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Too steep a fall can also cause issues. Basically the water outruns the shit causing blockages, it would take longer to become apparent though
If this is happening after a few weeks then something is very wrong. Again, have you told your builder why you are withholding payment from him? It sounds like whoever installed the drain has messed up somewhere (I'd assume your builder either did it himself or organised someone else to do it), there are other things that could be causing this but all will be as a result of poor fitting, as I see it your two best options are:
- Talk to your builder and explain the situation, see if he will put it right.
- Get a CCTV survey carried out to find the cause (not cheap and will need to be paid upfront) and pay to get it put right. You may be able to with hold the cost of this from your final payment to the builder but may have to justify it in court.
- Talk to your builder and explain the situation, see if he will put it right.
Bobbo-
The builder is a really nice guy and he's done a good job elsewhere - but this is something we are still discussing. To be honest I thought my wife had paid him a couple of weeks ago, but she hadn't as she wasn't happy with the toilet and then this happened.
The company who dealt with the drain blockage was Quickclear - they are well-reviewed and got the blockage cleared (I was watching closely mainly because of my morbid curiosity) but the guy wasn't their most experienced and I think getting them back for a CCTV survey might be a good idea just to ease our minds.
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We got a CCTV survey done in the end and it turned out the drain was properly fucked.
There were three problems:
The poorly-fitted rat gate where our run met the main sewer was backing up
The T joint where the downstairs soil pipe met the pipe from upstairs hadn't been sealed properly and was leaking
The clay elbow underground where the downpipe turned to run into the sewer was smashed to pieces
Patio dug up, new rat gate installed, new UPVC pipes installed, wallet significantly lightened, confidence in plumbing restored.
tbc
The fall is quite steep somewhere - we've got a manhole in the garden about 10ft from the house and by that point it's about 8ft underground.
I think it's quite gentle between the downstairs toilet and where the waste pipe meets the soil pipe from upstairs under the patio close to the back wall.
Could the gentleness of the pipe be the issue affecting the poor flush?
If so, surely it couldn't be a big enough issue to cause a major blockage after just weeks of use?
(The downstairs toilet has only been installed and functional for the last few weeks)