Drain problem!

[iloveweetos]

About a month ago I was out in the garden and saw the drain was overflowed with water. There were lots of leaves etc and I cleared it and all seemed to be fine. And on Monday, I saw the same thing again but no leaves!!! And now we have a drain smell in the house. On the opposite end of the house weirdly.
Are there any things I can do before having someone in to look at it? Or has it gone past that stage?

[wonkylegs]

Soda crystals and boiling water down all the drains to try and flush out any blockages would be where I would start. It's cheap and often successful.

[iloveweetos]

thankyou!!
gonna buy and have a try tonight..fingers crossed

[Spirael]

If you don't know where the problem is and there's a reasonable chance it could be outside your house (sounds like it could be) and in drains that your neighbours also connect to, call your water supplier.

They should send someone round to check where the problem is, in case it's within their pipes but affecting yours. If that's the case, it's their responsibility to fix it.

If it's your pipes that are blocked (and they don't accidentally clear the blockage during the investigation) they'll advise you of that, so at least you know a bit more about what you're dealing with and where the problem lies. At that point it might be worth checking whether your house insurance covers your drains.

This link might help explain drain responsibilities a bit better.

[PigletJohn]

does anybody tip cooking fat or oil down the sink?

have you got any manhole covers that you can look under?

[iloveweetos]

we have a manhole cover in our garden, bit scared to look in things like this because i dont know what to look for? I may ask our neighbour for help with this though
pigletjohn, that's what i would've assumed! but i'm really ott about what goes into the sink so it wouldnt be that. bit worried its the toilet as DD had a phase of using loads of toilet roll!
im gonna try soda crystals and if that doesn't help the situation call supplier, which stupidly i didn't even think of lol

[PigletJohn]

if you find a manhole that is full of "water" then you know there is a blockage downstream of it. Often it can be cleared with a good poke to dislodge the blockage. Looking in the next manhole along, if empty, will tell you the blockage is somewhere between the outlet of the full one and the inlet of the empty one.

Sometimes the brickwork is damaged and a bit of brick has fallen down and blocked the outlet.

[FishfingersAreOK]

If you do decide to have a poke around you will probably need a large screwdriver to get the cover off and then ideally some drain rods to poke if blockage if between covers.

Whatever you do get your wellies and rubber gloves on before you start. There may well be (boak) splashback. Also wear clothes you are due to put in the wash anyway. And do it at a time that you can go and jump in the shower afterwards.

(TBH the splash back was fairly minimal....it was just the thought
of what I had been poking and what I had seen. Our blockage was DS's liberal use of loo roll combined with a stupid bendy sewer/drain. Didn't take much to unblock it but he is on strict instructions NOT to poo in that loo anymore!)

Do not do it 15 minutes before you are due to take your DD to Brownies. [Bitter experience emoticon]

[iloveweetos]

I tried the soda crystals last night and woke up with no drain smell. So fingers crossed!! Gonna see how it is when I get back from work and maybe put the soda crystals in again

Thankyou for all your help!

[iloveweetos]

Oh and fish fingers I couldn't even lift the man hole cos of the splash back lol
Wish DP was DIY savvy!!!!!

[wonkylegs]

We put soda crystals down the drain every month of so just to ensure it stays clear and pong free. We have narrow Edwardian drains that aren't really made for modern drainage requirements and once I'd discovered soda crystals we stopped getting problems as they seem to keep it free flowing, before that I had a few less pleasant experiences