Foundations and drains advice

[Sawkijon]

Hi all,
First time on the forum and looking for advice for an extension we started today.

We have just started a new 2 storey rear extension and on day 1 hour 2 we hit a problem.... The builders uncovered a private sewer drain none of us knew existed. It turns out all our soil pipes feed into it and it runs exactly where our foundations are supposed to go......

The options were looking at are

• move the drain completely to run down the side of the house directly to the sewer in the road.
• Move the back wall of the extension out another meter and build a air tight manhole cover for it.

Our preference would be for the second option, but the builders are on site and the planning permission is for a smaller extension so we could incur another 8 weeks of planning approvals....

Has anyone come across this issue before and what did you do? I'm panicking a bit as we can't afford a massive hole in the budget this early on .

Thanks

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Try posting in the Building forum, you might get more responses...

Your best bet (hopefully you've already done this) is to move the drain. Who wants a manhole in their kitchen?

You must first check that it is a private drain (ie that only your house is connected to it)

I'm assuming that neither of you (builder or yourself) went to your local utility providers to check for other buried services....

 

[Lower]

Move the drain. It shouldn't be that expensive and avoids an 8 week delay.