Blocked manhole again!

jordan.kellie

hi all
I am living in a row of 7 houses and my house is the gable end house. for the last couple months ive been noticing a smell out my backyard any time the toilet is flushed or the tap in the bathroom is run. Checked the manhole (which is in the backyard) a couple of times and it was clear until yesterday, sewage was coming up out of the manhole. We have tried twice to unblock it with the rods but it seems its hitting a dead end. I have had a couple of small blockages over the last 2 years and the rods always cleared it (im in the house 10 years and never had this problem up until then)

Now for what may be the cause, my next door neighbour had a new extention built out the back and had her manhole moved down the yard (approx 2 years ago)i called today to see did she have a blockage and said no, i saw the manhole, nothing was seeping out but she didnt lift it. Could it be that when she got extention built, the builders ran her sewage drains into mine and woman on the other side of her??

The woman next door to her is having problems with her manhole for the last year, only problem is her conservatory is built on top of her manhole so she cant lift it to see, but she told me there is a strong smell of sewage coming up through her kitchen floor!
I also asked another neighbour a few doors up, her drains are clear.

I contacted council and they said its private drains and nothing to do with them, but if a few houses are blocked surely its got to do with the main drain??
Also there isnt a hope in hell im paying alot of money to a drainage company if this isnt my problem, any suggestions what i should do, even to get the council up and check the drain connecting all the houses
thanks a mil

kdouglas

Sewage problems like this will affect everyone who is connected on the line and as you said already, some of your neighbours are getting a smell from the pipes.

Why don't you get a price to have a professional sewage cleaning company come out and sort it out, then talk to your neighbours and arrange that you all pay for it between you.

jordan.kellie

i dont think they will go for that as one woman is saying hers isnt blocked and another cant even lift her manhole as its built under her extention!! I think if i say this they will asume they have to chip in to get MINE cleaned which isnt the case if they are all connected

Gordon Gekko

I got a professional drain cleaner out last week after having similar (although not as bad problems). My manhole was dangerously close to overflowing. First thing the guy did was go next door to my neighbour (the gable end), lift the manhole and saw that it was almost completely full. Took a good bit of work for him to unblock it - as soon as he did mine drained away back to normal. I paid him as it was only €100, although he did point out that all of the people on a drainage run have a legal obligation to contribute to its cleaning/maintenance - tbh trying to get the money off people wasn't worth the hassle for me, but it might help pursuade your neighbours if you mention that to them.

jordan.kellie

corporation were just here to check the mains, they were clear, the houses up towards the mains are saying theirs are clear aswell, so this might be between last few houses, mine is the gable end. Whos problem is this and which house is causing the blockage? if someone comes up to clear the blockage who pays? do the people who are saying theirs are clear still have to chip in? all our houses are in a row so we all run into the same mains, my head is wrecked!

antiskeptic

jordan.kellie wrote: »

corporation were just here to check the mains, they were clear, the houses up towards the mains are saying theirs are clear aswell, so this might be between last few houses, mine is the gable end. Whos problem is this and which house is causing the blockage? if someone comes up to clear the blockage who pays? do the people who are saying theirs are clear still have to chip in? all our houses are in a row so we all run into the same mains, my head is wrecked!

What's the 'gable end' mean ?

To avoid confusion, perhaps you could explain which house is which (in terms of position and problems their having, building work they've had done). Let 'house 1' be the last one before the mains sewer, 'house 2' then 2nd last before the mains etc.

jordan.kellie

ok, gable end means im the last house, im furthest away from the mains.
im house 1, ( house2--says shes not blocked but didnt lift manhole to check!) ( house 3--says shes blocked for over a year! her extention is built over her manhole so she cant check, smell coming up through her kitchen floor!) (house 4--? waiting on neighbour to come home so he can check their manhole), (house 5--says their not blocked), (house 6--say there not blocked), (house 7--waiting to see if its blocked when he returns home from work) the main sewage drain is outside house 7

bullpost

If you and your neighbours share a private drain, then the maintenance of that drain is the shared responsibility of all the households connected to it. This is the law and any threat to public health as a result of the negligence to that private drain will result in a statutory public health order being served on all the houses connected to it.
The problem typically is that the cause of the blockage will be a house connected to the drain but it may only impact houses attached to the drain further on , who will normally have to call the drain guys to get it cleared. This cost should be borne by all households equally.

I'm in a similar situation to you and have recently had a letter from the HSE warning about the serving of the public health order if there are continuing problems.
BTW think our problem was caused by roots of a tree in a neighbours garden (according to drain guys).

jordan.kellie

i dont mind at all chipping in between us all for the cost, i still want to know the root of the problem,where its coming from, so if im furthest away from the main drain is it that one of the houses along the line is totally blocked and causing it to backflow up my drain?

bullpost

jordan.kellie wrote: »

i dont mind at all chipping in between us all for the cost, i still want to know the root of the problem,where its coming from, so if im furthest away from the main drain is it that one of the houses along the line is totally blocked and causing it to backflow up my drain?

Sounds like it . Only way to find out sometimes is for drain guys to pop a camera down there. Think that's what happened with ours. Problem then is the cost goes up and those that don't think they have a problem will be harder to convince to contibute.

antiskeptic

jordan.kellie wrote: »

ok, gable end means im the last house, im furthest away from the mains.
im house 1, ( house2--says shes not blocked but didnt lift manhole to check!) ( house 3--says shes blocked for over a year! her extention is built over her manhole so she cant check, smell coming up through her kitchen floor!) (house 4--? waiting on neighbour to come home so he can check their manhole), (house 5--says their not blocked), (house 6--say there not blocked), (house 7--waiting to see if its blocked when he returns home from work) the main sewage drain is outside house 7

Gotcha!

Its very likely that 5 onwards are okay - if the blockage was at 5, 6, or 7 or beyond then they'd have the problem earlier than you (given that the drain at your end of the street is slightly higher than their end so as to permit downhill flow of water from you to them)

So the blockage is somewhere between just-upstream-of-5's-manhole ..and you. Assuming 4 is also clear then the blockage is somewhere just before 4's manhole ... and you. In that case, I'd rod without a head on the rod from 4 backwards. Without a head means you can go through the manhole at 3 more easily in the case she isn't blocked.

I wouldn't see the smell at 3 being an indicator of anything other than the fact they haven't a sealed manhole lid installed. Without it, they're going to get smells from the drain whether the drain is blocked or not.

Once the drain is cleared, you could consider getting a camera put down to see if there's builders concrete or rubble from the building work at 3 landed in the drain. It wouldn't at all be unusual. Or some settling of the drain due to the pipe being disturbed during the building (this can happen if the drains aren't that deep and a digger was used on site). I got a guy and a camera for 150 to look at my sisters place recently. Assuming it's a straightfoward drain it only takes an hour to set up and have a look.

jordan.kellie

hi everyone
problem solved:), the corporation guys came back up and cleared it.
they started at mine and were hitting a wall as they said so they had to lift the manhole next door(house 2) surprise!! it was blocked and near to the top, they managed to clear it from here within 5 mins rodding it towards house 3 downwards, dont know how many rods it took(could've travelled up a couple of houses) before my water flowed freely, no charge, fair play to them
They told me im the first house going to get blocked first over being at the end no matter what house caused the blockage.
So i just have to keep an eye on mine and so will everyone else, as soon as i see mine starting to rise, next dor will have to be rodded as they cant do it from mine, just glad now it fixed:D
thanks to you all for your suggestions x

tiocimarla

Does your neighbour no it illegal to cover a manhole... And i would say the blockage started from the person who got the extention. Builders have a tendancy to empty waste into these manholes like grout, plaster, bonding etc. and if they dont wash it down properly then it wil dry in the drain causing the blockage. If this was the case then you should not get the blockage back once it has been cleaned properly....hope ye tipped the corpo guys.. its a sh.ty job:D

dunsandin

Any builder who builds an extension on top of a manhole without first relocating the pipework and installing a new external manhole is a cowboy. But unfortunatly it is only too common. Its cheaper to just build on top, so the good guy who prices in moving the manhole and pipework ends up not being the cheapest quote, and doesn't get the job. Cheapest is often(if not always) the best. Your neighbours kitchen must be lovely, nothing beats the smell of fresh sewage in the morning.:(

lensman

I'm number 5 in a row on 10 houses & the flow runs from 1 to 10,... over the last year I have had to rod the drains 3 times,.. I took note of the amount of rods it took to reach the blockage & as we have a back lane running along all our houses I re-attached all the rods used & each time the blockage is on the boarder between No 7 & 8,.no building work has been carried out on any of the relevant houses for years so I can rule out a builders botch job,..at this stage I have a pain in my arse ( pardon the pun ) getting out the rods & clearing a blockage 3 houses away but the problem is that the folk in 7 & 8 are old & are not in a position to physically & financially do anything about it,..as our houses are almost 80yrs old I'm guessing the sewer has partially collapsed or one of the people is flushing rubbish down the jacks to save money on bin collections ( I read this in happing quite a lot),...any ideas ???

antiskeptic

lensman wrote: »

I'm number 5 in a row on 10 houses & the flow runs from 1 to 10,... over the last year I have had to rod the drains 3 times,.. I took note of the amount of rods it took to reach the blockage & as we have a back lane running along all our houses I re-attached all the rods used & each time the blockage is on the boarder between No 7 & 8,.no building work has been carried out on any of the relevant houses for years so I can rule out a builders botch job,..at this stage I have a pain in my arse ( pardon the pun ) getting out the rods & clearing a blockage 3 houses away but the problem is that the folk in 7 & 8 are old & are not in a position to physically & financially do anything about it,..as our houses are almost 80yrs old I'm guessing the sewer has partially collapsed or one of the people is flushing rubbish down the jacks to save money on bin collections ( I read this in happing quite a lot),...any ideas ???

A camera survey is the only sure way - you should be able to get someone to have a look for under 200 quid.

The fact the drain only blocks occasionally indicates a well functioning drain with perhaps a minor snag point. Baby wipes and other non-dissolving material would be a likely culprit in that case - snagging but not falling apart in the water like loo paper does. I'd the same problem and it turned out to be the wife + baby wipes. You could post a polite note to all houses upstream of the blockpoint and ask that care be taken and see does that solve it

CBYR1983

I live in a House #1. C. 12 houses all feed towards my house, 6 from either end of the line. I rarely get blockage at the mains, but neighbours down one end of the line often get blocked something horrible. I help out, provide acess and all that, but I don't feel I should pay if they get blocked, I must admit, provided I can definitely see that there's no blockage from my house to the mains. I always check if anyone requires it.