External waste pipes leaking heavily

[jw76]

Hi all

I'm new to the site and have absolutely no knowledge of plumbing, so apologies if I make any dim comments!

My sister has recently rented a rear basement flat in a large converted town house, which contains other flats. As soon as she moved in, she noticed that a pipe that runs the whole length of the building (approx 5 inches in width) was taped up at one of the joints and was leaking slightly. By the first weekend, the tape had split and the the pipe was no longer properly aligned, which meant that when people were showering the water was gushing out, and the same happened when you heard a toilet flush! 😱 This is made all the more grim by the fact that the pipe leaks right in front of the only entrance to the flat!

We contacted the agency/landlord who denied they knew that this was a problem, which I find hard to believe as someone had already taped it up! They sent out a builder who has re-taped the pipe up and put some brackets further down the pipe as he said this is what had caused the misalignment and the leaking. I'm not convinced this will hold for long, so, my questions finally are, does anyone know whether this is a combined soil and waste water pipe and whether the "fix" is a proper one? I've attached two pictures - before and after the repair. Any other advice welcome.

Thanks in advance, and apologies for the lengthy post!!

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

yes this is a soil and waste pipe

110mm so just under 5 inches

That is not a repair as tape will not hold it, it needs to be done properly, cut out and refittied or replaced

The latter being most likely

also your first picture shows what seems to be some quite narrow waste pipes, do you know the diameter of these? as they look too small

 

[jw76]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the quick reply.

That's what I suspected, but I'm sure they think I'm being a dopey girl when I say I don't think the tape is a good enough fix.

I'd say the other pipes are probably just about two inches wide at most, and we were told that these are basin waste pipes, which I think they are as the windows above the pipes have the frosted 'bathroom' type glass.

I guess then the best thing to do is to pay for a plumber to take a look and then make a recommendation to the landlord and hope she sees sense and gets it sorted properly, otherwise I think a trip to the local Environmental Health department may be in order.

Thanks

 

[turnpin]

go straight to env.health raw sewage is a health hazard land lord is responsible for proper repairs🙂 regards turnpin

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

must just be the photos then as those basin waste pipes looked to thin but they sound the right size from your description

I would advise the landlord that you have been advised to seek assistance from environmental health due to this as its not on. He will soon book his ideas up

I would spend your own money on a plumber, thats the land lords responibility

 

[jw76]

Thanks for the advise all.

I've called Environmental Health, and they were pretty useless, although I won't be telling the letting agent that! They just said that if it starts to leak again I should write to the letting agent spelling out my concerns and say that it needs to be fixed properly and give them a week to sort it out. If no joy then I should get in touch with Environmental Health again.... I'm not sure that's a helpful response, but I've told the letting agent that I've got in touch with Environmental Health, so hopefully that'll do the trick!

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

yes, just tell a few white lies about the environmental health to the landlord and letting agent and it will speed things up.

I'm sure the environmental health told you that if you are still having problems by the end of the month let them know and they will make an attendance

 

[Centralheatking]

Phone your utilities provider act thick explain there is a flood of sewage
they will turn up and because its a multiple occ building fix it and then persue the owner - did this the other day on behalf of a pensioner -
all fixed no prob

councils dont fix anything nowadays

centralheatking

 

[Avatar]

Its hardly an expensive job the landlord is dodging - £100-£150 most likely if the part is easy to change!

Or alternatively if you pay us a fiver i will come round with my roll of sellotape!!!

What a bodge job, it really makes me laugh!

 

[thebeatmeister]

Tell them that you have a child around to visit regularly and you're scared of it playing in other people's effluent, and that if it became sick with c.diff you might be forced to claim compo off someone's bum! In the meantime ask the people who live above not to use their appliances as you don't fancy getting covered in their waste as soon as you walk out the door..get them involved aswell.
It looks like all it needs is a rubber coupler and two clips done by a plumber and, as someone's said, it doesn't have to cost the earth.
good luck.

 

[tamz]

The fitting has come out of its slip probably because the 2 bends below have turned slightly. It will take longer to get a ladder off the van than it will to fix. The clip will have to be repositioned too.
Get on to your landlord and kick up a stink😉