Building over pumped foul drains

Is it true that you can't build on top of a pumped / pressurised foul drain? If so, why? Thanks, Jon

Reply to
Jon
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This site :

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sort of puts the basics down for the problems you may face of building on, or close to, a drain or sewer system. Hope it helps a bit.

Reply to
BigWallop

No, its not true.

You need to take precautions in the foundation design to protect the drain. In the majority of cases this will be possible.

If it is not possible, or impractical or costly to do, then you look at other options which involve diverting or altering the drainage system.

dg

Reply to
dg

Thanks for the replies, We contacted the water board to get a map of the drains, and the guy informed us that we can't build over this pumped foul drain. We got the map today and can see that this pipe runs underneath an extension that was built a couple of years ago by the prevoius owners. The extension needed planning permission + building regs etc., which we have - so I was wondering if we needed to do anything, why it's not on his map and why you can't build over it. Jon

Reply to
Jon

The other gotcha as a friend of mine found when building within a small distance of a main sewer is that the water company can charge you a fee for doing so. The basis is that it makes it more expensive to make changes/repairs to the sewer later so they make a charge to cover future extra costs.

My understand>> No, its not true.

Lawrence

usenet at lklyne dt co dt uk

Reply to
Lawrence

He would have to provide the reason (regulation) why you can't.

There may be a easement on your property deeds in their favour, but this is unlikely.

There is no technical reason why you can't, and this would not conflict with any planning or building regs.

If the extension is already there, what is the problem?

Also, plans can be wrong or out of date, and a lot of the time you find that services are not where they are shown on the plan

dg

Reply to
dg

I'm just curious to find out why he says "can't" and yet it's been done. The pipe would have been laid about 10 years ago - the extension built 2 years ago. There is always the doubt that the extension will have to be dug up if pipe maintenance is needed. From what I've read on the North Cornwall website and whats been said here I'm happy that its all OK. Its just a shame that its not a standard foul pipe as we could then get rid of the saniflo ..... Hence why we requested a drainage map. Jon

Reply to
Jon

This pipe is inlikely to for part of the public sewer if it is still on private land, and as such should not attract any influence from the water company - unless they want to foot the bill to pay for any particular alterations they may want. The water companies drum it in to us that any leaks from drains or supply on our property is our responsiblity.

The control of sewage pipes and records, was removed from LA control a few years ago, and passed to the water companies so local councils are no longer concerned with issues that they are not specifically responsible for.

On the face of it, I would say that your friend was conned by the water company - how can they charge for something that "may" occur in the future? In five years time, there could be some technological break through that make repairs cheaper - will he get a refund? How do you predict costs of which you know neither the material or labour or even the scope of the work? He should not have paid anything.

dg

Reply to
dg

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