Re-instating an old drainage connection

[battenburg]

I have a Victorian terrace which has a combined drainage system. The soil pipe connects below ground to the rainwater gully and then this runs to the lateral drain across the back of the gardens that serves all the houses. Tacked onto the back of the house is a utility room and an old, disused WC. There is no toilet there anymore, but the base of the toilet is visible and is just capped over with cement. I assume this is either directly connected to the lateral drain, or there is a short branch to join them up.

At the moment, the wastewater pipe (for sink and washing machine) in the utility room is an asbestos pipe embedded in the concrete slab. For various reasons, it would be preferable to abandon this pipe. A drainage engineer has suggested re-routing the utility room wastewater by putting a new plastic pipe out through the back wall of the utility room and connecting it to the base of the old toilet. The condition of this old pipe would need to be confirmed via a CCTV survey.

This seems quite a neat solution. It puts the wastewater pipes above ground, and in a shorter run, for future maintenance. Its the only way that I can see to stop using the asbestos pipe without doing a lot of digging and laying new bits of pipe.

For the purpose of this forum though, my main question is in respect to Building Regulations. It seems like a simple option because it doesn't involve any new connections to the existing underground drainage system. It would hopefully just be bringing an old connection back into use and on that basis my initial thoughts were that no Building Regulations approval would be needed. But having done some reading it seems like perhaps this isn't so straightforward and might be classed as an alteration to the drainage system and therefore would be notifiable.

I'll probably end up asking the Local Authority to confirm anyway, but would like some opinions before I do that. What i've described above is a bit of a simplification but would repurposing the old toilet waste be classed as an alteration?

Thanks!

 

[Wayners]

I've seen asbestos pipes sleeved.
Is that an option you have looked at

 

[battenburg]

Its a good question and after posting I was mulling this over. Not least that once I've factored in the plumber and the possible cost of the Building Control notice, it would up the price of the overall work quite a bit (there is some other drainage maintenance as well, but the quote for that is quite reasonable).

The existing outfall from the asbestos pipe goes into the rainwater gully. The gully is a bit of a mess and will be replaced, but there is only a very short stub of asbestos pipe that a sleeve could be fitted to. I'll try and add a photo later. I think that's why the drainage person suggested the other option in the first instance, as the sleeve option is quite awkward.

 

[Wayners]

Removing asbestos pipe if exposed and easy then take to tip. That's the DIY way.

All my asbestos went to tip. There is a container there for it

 

[battenburg]

This is the pipe outfall. The rainwater gully will be repaired/replaced so either way that has to be carefully taken out. The stub of the asbestos pipe is a little bit shorter now because the company that tested it took a small piece from the end. Could a sleeve go inside to make sure that water was well directed into the gully?

 

[cdbe]

If you treated it as a "repair" you could just smash out the entire maintenance liability of an installation and replace it with modern 110mm uPVC drainage pipe and fittings, with one reliable connection to the main drain, it all looks fairly shallow, and there's nothing technically challenging about it.

 

[^woody^]

There is no requirement to get approval for reusing an existing connection for similar use. That's not an alteration.

There is a requirement to ensure that any new waste pipework is properly installed to allow proper discharge, be trapped, and avoid things like syphonage

There are regulations that will impact any contractors working with asbestos pipe, and you will have duties to to ensure proper working and disposal of the material.

 

[battenburg]

If you treated it as a "repair" you could just smash out the entire maintenance liability of an installation and replace it with modern 110mm uPVC drainage pipe and fittings, with one reliable connection to the main drain, it all looks fairly shallow, and there's nothing technically challenging about it.

Do you mean, to break out the entire asbestos pipe from within the concrete? I would be nice to get rid, but there is newish flooring and kitchen units in the room so I feel like that would need to be a future project.

There is no requirement to get approval for reusing an existing connection for similar use. That's not an alteration.

There is a requirement to ensure that any new waste pipework is properly installed to allow proper discharge, be trapped, and avoid things like syphonage

There are regulations that will impact any contractors working with asbestos pipe, and you will have duties to to ensure proper working and disposal of the material.

Sounds like on point two, that might be the thing that requires approval in the original plan?

On point three, if there was an option of using a sleeve on the existing pipe, then there wouldn't actually be any disturbance of the asbestos at all anyway. The sleeve would just be installed inside. In terms of regulations for a company working with the asbestos - I've made them aware, but I was under the impression that as the homeowner it was not my responsibility to ensure their working practices were appropriate. I would emphasise that I would absolutely want them to work appropriately if they had to touch the asbestos at all (hence having a survey and knowing what this material is in the first place!) but I just thought it wasn't a domestic homeowners responsibility?

 

[^woody^]

Sounds like on point two, that might be the thing that requires approval in the original plan?

On point three, if there was an option of using a sleeve on the existing pipe, then there wouldn't actually be any disturbance of the asbestos at all anyway. The sleeve would just be installed inside. In terms of regulations for a company working with the asbestos - I've made them aware, but I was under the impression that as the homeowner it was not my responsibility to ensure their working practices were appropriate. I would emphasise that I would absolutely want them to work appropriately if they had to touch the asbestos at all (hence having a survey and knowing what this material is in the first place!) but I just thought it wasn't a domestic homeowners responsibility?

There is a requirement to ensure waste drainage work is done properly, to applicable standards and does not cause health or safety issues. However it's not controlled work that requires building regulation approval. Other environmental and local water bye-laws also apply to waste water.

As a client there is responsibility to ensure that the contractors you employ are competent, work safely, follow applicable laws and dispose of rubbish etc properly.