Can I fill in Inspection Chamber?

[BathDIY]

I have an old inspection chamber on my drive, that I would like to fill in.

It's poorly constructed, single skin, standard bricks, a single inlet and outlet (just one pipe running through). The opening of the inspection chamber is larger than it should be if I want to replace the lid, 49CM x 62CM.

It takes the water from my garage and house roof (not human waste).

I have been advised to repair making the opening smaller with concrete lintels. However, now I'm wondering do I need the chamber at all, it doesn't seem to serve any purpose and I don't want my car to fall down the hole.

The new gullys I have fitted can be used to rod out, although am not sure about whether they can clear the property boundary pipes Approx. 20 meters long.

Could I not cut down some Flowplast pipe to cap off the top of the halfpipe, glue with Sticks like #### or similar, backfill with concrete up to the sloping concrete of the original chamber and then backfill and finish off?

Or perhaps there's a better method to protect the pipe and fill in the chamber?

Or perhaps filling it in is a no-no, if so please let me know?

 

[Notch7]

Im glad to hear there is no human waste coming from your house roof

Do you a recessed manhole cover? They are hardly visible.. If it is correctly done theres no risk of collapse due to car.

 

[^woody^]

It's a no-no.

 

[John D v2.0]

generally inspection chambers aren;t built for fun, so I assume it's important. Perhaps there's no other way to rod that run of the drain? Also, even if you want to remove it you'd have to dig down and join the inlet and outlet properly. This might be harder than just using a proper cover. Also the age (it being old) doesn't make a difference whether it's necessary.

 

[Ian H]

Could you build a second layer of bricks up off the benching to reduce the opening size while making it stronger?

 

[BathDIY]

Thanks all,

Am now thinking of replacing with a plastic drive rated solution. All in all, I think its easier/cheapercostly to replace than to over-engineer a repair that I'm confident in.

 

[BathDIY]

Thanks all,

Am now thinking of replacing with a plastic drive rated solution. All in all, I think its easier/cheaper to replace than to over-engineer a repair that I'm confident in.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

How deep is the invert- there are regs governing size of hole depending on depth, the usual plastic ones are OK down to a metre or so IIRC but deeper than that you need bigger.

 

[BathDIY]

How deep is the invert- there are regs governing size of hole depending on depth, the usual plastic ones are OK down to a metre or so IIRC but deeper than that you need bigger.

Thanks oldbutnotdead the invert is 75 cm, so I should be OK