Gulley in utility room

[Pinklemon]

The house that we are buying has an extension of an utility and a toilet built behind the garage, so now the gulley is in the utility room. Apart from the smell, (the gulley is not sealed) would the gulley cause any problems such as rising damp?

What is a gulley?

it will not cause rising damp, but it might be unhygienic. A more thorough builder would have dug it out and replaced it with a modern plastic fitting with no gulley. I will guess it is in a concrete floor that would be quite tiresome to dig out.

Older houses with salt-glazed (shiny dark brown) underground pipes often have cracks and leaks where the house has moved over time. If so they have to be dug out.

Yours is probably not compliant with Building Regulations which is always a warning sign of a poor job.

a gulley is an open-top drain, usually with a grid, and usually with a trap or U-bend underneath toi harbour dirty water and prevent escape of sewer smells. Very common in the yard outside the kitchen sink on older properties, where the grid will be iron and the gulley will be clay.

Yes, it is in a concrete floor. I guess I will get a plumber in to sort it out. What will be the procedure and will it be a messy job?

digging up drains is more builders work than plumbers.

Big breaker drill to smash the concrete, then dig a hole, climb into it, make the hole bigger to get to the next break, eventually get to a bit that isn't broken, and replace all the damaged stuff with plastic.

there might be a mixture of wet mud, sewage and red worms if you are unlucky. Probably barrow out the waste to a skip, unless there is no break.

Oh dear, I'll probably just seal the gulley then and do nothing. Too messy and I have massive phobia of worms! Is it ok to leave it in the utility room as it is?

it would be very much better to dig out the gulley. It may well be cracked and leaking under the concrete.

the worms won't get you.