getting a water board adopted sewer fixed

[RyanGeorge]

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying a house with a diagonal crack, ~1/4" up the external wall of the passageway between the 2 terraces.

The surveyor thought it was historic so shouldn't be an issue for mortgage. But I do want to tidy it up for resaleability, and before that get the leak fixed.

From the position of the crack over a manhole which has a big crack in the clay pipe it's obvious to me that leaking sewer is the cause. The sewer was adopted by Severn Trent Water in 2011.

STW sent out their inspection guys yesterday, they agreed theres a crack in the manhole, the pipes look ok on the cctv but they'll clean them & redo the cctv. The STW guys said that STW usually do a risk assessment matrix to assess whether repair work is required, but in their experience they said STW wouldn't normally repair a cracked pipe unless it's leaking into a property or overflowing.

This seems quite lax given the trouble we go to pressure testing pipes on new installations.

Does anyone have any experience of getting water companies to fix sewers? How much 'encouragement' do they need - surveyors report confirming cause & effect? Solicitors letter threatening legal action?

WIth regards tidying up, I'm redoing the groundfloor bathroom on the inside, I'm minded to underpin the foundations & rebuild the wall certainly the outer leaf, supporting whats above with acros. I figure I've effectively done the same thing structurally before supporting double doors widths with acros to put lintels in.

Thanks in advice for any advice!

PS I'm new to this forum, let me know if I breach any etiquette!

 

[ree]

1. be brief.

2. Post pics of external situation and internal, also post pics of down the manhole.

3. why are you doing up the bathroom if you haven't bought the house? How old is the property?

4. where is the next manhole after the m/h in question?

5. is this a shared manhole with the neighbour across the way?

6. what else, if anything, discharges into the m/h?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

The sewer may be cracked (and leaking) due to ground movement, the same movement that caused the house to crack. What has the CCTV shown up, as you have said 'the pipes look ok on the cctv'? A lot of older salt glazed drainage leaks now anyway, and without pulling up the lot and replacing it, (at a cost of £millions), then as the crew have said, unless its proved to be causing a problem Severn Trent aren't going to be too bothered. New drainage has to be shown to be fit for purpose at the time of installation, nowadays done by visual inspection and air test usually. Older drainage, the inspector would look for a 'full moon' at the far end, or roll an appropriately sized ball down the run.

I'd also wonder what's your soil type? If you are on clay then 'heave' can easily be the culprit of such movement in a building, which, without major works, you are powerless to prevent.

 

[RyanGeorge]

@Hugh - thanks this is interesting to hear what the counter arguments are. In this case if you draw a chalk line 'A' along the crack, then a chalk line 'B' extending at 90 degrees from line 'A'. Then the down end of line B will point at the centre of the downward movement causing the crack, 9 times out of 10. In this case it points to the manhole in question. But I can see now that even if my theory is correct it might be difficult to prove?

@ree, likewise thanks, in detail:

Manhole at back end of passage, where there's no cellar and where ground floor external wall has diagonal crack, pipes 0.6m deep.
You can see theres a sizeable crack just below the 'Y'

Manhole at front end of passage, pipes 1.6m deep after 1in20 falls from previous manhole

Cellar at front of house by the 1.6m manhole

Photo of crack in wall to follow tomorrow..

3. why are you doing up the bathroom if you haven't bought the house? Sorry, incorrect grammar on my part, I'm planning ahead and assessing risks prior to doing actual work once I have the keys,
How old is the property? 1890.

5. is this a shared manhole with the neighbour across the way? Yes, pipes run along the backs of the houses from 3 or 4 properties and into it

6. what else, if anything, discharges into the m/h? Bathrooms, kitchens, rainwater downpipes.

 

[ree]

Thanks for the pics.

I would insist on getting the cracks repaired by the utility. FWIW: i should push for salt glaze replacement with plastic between m/h's. There's quite a bit of stuff passing thro.

Thing is with water escaping there - it will eventually begin, if its not begun, to undermine below the m/h benching causing possible blockages, and possible undermining of both houses. Any blockage will affect all the properties using this sewer line.

Rain water gulley leaks at house corners are notorious for creating corner pressure point dropping cracks.

Whats happening in the cellar?

Your pics are not close enough or sharp enough for me.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

If the pipework between the chambers is still in alignment, albeit cracked, I would think the best you could hope for is the pipe gets lined, and the cracks patched up. I cannot see the Water Co. digging it out to replace without a very good reason, leaking isn't going to be sufficient IMO. Getting any money spent is a miracle, (shareholders to think about), so they are likely to do the bare minimum possible, if anything at all unless you've got a damn good case for action.

I dont want to be a doom bringer, but please bear in mind they are multi million £ outfits, with deep pockets, it depends how far you want to push, and what funds you have.