footings over main drain

[halfax]

have concreted footings 600 wide 1000 deep after building inspecter passed, have planning permision for 3m x 3m entension single storey.
decide to dig out for soak away ( inspectors requested soakaway) while garden full of soil.
and found main sewer about 150mm below my footings!!!!!!!
the sewer looks like it serves the row of pre1900 terrace houses and my is the last. it as waste passing through.

any ideas?

 

[renner68]

were about are the pipes you found,in new exstension footings or the footings your digging for the soakaway,

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

So just to confirm, this drain is only serving your property? Nobody else's? This is important.

Out of curiosity though, if you were digging a hole for a soakaway, which should be a minimum of 5m away from any buildings, how did you come across a mains foul drain under your extension footings? Or is it under your existing house footings? Either way same question applies.

 

[halfax]

first thanks for replying

the drain is under the new footings.

and i dug out a trench from the footings to run a drain to soak away and start a fall for soakaway drain and as i went deeper i came acoss drain .

 

[halfax]

and the drain servers all the terrace houses i am secound from the end.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

So if the drain serves more than one house its not regarded as a private drain but is the responsibilty of your Water company and as such technically you need a Build Over Agreement. Do Building Control know about it yet?

A Build Over Agreement is an agreement between you and the water company whereby because it is their sewer it is their responsibility should any problems with it occur in the future. An agreement needs to have been made to ensure that either the existing sewer is upgraded before you build or when you build over or near it that it is suitably protected from anything you do. If not and anything happens to the pipe in the future the water authority have the right to dig up your extension to get to the sewer.

How does the sewer clash with your footings? Is it under a corner of your extension, or running along directly beneath the length of the footing or what?

 

[halfax]

the sewer runs right through the middle.
i have informed building control, and they are comming out tomorrow.
i as hoping someone had been in this postion before and found a soulution.
then i was going to put it to them.
the footings have steel bars in them for extra strength .

 

[halfax]

it runs north to south about 1.4 (nearly center) and the footins are 3m by 3m

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

So its perpendicular to the foundations? The footings should go down to a point beneath the invert (lowest point) of the drain so as to ensure no pressure is ever going to be exerted on the drain. Then you can cast in some lintels above the drain to create a hole through the foundation for the drain to pass through, all subject to the Build Over Agreement being in place of course. Obviously its a bit late for that so see what BC have to say assuming you've spilt the beans and they now know there is a drain.

 

[halfax]

thanks will find out tomorrow.
will it be ok do you think to suggest digging down eack side of the drain
making a footing ,brick up and put lintels across .
will be building control who sort out agreement with waterboard?
on a sidepoint, 2 doors up as built exatly same size extendtion.

thanks again for you advice

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Maybe.

Sometimes Building Control turn a blind eye or take a view on things, theoretically any sewer within 3m requires a Build Over, some BCO's are happy to handle it without needing a Build Over, some are not, depends on the officer, the authority and the situation. Anyhoo if one is required (I would expect it would be) its not Building control who sort out the agreement its between you and the water company. A form is filled in, you pay a fee, they do a survey, they advise whether existing pipe is OK or needs replacement, you submit your proposals they accept them or not, you may have to pay towards its replacement if necessary, at least that's the rough gist of it, actual process and order of events etc vary a bit, all in all a right PITA.

The rules only recently changed regarding whether a drain was private or public (2011) so if the extension 2 doors up was built before then then this drain would have been classed as private. Or is that house at the end of the run so has a private drain?

 

[halfax]

the one 2 doors up goes into the drain before my house and flows towards mine.
his was built about 8 years ago.
i have spoke with him and he said they did not fid any drains when doing footings , and he was pretty sure at the time their were no drawing or knowledge about the wereabouts of drains as the houses were pre1900.
one of my neighbours found a small well !

 

[BobTheBear]

Having just been in a similar situation recently, I just hope you dont need a building over agreement and a sewer protection agreement.

If you do, the water company may well not let you get beyond footings that you have already done, until you have the sewer protection agreement.

So far mine has taken around 8-weeks and only today did I get the sewer protection agreement paperwork

Plus it will cost you circa £1000 for the pleasure!

Now you only need this if the following applies, so you may well be OK:
- Sewer is not greater than 225mm
- Sewer in not at a depth greater then 4-metres
- You are not building over more than 6-metres of the sewer.

If it doesnt meet this criteria building control will be able to deal with it themselves

I was building over 7.18metres of sewer = £1000!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Having just been in a similar situation recently, I just hope you dont need a building over agreement and a sewer protection agreement.

If you do, the water company may well not let you get beyond footings that you have already done, until you have the sewer protection agreement.

So far mine has taken around 8-weeks and only today did I get the sewer protection agreement paperwork

Plus it will cost you circa £1000 for the pleasure!

Now you only need this if the following applies, so you may well be OK:
- Sewer is not greater than 225mm
- Sewer in not at a depth greater then 4-metres
- You are not building over more than 6-metres of the sewer.

If it doesnt meet this criteria building control will be able to deal with it themselves

I was building over 7.18metres of sewer = £1000!

Yes but the OP's Building Control and Water Company will have their own criteria that needs to be met.

 

[maltaron]

BobtheBear, You may be lucky in Kent with the specs you quote. I needed to build over 2 mtrs of 100mm sewer 2.4 mtrs deep. The local water authority wanted in excess of £8,000.00 + VAT to replace the knackered pipe. It took over a year involving solicitors and letters to the Water co. CEO to get the price down to £2000.00. And I now have a 600mm square heavy duty manhole cover in my garden!!