Connecting a barn to mains water and swer

[edwardt1977]

Hello,

I’m in the process of buying a house which has an old coach house at the end of the garden. The coach house is currently used as a games room and artist’s studio. It’s a turn of the century brick built structure with a pitched slate roof and two sets of double doors. I guess you could call it a barn. The floor area is 600 square feet over two floors, so it’s a useful size. There is currently no mains water or sewerage connection to the building.

I would like (at some stage) to convert this into a more useable space. Perhaps a home office or annexe. I realise that depending on what I want to use it for, I may need to apply for planning permission.

HOWEVER, that aside, my query relates to drainage and mains water. Assuming the local authority approves the change of usage etc, how to I go about getting this building connected to the mains water and sewerage system? It could be tricky…… read on...

The barn is located at the end of the garden which is 180ft from the house! The building is landlocked to the rear, so I’d need to run the new connections the full length of the garden, down the side of the house and to the mains drainage at the road. That’s a very long way (I would guess 200ft or so). The barn is pretty much at the same level as the house, so I guess I might have a problem with the fall too.

Any thoughts? Is it a on-starter? Is the distance too great?

There is another option I think. The barn used to belong to a house which is located beyond the end of my garden. The owners of that house sold off the barn 20 years ago to the previous owners of my house.

So, there is a house within 10ft of the barn (which must have a mains water and sewer connection). But it’s not my house. I believe it is possible to “piggy back” onto someone elses connection (with their permission of course). This is clearly the easiest solution, but I wonder how willing they would be to let me do it.

I’m damn sure I would not want someone connecting to my drainage system and digging up my garden (I assume there would be some disruption to their landscaping??). Has anyone got any experience of this sort of thing? Do you have any “right” to connect to the nearest sewer or is it entirely down to the owner’s view?

Thanks for any thoughts. At the end of the day, I didn’t buy the house for the barn (it’s a bit of a bonus). I’m just wondering what I could do with it. I might just end up using it as a fun summer house and play thing for the kids.

Cheers,

Ed

 

[noseall]

you would require 1375mm or 4 and a half feet of fall from the barn to the road. this sounds feasible. it will depend upon the depth of the road sewer location. i think it costs in exess of £2000 to get this connected by local authority and thats just the road connection.

at least you will be able to run the mains water up the same trench.

the 'connect to the neighbour' thing sounds like a non starter to me. you have no rights to connect a private sewer onto someone elses land.

 

[Jasonb]

If the manholes that serve your house drainage are deep enough you could run the foul water into those so no need for a separate connection to the road.

Jason

 

[edwardt1977]

That's great - thanks.

There is definitely enough for 5ft of fall. Who actually digs the trench and lays the pipe? Is that done by the water company as part of the £2k fee, or do they simply connect it up once I (or someone) has done the hard work. If the water board don't do all the ground work, are their specialists out there that do? If so, any idea of cost to dig a 200ft trench and lay the pipes?

Sorry for the questions; not sure how it all works!

Thanks a million,

Ed

 

[noseall]

the £2000 fee is for the road connection only, i'm afraid.

there will be specialist contractors to do this work as they will require highways permits, insurance, traffic control etc. i'm not entirely sure, but i think there is a set fee, so you pay no more and no less no matter how demanding or easy the job is.

you will be responsible for the remaining drainage work back to the building. you will need a minimum of two inspection pits in the run and a decent digger driver to boot. building control will need to be notified.

p.s. you may be able to carry out the work yourself but will need highways permits plus a lot of insurance and equipment. this usually deems the work untenable.

 

[edwardt1977]

Thanks for all your help.

One final question - assuming I wanted to go ahead with this, is the digging of the trench and calculation of depth / fall etc something any decent builder would be able to do? Or is a more specialised area?
It strikes me that you need to know what you are doing to make sure the fall is sufficient, the depth is OK and that there are sufficient inspection coevers etc. A standard building job?

Thanks - promise it's my last question!

Ed

 

[noseall]

provided the full amount of fall can be achieved, any decent builder should be able to tackle the job, though it is particularly difficult down at the deep end. he should be able to dig out and backfill in phases.

so long as the builder has a datum along the trench as a reference to level to then i see no problems.

unless it rains.