Help with Building Control plzzz...

[Iqbal Ahmad]

I bought a semi detached house which is the last one in a series of semi-detached properties. There is a public passage next to my house which is blocked from both ends for vehicular access.

I have built an outbuilding in my backyard which is about 40 square meter. All building control inspections done and now the last one is left for Completion. The only problem is where to direct the surface water from the flat roof.

There is no public surface water pipe connected to my house. I called Thames Water to get some information but they only have information (map) till the house second to mine. So that house is in-fact connected to the public mains for surface water but not mine.

I climbed on the roof to check where the surface water from the pitched roof of the house is going and (as expected) it is going to the next door's since theirs have surface water drainage. The neighbors are not interested in me digging a trench through their garden to connect my outbuilding with their surface water drainage.

I considered installing soakaways but there is not enough gap (5m) between the buildings to make it feasible. The only option left for me is to connect the surface water drainage of this new house to the Foul drainage. From what I have searched online, this should be the last resort which is pretty much the case for me.

My concern is what the building control inspector is going to say about it. Any thoughts or experiences that someone can possibly share?

 

[Tigercubrider]

Buy a water butt

 

[John D v2.0]

Presumably the water used to soak into the ground before, agree with water butt and direct any overflow to somewhere it can drain into the ground. Nowadays water is supposed to absorb into the ground where possible to prevent flooding of the rivers etc

 

[Leofric]

You can't connect surface water to a foul drain if it is a separate drainage system , only if it is a combined system and then you need trapped gullies to rainwater pipes.

 

[Leofric]

' Nowadays water is supposed to absorb into the ground where possible to prevent flooding of the rivers etc ' - not strictly correct , soakaways might be the preferred option but depending on ground conditions and whether soakaways can be positioned minimum recommended distance from buildings.

Read more: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/help-with-building-control-plzzz.518285/#ixzz5feIHInpk

 

[Leofric]

' Buy a water butt ' - what happens when the water butt overflows ?

 

[Leofric]

The only option left for me is to connect the surface water drainage of this new house to the Foul drainage. From what I have searched online, this should be the last resort which is pretty much the case for me.

My concern is what the building control inspector is going to say about it.

You need to ask the BCO (see previous comments ), but shouldn't drainage have been one of the BCO's earlier site inspections ?

 

[JohnD]

' Buy a water butt ' - what happens when the water butt overflows ?

I knew someone who had two large water butts on a downpipe, with taps and hoses for watering pots. The second one in the series had a permanent housepipe near the top that ran water onto the garden when the level got that high. That only happened after the first butt was full and water ran into the second.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Buy a second water butt, then a third.....
The front of my house, and the side, all go into one water butt on a diverted downpipe and an underground pipe over to my shed (it does have a soakaway option)
A wet winter can overfill the storage but it doesn't take much to use some of the water elsewhere

 

[John D v2.0]

' Nowadays water is supposed to absorb into the ground where possible to prevent flooding of the rivers etc ' - not strictly correct , soakaways might be the preferred option but depending on ground conditions and whether soakaways can be positioned minimum recommended distance from buildings.

You're exactly right and I agree with all those dependencies, that's why I only said where possible. Actually I just meant to point out that there are other options than a drain connection and they why they are classed as more sustainable.

 

[^woody^]

Run the rainwater back to to other roof and then over to the neighbours?

Or, there is no actual requirement for a soakaway. The issue with rainwater is the concentration of it in one place and all at once, and the effect this can have on foundations

A rain deflector system or rain handler, is a series of slats that is used instead of gutters, and these cause rainwater run-off to sprinkle as fine droplets away from the building. Together with a surface or subsurface drainage system, this deals with localised ground saturation.

Similarly, if the ground is suitably permeable, it would be possible to drain a traditional downpipe with a suitably designed layout.

Whoever did the plans should have thought about all this.