Before you begin drain installation do this
Before you begin drain installation do this
The most important thing that you have to worry about while taking on any DIY plumbing and drainage work are the Local Authority regulations which they actively monitor.
Detailed plans of any changing or installing of drainage in your home will have to be submitted, and expect ongoing inspections until its completion to ensure that the work abides by the rules. However you do not require authority approval for replacement of failed joints or cracked plumbing and drains pipes.
When rain falls on your house and property, it runs across as surface water and has to be drained properly. An earlier method was to directly discharge this surface water into the sewage drains, but modern homes use a surface water sewer or watercourse or soakaway to drain or absorb rainwater. To stop any nasty odours emanating from the drains a combined system will discharge the surface water into the foul water drains by way of the gully traps. However, modern systems are designed to keep the foul water and the surface water apart. It’s absolutely crucial that you keep the dirty water sewage system apart from the one for surface water. If you are unsure about the sewage system around your house get advice from the Building Control Department before you start any work.
Designing the path of the waste passageways will be your first task. Keeping the path as straight and short as possible will be the main concept behind the design of the waste passageways or pipes. You should not make your pipe runs very steep although some gradient is needed. A surveyor’ site level should be used to work out the fall of a drainpipe. A hosepipe filled with water from an established datum point can be used if you don’t have a surveyor’s site level.
You need to ascertain that the foundations and structure of the building is safe when digging to install your drain trench. If you are laying a drain run parallel to the house, you must ensure that any foundations are not undermined.
The pipes should be laid before too long a trench is dug as a new ditch can be unstable. Get the pipes laid quickly and, as soon as they have been tested, fill the trench back in.
The trench may need to be supported depending on the depth and soil conditions. You should avoid any risks with this project. If in doubt add support to the ditch to prevent it from collapsing. You must make the ditch as narrow as possible while leaving enough room to work inside it. Protruding stones or bricks should not be left in the base and it should be cleaned to provide a smooth, regular surface. If the existing soil is too weak or clayey, you should place and compact a layer of firmer soil at the base of the trench to prevent later sinking.
You should definitely not use hard materials such as bricks to support the pipe in the ditch. In fact they should be never used as support as they can damage the pipe as they will focus pressure into a small area. The bedding should be made compact to fit around the pipe joints. The support should be smooth and even, from the beginning of the pipe to its end.
An important criteria for pipe layout is that you should be able to access any point with a drain rod to clear blockages. Therefore, a run of drains should be as straight as possible between two points. As a general rule, any change in direction of the pipework should be provided with an inspection chamber to allow rodding access.
Keeping these points in mind, you can carry out your own drainage and plumbing work smoothly and almost professionally.