DIY with function over finesse!!

[myglaren]

You could always try flying a cheap drone near them. I got a couple from ebay for under £30 each, and they come with three batteries, and two 4K cameras! One has an adjustable angle (you pivot the camera by hane before flying), and the other is pointing straight down.

[CitroJim]

It's been a bit of a $h1t morning

Late last night I heard my downstairs loo gurgle. I know my downstairs loo. If it gurgles it's a proper harbinger of doom and I know I have a bit of 'fun' (and something else) on my hands

This morning I found my and four of my neighbours drains blocked and backing-up. We five share a common drain all running on our own land. It was urgent as I was not far off having raw sewage spilling into my house. Ditto two of my neighbours.

I got my rods out and found the cause... A mop-head jammed in the pipe leading to the sewer interceptor Took ages to pull the bloody thing out. All done lying on my front and leaning down into a deep inspection pit and feeling the blockage.. Literally up to my neck in the aforementioned smelly stuff...

At first I thought the mop-head was a clump of roots... It felt a bit like it... It was made worse by having a load of baby wipes clumped around it... Those were the final straw and responsible for the final plugging of the pipe...

A properly sh1tty job - literally - and it took three hours all told. I fear it's set my recovery back a bit

But job done It's not the first time I've done our drains and I guess it won't be the last. Good job I have a set of rods It took a while and it took a while to get my appetite for dinner back...

Still, on the bright side, we saved a collective fortune not having to call out Dyno-Rod ... Neighbours mucked in where they could and were very appreciative

[myglaren]

A dirty job but...
Good thing you caught it early. Any luck identifying the responsible party?

[mickthemaverick]

Well done Jim!!! Not a job anyone fancies but sometimes you just have to go the extra mile!!

[Paul-R]

Good job I have a set of rods...

Every home should have some. I've had to use ours out here in France on more than one occasion to clear an obstruction.

[moizeau]

I have a length of JG Speedfit pushfit plumbing pipe for mine. Usually blocks about 5m from the house where the barn tees in, just before the fosse. Emptying the bath causes the toilet to bubble. Had an issue at our house in the village a few weeks ago. The gutter water and sewage use the same pipe in the road and there is an anti-return just out side the house......that turned into a partial 'anti-flow'. It rained, the rainwater goes into an open manhole in the cave, flowed down the sewage pipe and back flushed the s**t back into the manhole and onto the cave floor, lovely. The village workers were close by and came round, prodded the anti-return and all was good. I didn't know how the system worked until then. Can now do a routinely check on it.

[CitroJim]

Any luck identifying the responsible party?

Yes, we think we know, going by pipe sizes and the size of the mop and a process of elimination... I'm of the belief the guilty party had a blocked loo and used the mop to try to clear it and the head came off and went for a swim...

Can now do a routinely check on it.

I feel your pain Pete

I do a routine check on mine as I know I have a kink in my pipe as it flows downstream toward my neighbour. All caused by root damage from a hedge that once grew in my front garden... Long since grubbed out.

When my upstream neighbour's kids were little and before the problems they cause were fully appreciated, I used to have to rod my downstream pipe every few months to remove a tangle of baby-wipes that had snagged on the kink...

Every home should have some. I've had to use ours out here in France on more than one occasion to clear an obstruction.

I agree, and a knowledge of the local drainage arrangements so that they can be used effectively as and when needed

I was glad, in retrospect, it was a mop head and not something more sinister or worse blocking our drains...

Going by how many I dragged out today, most people still have not got the message that baby wipes are NOT flushable

[Gibbo2286]

Does your water company not do you communal drains Jim? In this close there are seven houses all connected through a sewer that runs under the front gardens, if we call Severn Trent they're out within an hour to sort blockages.
We had one neighbour who dumped incontinence pads.
She stopped when a guy from round the corner banged on her door held up a bucket of you know what and said "This is yours I believe."

[CitroJim]

Does your water company not do you communal drains Jim? In this close there are seven houses all connected through a sewer that runs under the front gardens, if we call Severn Trent they're out within an hour to sort blockages.

No, as far as we are aware, Anglian Water take no responsibility for any pipes within the bounds of our properties... They're always pointing this out whilst peddling their outrageously expensive 'pipe insurance' policies... They con you in by offering it for a quid a month as an introductory offer and then once hooked, they then up the payments to an astronomical level...

When our neighbours opposite have had similar, they've had to get the Dyno-Rod types out to deal with it...

We had one neighbour who dumped incontinence pads.
She stopped when a guy from round the corner banged on her door held up a bucket of you know what and said "This is yours I believe."

Gosh, the sheer stupidity of some people is really quite incredible What on earth are they thinking when doing something like that

I do like the way she was made aware of the error of her ways It would not work here in our little road, we're all far too friendly and mutually helpful for that. I'm blessed, I have the best neighbours in the world The times they have come to my aid is countless...

[Paul-R]

Every home should have some. I've had to use ours out here in France on more than one occasion to clear an obstruction.

I agree, and a knowledge of the local drainage arrangements...

The local drainage arrangements are my own as we are have a septic tank (fosse septique) with soakaway.

We're about 2 miles from the village in a small grouping of five dwellings. When we bought the house (the minor half of an old farm) 31 years ago all it had was an ancient electricity supply with the water supply being a handpump in the yard. Everything since then has been added by us. The latest, which was only yesterday, was to upgrade the telecoms from ADSL (2.4/0.5 Mbps download/upload) to full fibre (throttled down to 40 - 41 Mbps download and 32 - 34 Mbps upload).

[deuchebleu]

Does your water company not do you communal drains Jim? In this close there are seven houses all connected through a sewer that runs under the front gardens, if we call Severn Trent they're out within an hour to sort blockages.

I thought that was the case UK wide. If the pipes on your land, en route to the main sewer, carry other properties sewage then it is classed as a "public" sewer and is the responsibility of the water company. Conversely, if they only carry your sewage then you are on your own hence the insurance pushing. It's best to know what arrangement you have. Maybe worth a call to your water company to clarify Jim.

[CitroJim]

Does your water company not do you communal drains Jim? In this close there are seven houses all connected through a sewer that runs under the front gardens, if we call Severn Trent they're out within an hour to sort blockages.

I thought that was the case UK wide. If the pipes on your land, en route to the main sewer, carry other properties sewage then it is classed as a "public" sewer and is the responsibility of the water company. Conversely, if they only carry your sewage then you are on your own hence the insurance pushing. It's best to know what arrangement you have. Maybe worth a call to your water company to clarify Jim.

Now that's interesting to know Thanks for that and I'll certainly be checking that. I've lived here, along with many of my neighbours, for over 20 years now and we've always been collectively of the belief the problems are ours...

I will contact the company that claims to love every drop...

[Gibbo2286]

When I had my driveway re-laid Jim the sewer manhole stood a couple of inches above the new level, Severn Trent fixed it for free, a new frame and lid installed at no cost to me.

[CitroJim]

When I had my driveway re-laid Jim the sewer manhole stood a couple of inches above the new level, Severn Trent fixed it for free, a new frame and lid installed at no cost to me.

They sound like a top company Eric We'd love them here...

[mickthemaverick]

Just an update on my bird scarer, it has been over a month since I installed the Mk3 version to keep it quiet and the neighbours happy. It is still up there and glinting away as you can see in this picture and I am happy to say that we are devoid of the pigeons and all that went with them!! Happy days!!

MTM Original 10th July 2023