Possible problem with drainage

hi there,

Im hoping somebody can help me. Ive recently moved into a new house couple of months ago.

Before we moved in there was sometimes a smell of like serwage or something we thought nothing of it as the toilets wernt in place yet etc.

We moved in and the smell went, now 5months on and last night the smell was pretty much all upstairs in the house. I dont know how to describe it like a dump very revolting smell.

For the past two week there has been a drainage little lorry going around the estate digging up every single man hole nobody has a clue whats goin on.

I closed all the doors going to bed last night and the smell now only seems to be in the main bathroom.

Im going to talk to the builder today but its very hard to get him and the people doing the digging dont talk english so.

Would anyone have any ideas on whats goin on? and when it rains really heavy in place especially in one area of the estae alot of water builds up like really flooded i just dont know whats goin on and im so sick of driving through the water as theres a bit pothole in it wrecking my car as if all the man holes wernt enough sticking up everywhere!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated sorry about it been so long winded.

Thanks

There might be a serious problem with the main drainage pipeline out on the street i.e pipes caving in causing blockages or backfalls on the pipes failing to carry sewage away from the house.

OR the discharge stacks on the wall outside your house may not be ventilated. This is the most common reason for smells from toilets in houses. All discharge stacks must be ventilated as per Building Regulations.

Make sure you complain to the County council who should be monitoring the builder to do this drainage work correctly. Also contact the Building control section in the council regarding the ventilated discharge stacks that you should have (if you haven't already). The building control authority has the power to serve enforcement on the builder to put things right.

Blockages in drains of new estates is quite common. They are often laid in a hurry (leaving gravel fall in) and suffer with tilers and other contractors leaving grout and concrete fall in. The contractor will be obliged to provide the council with a report and tape of a camera survey (carried out by Drain co.) before the council "take over" the estate. Most drain cleaning is only carried out JUST before handover when an entire clean of the lines is done.

Are you're neighbours experiencing any problems? Have you any other problems aside from the smell? ie water in sink, shower, bath slow to discharge or water level in toilet rising before eventually subsiding? You could very well have a localised blockage on your property.

If your house is in a terraced row of houses you may have a problem in the common drain shared by all the houses. If you & your neighbours are experiencing problems, then ask your builder to get the drain co. to jetblast the line.

The flooding during heavy rain could indicate a problem with the storm drains. They too could be blocked or it could be due to poor soakage in the area. Our estate is built on an old bog and we have water pouring down the estate road and the force of the water exiting the storm drain is fierce.

The builder isn't digging those up for fun, so sounds like there is a problem, but at least they're trying to fix it.

As the smell seems to be concentrated in the one room, make sure all the traps are all working properly, see these previous posts.
Leo

hi again,

thanks alot for that info, will get onto it straight away. I was talking to the builder and he said that another 2 houses are complaining at the bottom of our row. We live near the top there all semi detachted houses.

All the taps,bath shower are working and draining properly.

I didnt know anything about the co.council, im gonna ring them now and see what they say.

Actually, I think the estate is nearly ready for handing over as all the houses are built and most of them are painted tiled etc. Theres over 100 houses altogether.

Thanks for all the info much appreciated.