young couple have purchased the house next door to us from out long-standing owner.
They have a foreign builder in there refurbishing the place, and in all honesty I think the work is questionable.
Yesterday the builders came round brandishing some drainage and was concerned about what they were up to.
They have built a single storey extension 4 metres out, full width of house. They have a manhole cover drain in a passageway on their side in their land. Our manhole cover is half in our land, half in theirs as I put a fence up that was not there.
This manhole is a main drain which has a 90 degree bend that runs parallel to our property to take our waste and water away.
Anyhow, I have just checked what has occurred and they have shoved a pipe to take “their” new sink waste away…
I assume not correct. As leaving all the mortar snots in the drain that will cause a blockage…
Now, I can either drive down to see the parents. Or I can wait for the builder in the morning….
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The last picture is of the drain on their land but is the opposite side of house to where the kitchen is.
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The first picture shows the bend. The top end pipe runs along our pathway that takes our foul/waste water, the branch that goes to the right services our kitchen waste.
You can see to the bottom of the pic where they have put in a 4” pipe to take their kitchen waste.
We are the end of, or first in the run so all drainage pipes have an uphill gradient, and these fools have put a pipe in that faces the opposite direction.
Not to mention all of the mortar snots left in the clay pipe….
Some young couple??
A foreign builder??
You're doing the right thing by telling their parents. Next step is the local press.
As well as bing concerned about the snots left in the I/C, now would be a good time, as it's lifted, to go some way to sort out the root mass that is accumulating in there because that will cause a far bigger headache in the future than his (non solids) waste pipe.
I do, however, align with you're questioning his "that'll sort it" workmanship.
Thanks Reggie.Originally Posted by reggie747
The fibrous mat of rooting is from a huge privet hedge which is also theirs 🤦*♂️
I can tend to that no issue, however I would like them to resolve their questionable solution to kitchen waste.
Is there not a building inspector monitoring the build ? could be worth a call to the L.A.
Have a word with building control.
The inspection chamber would benefit from being cleaned. This could have been done almost as quickly as griping about the “young couple” and “foreign builder” on the internet. As for suggestions to run off tattling to Building Control - do get a grip/life.
I'm pretty sure where drains/covers are they cannot be under a fence/wall or on a boundary, I might be wrong but access should be clear at all times - get the tape measure and deeds out!
Maybe they shouldn’t be under a wall for ease of access but they can certainly be on a boundary.
I'm interested to learn if compliance with building regs or quality of work is dependant on place of birth, accent or colour?
That rooting would concern me, in my experience it's a harbinger of a broken drainpipe and that can turn into £££ of work needed down the line.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
There a catalogue of events already been gone with the builder in question,One o the first ones was when the erected a scaffold, and decided to place all of the legs, and lower cross pieces on my side of the boundary fence.He has a habit of doing things at a time when I'm not around. I insisted on him moving the cross supports that were barely above head height and stopped me from carrying things round into my garden. He also had to remove the ones that were resting against our house.....
Only the other weekend he had a couple of young labourers burning "things" in an incinerator at the end of the garden next to a greenhouse. Only issue with that is that at a weekend, commercially, you cannot burn work waste on domestic land/property...oh, you are also not supposed to aerosols on the fire as well....
Whats the issue with me going to building control? I am certainly not going to rectify someone other professionals poor and incorrect workmanship.
Of no great concern to me, it has been cleared by me several times before, and will be again.No cracking, no damage, no issues. The gigantic privet hedge that they own, but I have to prune however is....
Last edited by deanlad; 17th October 2021 at 15:12.
Our elderly neighbours who previously owned the property asked if a fence could be put up. it was open beforehand, other than a gate at end nearest the house. it afforded no privacy with fence, and an agreeable between both. Quite were the boundary is as I erected in the middle for both to have equal access, so it the drain essentially straddles the boundary. I assume without looking at the deeds and relevant documents
relating to the house, it could well be our drain; it runs parallel to our house, of which our bathroom and en suite wastes run into it, and at the manhole end, our kitchen waste runs into the branch.
There was no connections from anywhere else, well, not until yesterday there wasn't....
How would you resolve such an issue then.
I will be speaking to builder in the morning when he arrives.
This will make me late in getting to my client tomorrow, of which I've warned her today.
Most boundary or shared access/services matters are best dealt with by a friendly direct approach to the neighbours themselves.
Although it won’t be a shared access drain.
There is no services on there flank of the house. Their waste is on the opposite side of the house we’re they also have a manhole cover.
Maybe I could run a pipe into their drain….
I will attach another pic later….
You say it won’t be shared access but they’ve put their new sink waste pipe in so it will be?
A diagram might be useful.
I'm not sure of the legalities, but I'd be pretty miffed if a neighbour (or in this case their builder) just ran a waste pipe into my mine without at least consulting me beforehand.
If they asked first and agreed to share costs in the event of future problems (unrelated to this work) I'd more than likely be fine about it. I understand the issues you have with this.
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So this is our access point at the end of our run.
The drainage pipe clearly runs down our side of the fence, or runs close to our house… around 12” away. It runs down to the manhole and bends as shown away to main sewer….
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A shared drain is usually the responsibility of the water authority though if arbitrarily added to who knows?
Runs along this line, down towards manhole, and beers off to the right.
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At the manhole where the pipes veer off right across neighbours garden - as we are first in the run, pipe A is our foul waste, pipe B is our kitchen waste…
The other pipe is what they have decided they can put in, and it’s going against the flow of the laying salt glazed pipe.
Note the well finished mortar/render.
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This is their side of the house with no access points into our manhole, or pipe that services our property.
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However on the other side of their house, their waste pipes are all directed to their manhole.
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Their issue is they have decided to move the kitchen and therefore waste from the opposite side of the house from where it was before, completely overlooked drainage issue and without even telling us that they will smash the corner of the brickwork away, shove a pipe in and rather poorly reinstate and leave mortar snots in the salt glazed pipes….
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Once out in the road yes certainly, but within the garden? I'm not sure at all.
But if it is the water authorities responsibility, that will possibly be a good result for deanlad as he can call them in.
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Its definitely sounding like they have taken a shortcut. And those glazed pipes are originally smooth for a reason, anything that clags up on the rough joins they have introduced will almost certainly lead to blockages.
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I can’t think anyone who has responded on this thread would not be miffed if this had happened at their property whilst you were out?
Landscaping professionally for a living,and carrying out remedial works to some drainage issues/resiting/levelling manhole covers, I certainly wouldn’t
A) attempt to do anything like this, or
B) get away with anything so shoddy
Last edited by deanlad; 17th October 2021 at 16:52.
Indeed.
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Yes within the garden, https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/nonhousehol...-supply-pipes/
That's not what the blurb connected to your diagram says though:
"The drains which carry household waste are normally the property owner’s (or the landlord’s) responsibility up until the boundary of the property where they connect to public sewers."*
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The public sewer starts where the sewer becomes shared, maybe it's not worded well. Here's another example, https://imperialdrainage.co.uk/blog/...drains-london/
Semi-detached and terraced houses
If a drain on your property is shared with a neighbour, then Thames Water are responsible for it, even if it is in your garden. You are ONLY responsible for the drains on your property that are not shared with a neighbour.
Yes, I’m fussy about these things and the later pics showing the poorly finished off work where the new pipe enters the inspection chamber would piss me off. Their new drain is sink waste only I think? I can’t see that it matters that it enters the manhole “against the flow” as it enters higher up and the benching in the manhole will send everything in the right direction. If it was a soil pipe it would be a different matter and the prospect of next door’s bangers and mash sitting on the benching would have me kicking off for sure. They have certainly failed to show due courtesy and consideration towards their neighbours, in the quality of workmanship apart from anything else.
Agreed, the first diagram you shared also shows this, so yes the wording could be better.The public sewer starts where the sewer becomes shared, maybe it's not worded well. Here's another example, https://imperialdrainage.co.uk/blog/...drains-london/
But deanlads drain wasn't a shared drain until this work started is the point I believe he is making. And the neighbours builders (almost certainly with the neighbours knowledge) have just taken it upon themselves to turn it into a shared drain.
I'm sure this can't be done legally without at least the water board or whoever is responsible for drainage being consulted first and them giving the go ahead.
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Agreed, the water authority aren't going to accept responsibility for alterations like this if not done properly.
Indeed, at the very least they are going to want permission first, and inspection afterwards.
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Last edited by Ruggertech; 17th October 2021 at 17:43.
Although greasy fat that congeals with water and other stray food waste that is heading in the opposite direction, and not with a full flush of a toilet or bath to back it up and wash away, it will cause blockages.
Other than quite a monumental mistake in not putting drainage in prior to building up, concreting floors etc,
they should run it into their manhole. Period.
I will make an enquiry with a building inspector, and see what their opinion is.
It is a $hitty mess of a job they've done there, without a doubt. As you have said, get your ar$e round there in the morning and demand it be removed. The shortcut they've taken is not acceptable least not because you weren't consulted and also, as you pointed out, the flow is in the wrong direction. Knock their door down at first light.
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