• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Don't ever do this......

S

StevieB

Nordic Pine
Joined
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Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
We have had a slow drain for a while now and rodding has not cleared it so it was time to get digging. Downside is we live in an old house and this means multiple eejits have had a bash at 'modifying' bits and pieces including the drains. The run from the soil stack to the edge of our property is only about 15ft but the pipe goes under a raised area. This has been gravelled and there is no rodding eye, manhole cover or similar visible so it was going to be a case of dig from the drain along the pipe and see what we could see. I suspected tree roots might be the culprit - when we move in 2 years ago one of the first jobs was to get 2 massive leylandii trees cut down - the roots were left and I have a feeling this is the issue. After 8 hrs of digging today I have a) uncovered the 15ft of pipe, b) found a manhole cover (but not been able to lift it yet) and c) roundly cursed the eejit that decided to plant the two leylandii OVER the top of said manhole cover:

tree1small_zpso1jj0or7.jpg


tree2%20small_zps6rms5xea.jpg


Each of those large roots is about as thick as my thigh, and I have real concerns over how to actually move the stump once it is free - I am certainly not going to be able to lift it into the back of my car to take it to the tip.

Off to screwfix tomorrow to purchase a chainsaw :) Did look at hiring one, but it is only £10 more to buy one :shock: Moral of the story - don't ever, ever plant a tree on top of a manhole cover. Seriously, just don't!

Steve
 
Oh what a wonderful story :D :eusa-clap:

I share your pain!
 
Some people are just beyond help. Whoever covered the lid of that chamber with soil needs.........erm......talking to. It may not have been the same person who planted the leylandii.

You'll be rebuilding that wall, too, when this is all done. Your original ground level must have been around the level of the access chamber lid. If you can't return it to that level, you'll have to raise the sides of the access chamber.
 
Totally agree Mike - totally agree! To be honest, if there is an end to the waterboard pipe the other side of the chamber to join onto I am tempted to bypass this one, run a new piece of pipe straight through it and put a new chamber in a little further up the run. Bet it will not be that simple however!

Steve
 
+1 for previous owners. Not found any trees planted over access lids but everything in our house has turned to have been done on the cheap by the previous owner. Shouldn't be surprised I guess as even whilst buying the house and moving in it became clear he was a complete cad.

Good luck with the remedial work!

Terry.
 
What an idiot or idiots - I've seen cases where folks have built floors or slabbed over them but never planted trees directly on top?

Have you considered getting the pipes cleared (mechanical/laser moles) and relined - may save a lot of digging?
I've authorised it a few of times but I cannot now remember the costs.

Rod
 
Wizard9999":l7m8mkhs said:
+1 for previous owners. Not found any trees planted over access lids but everything in our house has turned to have been done on the cheap by the previous owner. ......
Terry.
Click to expand...

You want to try making good two semi-detached houses into what they were originally ie the local vicars' detached accommodation. After it's been hacked about by a parsimonious farmer who makes Ebenezer Scrooge look like Mother Teresa. Concrete roof tiles? Why not? So the weight is too much for the walls and splays them out. Those tiles were free.
 
Some years ago I planted a miniature willow around 3m away from our drainage system and learnt very shortly afterwards that their roots will seek out water and can worm their way into pipework and block it. The tree was out the next day - Rob
 
Woodbloke":21l2l9kj said:
.... that their roots will seek out water and can worm their way into pipework and block it. ...... - Rob
Click to expand...

That is very apposite. Fastershire are in the process of installing fibre round our way but the project has been delayed because many of the underground pipes are blocked.
 
By way of an update...... Bought a chainsaw. Then went back and bought chainsaw oil to lube the chain and oil to mix with the petrol :oops: After a bit of cutting, bit of swearing, bit of heaving and a bit more swearing I got the small stump on the right out, and was then left with the biggie. Now I am not a small bloke (6ft tall and nearly 20 stone) so that should give you some idea of the size of the stump:

tree3%20small_zpsznrnqzcg.jpg


I finally managed to get all the roots cut and then rolled it off the drain cover. Went through two chainsaw chains doing so as there were lots of small stones that had got between the roots and between the stumps as they had grown. Finally got to lift the lid expecting to see lots of tree roots.....

tree4small_zpsqxinjsgp.jpg


Nice!

Then decided after giving it a bit of a poke that if it was full, the outlet must be blocked. If the outlet is blocked it must be a job for Anglian Water :eusa-dance: I did try rodding but couldn't find the outlet - I was expecting it to be on the wall facing the road - the opposite side of the manhole to the inlet (house) side. After waiting 4 hrs Anglian water came out and said 'nah mate, the hole is likely to be at the bottom in the middle with a U bend on it'. He gave it a poke and whoosh - one empty manhole! Being dark by this time I haven't taken a pic. Took him all of 5 minutes, and although it was technically blocked on private property he was kind enough not to charge me for his time.

Cause of the blockage - a few wispy tree roots, but nothing major. A few baby wipes (from a previous occupant since we don't use them)and nothing else obvious! A real anticlimax. I need to have a proper clean up (pressure washer time I am thinking) and try to get rid of as much of the root as I can before building up the manhole to ground level, installing a new cover and then repairing the wall. Guess what I am doing for the rest of my week off work? I also have that stump to get rid of somehow - SWMBO didn't seem to want it as a 'front garden feature'.

All in all it could have been a lot worse.

Steve
 
Nice outcome but a manhole with a U bend - is that a local thing?
All the ones I've come across have half channels in the bottom concreted/mortared off to give a smooth profile?

Rod
 
Rod":28yr9nm0 said:
Nice outcome but a manhole with a U bend - is that a local thing?
All the ones I've come across have half channels in the bottom concreted/mortared off to give a smooth profile?

Rod
Click to expand...
The one at the front of my property has a u-bend where it enters the main sewer. Some idiot broke it years ago so every now and then it blocks

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk
 
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