Possible sewer leak in underground wall

[MarkJ]

Hi, our garage is underneath the house. Some of the drains from the toilet, sinks and gutters from the house above the garage pass through the land that is above and to the side of the garage. We've had a fairly large patch of damp in there for some time and it's suspiciously where the toilet drain meets the drain for everything else.

Are there any sort of testing strips that can test for urine in water? So I can figure out whether it's the sewers leaking or a clean water pipe nearby. I see plenty of urine testing kits to test for infections in urine, but nothing specifically for urine itself.

Any other suggestions for testing the damp on the wall? I've read about using dye flushed down the toilet but it would have to seep ~2 meters through soil and potentially through 2-3 layers of brickwork so could take forever to appear on the wall.

[dodsi]

Sewerage is made up more of things like washing up water, bath/shower water, dishwasher water and surface water and all the things like detergents that go with it etc etc so you could be chasing a bit of a red herring.

If it was sewerage you would smell it - it has a very particular smell.

where the drains join - is there a manhole? can you do some sort of CCTV on the pipes to check for any damage from inside the pipe?

[MarkJ]

We had Dynorod out for a look with their camera on a stick a few years back and they said the drains looked OK, but it's got worse since. We also get what looks like soapy water coming through further down the garage at the front of the property so I still think there might be something up with the drains somewhere. The toilet joins the sewer pipe near the back of the garage, and the kitchen sink and washing machine are towards the front (the main sewers under the road are at the front of the house/garage, so any sewer joins further back from where the kitchen joins are only toilets and nothing else)

We had a mini earthquake around here about 10 years ago which was around the time this damp started coming through. The little out house the toilet drains are in developed a crack in the wall at the same time as this earthquake.

There is a manhole near where the kitchen waste joins so I'll have a look, haven't done it yet as the cover is proper rusted on. No inspection cover for the toilet join unfortunately.

Regarding the smell, could the soil & brickwork not filter out most of the smell?

[dodsi]

[MarkJ]

Cheers, our property receives the sewers from the houses at both sides but these are close to the road, and nowhere near the garage luckily. I reckon it's a private one, the house was my grandfathers' and he dug these drains up himeself in the past apparently.

We're having an extension built over where these drains are which is why I'm asking about them now

[dodsi]

Yes, the question is do any other properties connect to the sewer/drains at the backids of your house - they may not just go out through the front.

[MarkJ]

Nothing at the back, the toilet drain is the furthest drain to the back of the property. My grandad built all three houses so we know where all the drains are

[MCN]

I'm not 100% certain but I am guessing you could fire a prastic membrane down the drain to avoid having to hand-ball the material over the soil pipe.


You could try an indicator dye. But you must be careful that the dye doesn't interfere with water treatment. They can trace it back to you.



It does sound like the soil pipe has a leak.

They are normally laid on top of a substrate course sand/gravel/quarry dust to support the pipe.
If they leak the effluent will seep into whatever is around it and eventually find it's way out.

If your garage floor had been tanked then the problem would have migrated past the barrier.

Sewage is made up of lots of s4it but common compounds found are nitrites, nitrate and ammonia. All part of the nitrogen cycle.

As far as testing goes you could get a test for urea or ammonia

https://www.simplexhealth.co.uk/10-parameter-urine-dip-test-100-test-strips-urs10a-p-369.html?gclid=CK-_8YnQzMkCFQ_gGwodtrMO4Q

A tropical fish tank test kit may have what you need.
Look for a multi test.
They test for Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia. (which are all harmful to fish when they build up in the fish.

https://www.butlerms.com/index.php/blog/education-blog/169-sewage-parameters-5-ammonia-nh4

I may be talking shite though.

https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/tetra-test-strip-6-in-1-water-test-kit?gclid=CJX15rzRzMkCFYYIwwodahIPSg

https://www.completeaquatics.co.uk/tetra-test-strips-ammonia
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[mudcow007]

We had a blocked/ broken drain in the front of our house, so i bought rods my self an tried to rod it - only for one of the bastard things to snap an lodge its self in the pipe

i had to dig the rodding eye point up to retrieve the rod - shit job - boom boom

called united utilities an they come an put the cutter thing down an sorted it out - didnt cost a bean either because our house is over a certain age!?

[Diggs]

Read this...

https://thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xbcr/corp/minor-public-sewers-leaflet.pdf

It could potentially save you a lot of money. Note this applies nationally...
____________________
Now - Speed Triple, old ratty GS550, GSXR750M
Gone (in order of ownership) - Raleigh Runabout, AP50, KH125, GP125, KH250, CBX550, Z400, CB750FII, 250LC, GS550, ZXR750H1, Guzzi Targa, GSX750F, KH250 x2, Bimota SB6R and counting...

[MCN]

[dodsi]

[MarkJ]

Thanks everyone, sorry for the late reply. I got some ammonia testing papers from the local pet shop but unfortunately they're far too sensitive so everything shows up at the colour for 'lots' of ammonia.

I'll have a look at the public sewers thing.

The layout of our house, and both nextdoor houses is like this:

[Suntan Sid]