DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hello All,

Myself and my partner are in the process of purchasing our first home (end of terrarced). The property in question is quite small so we are buying it with the intention of erecting a single story extension at the rear.

Upon further investigation, it has become clear there are two inspection covers in the area of the proposed site. We know they are sewers (shared services) and owned by Thanes Water. We were hoping to erect a full width extension which leaves us with a predicament of where we can move the inspection chamber too or a solution to overcoming the problem.

We have looked into double sealed lids, keeping the chambers where as they are however after reaching it to Thames Water, they stated they do not allow this and the chambers must be moved outside of the new property.

If we were to erect a full width extension the only possible options I can think of (I have no drainage experience at all) are the following:

1) Install a Y junction and move the lids further down the garden so they are not invading the current site.

2) Install our own pipes (keep them seperate from neighbours) and request third party permission to install an inspection chamber on council ground (outside my boundary). This takes away the need for an inspection chamber in my garden as technically there will be no join, just two pipes running parallel to each other (New=ours & Modified = existing neighbours).

Lastly, there is an inspection chamber on the other side of my boundary (council land) which could be used for rodding however I do not know if there is one in one of the other gardens on the other side.

I hope to not sound to naive however as we are new to all this we would really appreciate any advice, whether it be positive or negative as we do not want to commit to a property which could end up with our extension costing a small fortune before we have done it of the ground. All advice, opinions and the sharing of experience is welcome and hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Bradley

Have a look at how hard it would be to move your own soil pipes into the neighbours drain/manhole & make the pipe under your extension a straight through pipe. Getting a new sewer connection will cost a fortune.
It would quite likely be also cheaper to give the neighbors a new patio if not to large.
Also go for the neighbour thats down hill on the flow of drains.

collectors wrote:Have a look at how hard it would be to move your own soil pipes into the neighbours drain/manhole & make the pipe under your extension a straight through pipe. Getting a new sewer connection will cost a fortune.
It would quite likely be also cheaper to give the neighbors a new patio if not to large.
Also go for the neighbour thats down hill on the flow of drains.

Hello!

Thankyou for getting back to me with very helpful advice. Unfortunately we are the last of a tow of four terraced houses and happen to be at the bottom of the run, so essentially we have everyone else’s waste run through the sewer into our garden before exiting towards the road. What’s your opinion on leaving it as it is, covering over the existing chamber and installing a new one further down the sewer, along with a Y junction to enable rodding. We also noted there is an “easy bend” from the neighbours through my garden so rodding around there should not be a problem, am I write in thinking this?

Once again, thanks for the response. It would be great if you could help me further.

Bradley