Sewer Repair near you

Under section 61 of the Building Act 1984, anyone intending to repair, reconstruct or alter a drain must give the local authority twenty-four hours' notice of that intention, except in an emergency. Where the work is done as an emergency, it must not be covered over without giving that notice, and free access must be given to the local authority to inspect the works. Approved Document H sets this out alongside the point that material alterations to existing drains and sewers are covered by the building regulations even though routine repairs are not.

There are enforcement powers on the other side of the same relationship. Under section 59 of the Building Act 1984 a local authority may require the owner of a building to carry out remedial works where a soil pipe, drain or private sewer is insufficient, in a condition prejudicial to health or a nuisance, or so defective that subsoil water leaks into it. Under section 114 of the Water Industry Act 1991 a sewerage undertaker may examine and test a drain or private sewer connecting with a public sewer where it believes the pipe is injurious to health, a nuisance, or so defective that subsoil water is getting in.

England is the jurisdiction Approved Document H covers. Northern Ireland works to its own Technical Booklets published by the Department of Finance, with Technical Booklet N covering drainage, published in October 2012, and Scotland operates its own building standards system. Ask a local contractor how compliance is evidenced where you live before assuming the English documents apply.

A survey should come before a price. A camera run along the drain, with a report and a plan showing where each defect sits and how deep it is, turns an argument about symptoms into a list of locations. Ask for the footage and the written report, not just a verbal summary, because you will need both if a second contractor quotes or if the work turns out to sit on a pipe you do not own.

Records matter as much as the camera. Approved Document H points out that copies of the sewer record maps are held by the sewerage undertaker and by local authorities and are available for inspection during office hours, and that where a public sewer requires repair or replacement it will be carried out by the sewerage undertaker. Checking the map first tells you whether the defective length is even yours to repair.

LokalMatch is where the quotations come from. Describe the job once — what the survey found, whether the defect is inside your boundary, whether access for a machine exists, your postcode — and drainage contractors covering your area get in touch with you. They pay for the requests they receive. LokalMatch neither performs the repair nor sets the price, and does not vet, rank or recommend anyone, so comparing what each quotation actually includes, particularly reinstatement of the ground afterwards, remains your job.

Lining wins when the host pipe still holds its shape. A run with open joints, hairline cracks or root ingress but a sound line and level is the classic candidate, and the appeal is obvious: no trench across the garden, no lifted block paving, and a working drain the same day. Patch repairs suit a single defect; full relining suits a run with several.

Excavation wins where the pipe has lost its shape or its position. A collapsed section, a badly deformed length, a drain that has dropped out of line so that solids stand in it, or a run laid at a gradient that never worked cannot be cured by putting a liner inside it. Excavation is also the honest answer where the pipe is too small for what it now serves.

Two practical points tilt the decision. First, ask what happens to connections along a lined section and how they will be reopened. Second, ask who reinstates the surface: the difference between a drain repair under a lawn and the same repair under a resin driveway or a tiled kitchen floor is mostly the cost of putting the ground back, and quotations vary in whether they include it.

This is where drain repair and home improvement collide. Requirement H4 of the building regulations says the erection or extension of a building, or work involving underpinning, must be carried out so that it is not detrimental to the building or to the continued maintenance of the drain, sewer or disposal main. The guidance applies to building over or within three metres of the centreline of an existing drain, sewer or disposal main shown on the sewerage undertaker's records, whether the sewer is public or not.

The detail is stricter than most people expect. Buildings and extensions should not be constructed over a manhole, inspection chamber or other access fitting on a sewer serving more than one property. The length of drain or sewer under a building should not exceed six metres without the owner's permission, and building over or within three metres of any drain or sewer deeper than three metres or larger than 225mm in diameter also needs that permission. A satisfactory diversionary route should exist so the pipe could be reconstructed later without affecting the building, and that route should not pass within three metres of it.

In practice this means an agreement with your water company. Thames Water, for example, requires a build over agreement for work within three metres of a public sewer, or within one metre of the point where a pipe serving only your property crosses your boundary, and warns that without one you may not get a building regulations completion certificate, which causes problems when you sell. It can also seek an injunction to remove a building that limits its ability to maintain or repair a public sewer, and liability for damage caused to the sewer during construction sits with you. Applications are assessed within a stated period and the agreement is a document to keep with the deeds.