Man hole cover

[ort67]

I have a busy road outside my flat, and there is a man hole cover that rattles every time a bus or hgv passes over the top of it, it also sends vibrations through my flat which has resulted in cracked plaster, sometimes when a HGV hits it, it's like a bomb going off in the street (slight exaggeration maybe). I'm scared in the long term it might cause structural damage to the block of flats, it also wakes me from time to time and drives me nuts.

I've complained to my local council about half a dozen times over the last year and a half, but they still haven't fixed it. Does anyone have any experience of a similar issue, and are there any diy solutions I could attempt at night when there is no traffic on the road?

 

[Doggit]

You want the highways department, not the local council. Find out who you report potholes to. I had the same problem, and they dealt with it in a few days.

No DIY solutions I'm afraid. They had to take the manhole out, and put a new one in.

 

[ort67]

I'm in Scotland so its slightly different here, its my local council that looks after the roads, the highways department only looks after trunk roads.

Ah thats a shame about the lack of DIY fix. Was hoping I could spray expanding foam down it haha.

 

[Doggit]

Ask to speak to the person higher up the food chain, and keep going till you find someone who'll do the job, or at least give you a time scale.

As it's disturbing your sleep, and quality of life, (but it won't cause any damage to the flats) then you could talk to you're MP, and see if they can put any pressure on the council.

 

[ort67]

Thanks for the tips, I'll look into contacting some people further up.

 

[foxhole]

Send in report here, https://www.fixmystreet.com/

will get to whoever is responsible, rattling manhole won't be the reason for wall cracks though, that's due to vibration directly from HGV's.

 

[ort67]

I've reported it on there to no avail. The worst vibrations happen when they hit the man hole, its like mini earthquakes the whole flat shakes. There is little other vibration from the passing traffic, only when they hit the man hole.

 

[foxhole]

They send a follow up to see if it's not dealt with after a few weeks..

 

[ort67]

My local authority have an app that you can report stuff to them directly on it, and you get acknowledgements that they are aware of the issue and can see the status of your complaint. Other stuff I've reported like missed bin collections get closed within a day, but this man hole issue is still listed as pending which is hopeful, but it's been like that for several months.