Private drain goes under house, I think.

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Bit of advice, please.

We live in detached bungalow, built in 1973.

There's a drainage inspection chamber in the garden outside the rear patio door, and one at the front of the house which is in line with the right hand side access.

Not being au fait with these things I assumed that all waste water took the same route to the public drain. In fact, by a process of elimination I've discovered that the rainwater from the roof discharges into a drain which is routed under the side passageway and to the road via the inspection pit at the front, and the bathroom and kitchen waste discharges into a drain which is served by the inspection chamber at the rear. A hosepipe inserted into the exit pipe in that rear chamber appears to go straight under the house.

Question being, is it normal for a drain to go under a property?


Thanks.
 
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So, safe to assume that it does? Although presumably today's builders would frown on such a practice?
I intend to get some drain rods and have a tentative "poke" to check that the line is clear. I assume that it is because we are yet to float away on a tidal wave of diarrhoea, although that may be because Lake Poo Poo isn't yet deep enough to float the house.
 
Thinking about it, the part of the building under which the drain appears to go used to be a garage. Maybe that kind of thing was allowed in those days.
That garage has since been converted into a bedroom by a previous owner.
 
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Pour some water (food dye'd if you have any) down the rear IC and observe at the front IC.
 
It's dry here today, so it was fairly easy to check. I ran the cold tap in the kitchen for about ten minutes, watched the water sailing merrily through the rear inspection chamber but the front remained dry. Therefore I now know that the foul drainage and rainwater drainage systems are separate, which I think is the general rule nowadays.

I posted here because I was surprised to find that the drain seems to run beneath the property, and I didn't think this was allowed. I know you can build on top of private drains providing you seek permission from the relevant authorities first, but wasn't aware that drains were being laid under new buildings as recently as the 1970s.

As long as the drain is working (and unless there's a hidden lake of excrement under my house there's no reason to believe that it isn't), I think I can forget about this, and move on to worrying about something else.
 
Maybe that kind of thing was allowed in those days.
It's not uncommon to runs drain lines under houses today. Granted it's always wise to keep drains outside the footprint where possible but sometimes there's no option.
 

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