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Post by jcplumb on Jun 18, 2022 11:59:01 GMT
Not yet matey. They came, they dug, they fucked off. There's still a hole with a temporary cover over it and a pile of earth/clay at the side of it. It's not under my house so I'm happy for them to take their time. It's a free service too so no complaints from me  |
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Post by jcplumb on Jul 31, 2022 22:47:33 GMT
It seems that they must have filled some paperwork out wrong because I phoned UU and they said their records show my case was finished, even though I still have a hole in my yard and a UU hole cover and barrier there. They've since been to fill in the hole and said they'd get it cemented in within a few days. That was about 2 weeks ago. However I got a call to say that I have been approved for the grant of £550 to help towards the cost of me hiring a plumber to lay a new MDPE pipe from the boundary to my house. My plumber will be happy with that Too busy this coming week so I'm having a couple of days the week after with a Stihl saw and spade, I think the best route is probably alongside the lead pipe as UU kindly forgot to cement over the hole they left. Definitely going to fit a groundbreaker as my kitchen floor is solid next to the back wall. Am I right in thinking that the new MDPE doesn't need to be sleeved underground? I know it needs 100mm sleeving and insulation as it passes into the house and then up to ground level inside but does it need to be sleeved under my yard where it will be 750mm down? |
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Post by crowsfoot on Aug 1, 2022 7:30:52 GMT
You are right that you don't need to sleeve the service underground.
As it's all official you'll have to keep the service at 2ft 6ins underground though.
N.B. Plumbers spades always have a notch cut into the handle at 2ft 6ins. :-)
Good luck.
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Post by jcplumb on Sept 12, 2022 14:44:20 GMT
Finally started doing a bit on replacing the lead pipe at the back of my house. Hired a Stihl saw for the weekend and did all the cuts I needed and started the delicate job of digging round the clay drainage pipes and spotted that there were a couple of leaks. Cut some of the concrete away round the point where the soil pipe goes underground and looks like this has been broken for some time, possibly years.  There was also a socket further down that was pishing out too, so no choice other than to replace those sections. All in all not including running for parts I'd say it took about an hour and a half and I learned a trick too  I couldn't angle grind all the way round the clay pipe so once I'd cut what I could I just pulled the end of the pipe up and it snapped beautifully, to be fair I tested it out first on a bit I knew I was going to bin.  The result is in the next post as I've reached the limit in this one (The wood is only a temporary prop until I backfill) I christened the new pipe by going for a much needed dump and then sent one of the kids to check for leaks |
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Post by jcplumb on Sept 12, 2022 14:44:53 GMT
Result  |
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Post by crowsfoot on Sept 12, 2022 19:38:14 GMT
Drains are a bloody nuisance when you are digging, I've broke a few I'll admit!
Quite often in the older properties you would find the incoming water main underneath the drain in the same trench.
I suppose the regulations weren't so strict back then and if you could get away with digging out the one trench for both services then why not!
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Post by jcplumb on Sept 21, 2022 14:46:06 GMT
This is turning out to be 'one of those jobs'. As you can see from the previous pic I'd cut and dug a trench but what you cant see is the other 7 metres of yard where I had just cut 2 tracks with the stihl and not dug up yet. Went to finish off the trench today and the concrete gets about 3 inches thicker further down AND it's laid over 2 inches of york stone flags so my cuts weren't nearly deep enough for the rest of the trench. I thought that would be the easy bit. Will be hiring the stihl saw again on Friday and cutting out the tracks I've already done into mini trenches so I can get the stihl to cut deeper. By the way Tom, you don't happen to have a hole post digger do you? Could do with one for a day?  |
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Post by battle1066 on Sept 21, 2022 15:33:41 GMT
This is turning out to be 'one of those jobs'. As you can see from the previous pic I'd cut and dug a trench but what you cant see is the other 7 metres of yard where I had just cut 2 tracks with the stihl and not dug up yet. Went to finish off the trench today and the concrete gets about 3 inches thicker further down AND it's laid over 2 inches of york stone flags so my cuts weren't nearly deep enough for the rest of the trench. I thought that would be the easy bit. Will be hiring the stihl saw again on Friday and cutting out the tracks I've already done into mini trenches so I can get the stihl to cut deeper. By the way Tom, you don't happen to have a hole post digger do you? Could do with one for a day? View AttachmentScrewfix do the hole post digger i bought one for £35 off them back in December. |
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Post by jcplumb on Oct 9, 2022 12:59:21 GMT
Well it's time to backfill now. The water board inspector came on Friday and signed off my work. To be honest there's about 2 foot of new pipe that isn't quite at a depth of 750mm as there was an obstruction I had to avoid so I was crapping it a bit when he came to inspect. He had a quick look at the new internal pipes and then stood at the back door, looked outside and said that all looks fine. Most of the trench has a tarp over it and you couldn't see the bottom of it at all from where he stood, you also couldn't see where I tunnelled underneath the back wall, couldn't see the coil of MDPE at the boundary, couldn't see the sand bed or anything, I'd already told him I'm a plumber and I had my embroidered work gear on so maybe he just trusted me?? Who knows why he didn't bother going out to inspect the trench? And who cares I used a product called insuduct to bring the MDPE up outside the property and then come in at floor level so I didn't have to dig my kitchen up, it was just over £200 for the 2 insuduct boxes and the pre-bent MDPE which is steep for what they are but worth it for not having to dig out the kitchen. I didn't know about this product until I started this so thought it might be handy to share.   |
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Post by jcplumb on Oct 9, 2022 13:00:01 GMT
Only 2 pics per post...   |
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Post by jcplumb on Oct 9, 2022 13:00:26 GMT
Some of the trench (without the tarp) You can see a couple of bones in the top left, that was a dog that was buried under there, I won't post a pic of the skull   |
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Post by cathoderay on Oct 9, 2022 14:24:00 GMT
He saw the dog bones and thought
"maybe the last inspector got in the trench or asked too many questions.."
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Post by crowsfoot on Oct 14, 2022 7:50:25 GMT
Insuduct, what a good idea! Saving a lot of work, how did you find out about that one JC? Soon to be a new water regulation I bet!! Apprentice plumber Phil would have loved one of those back in the 70s. Phil was instructed to dig under the footings for the new water service but decided to go through the damp bricks instead thus getting 3 workmates chisels plus a jig a pick all jammed solid in the wall at one time . He had quite a temper on him as well which made it even funnier. . |
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Post by jcplumb on Oct 15, 2022 11:40:30 GMT
Insuduct, what a good idea! Saving a lot of work, how did you find out about that one JC? Soon to be a new water regulation I bet!! Apprentice plumber Phil would have loved one of those back in the 70s. Phil was instructed to dig under the footings for the new water service but decided to go through the damp bricks instead thus getting 3 workmates chisels plus a jig a pick all jammed solid in the wall at one time . He had quite a temper on him as well which made it even funnier. . One of the guys from the water board who was trying to find the leak mentioned it to me. It is a great idea but the company is the only one I know of offering this solution so they can charge what they want. |
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Post by jcplumb on Oct 15, 2022 12:11:45 GMT
Drains are a bloody nuisance when you are digging, I've broke a few I'll admit! Quite often in the older properties you would find the incoming water main underneath the drain in the same trench. I suppose the regulations weren't so strict back then and if you could get away with digging out the one trench for both services then why not! The electric cable comes in through the same point of the back wall, that was fun to dig around |
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