Drainage Soakaway Problem

[LookingOptimistic]

I have a blocked rainwater soakaway at back of house which is only drain for whole back roof, so i firstly got a company to try and jet the blockage - after 15 minutes of trying (baring in mind i was paying for an hour as minimum) the guy said he was making no progress and said it would be a waste of time continuing.

He then said part of the pipe may have collapsed, and that he would send photos and write up details so they can quote for both excavation to try and repair and replacement of whole thing.

I have since had two quotes from two other companies, and nothing from original company yet. Both came in at around £1,450 inc VAT to replace entirely, for context one slab would have to be lifted to do either job and connect to downpipe and rest is just under lawn.

Also had quote to investigate/repair if possible for £550 + VAT. I just wanted to know if anyone had experience of cost of this type of work? When i look it up it suggests it shouldn't cost as much as i have been quoted.

I have third company quoting tomorrow but no clue what to do really and with no experience, really don't know how much it should cost.

How old is the house?

How do you know it is a soakaway?

Does anything go down it except rainwater?

Has it had a CCTV inspection yet?

Are the gullies brown glazed clay?

Are you on speaking terms with neighbours having similar houses, and what have they done?

House was built 1979; i don't know it's a soakaway but 3 drainage companies have said it is, and nothing but rainwater goes down it as other services are located in other drains at front of house.

No CCTV yet; first company who jetted it said pointless when i suggested it, said thesikt build up would mean you wouldn't see anything given the water not draining through it.

It is indeed brown clay pipe, and would prefer not to involve neighbours really (not been here that long and not spoken to them much).

1973 house so disappointing it's failed so soon. Local trades should have seen lots of houses built at the same time and in the same style as yours, so should know probable cause and solution. Was it a local building firm you approached? The nationals, and companies that advertise on websites masquerading as consumer recommendations, may not be as knowledgeable.

Modern soakaways use prefabricated baskets, often plastic, buried in the garden, but they are not used much in my district so I don't know.

Would probably need a digger and skip for a few days and several workers to rebuild, but there might be a patch-up.

All local companies within 20 miles of house, picked for ratings/ feedback on check a trade.

Can't get even mini digger in because pathway to side of house it too narrow, so would of needed to hand dig i guess. Majority just said would take a day for two people or something.

I just don't want to replace it if it can be fixed instead, seems like replacement is my worst case scenario for both cost and ruining half my lawn.

As a temporary fix to get you out of a hole (!) you could install a water butt. The forecast is for a bit of rain over the next week. There are online calculators that will show you how much water to expect based on the size of your roof. B &M had a 200l one for a reasonable price I noticed the other day. Bonus is you have something to water garden with when the sun comes back.

Chequeurtrade is an advertising site.

Ah, that sounds like a great idea! I have lots of plants to water so would be good to have a free store of it for dry spells.

@Random63638Plus having just watched a youtube video and checked a few sites; they are easy to install yourself, and are really cheap.

@PigletJohn Oh, i guess your right. I get hung up on reviews because i find it hard to trust any trades person and dont want to be tajen advantage of as a young women with little knowledge of the problem, let alone the fix.

Easiest thing in the world to install. Just make sure it's level because you don't want it to shift when it's full. If your soakaway only gets the overspill from the water butt it might cope anyway. Or add another water butt, hahaha. Saved you a fortune, yeahhh!

We've had problems in the past with soak away

First time OH rodded it and didn't work. He ended up digging out stones from the inspection pit to get access to the pipes... which are conveniently NOT connected to the actual pit but discharge into the stones surrounding the pit

He managed to get his hand in the pipe as he found roots which he cut away

Recently it was blocked and when cleaning it out found a shuttlecock in the pipe which allowed leaves to back it up

When it was blocked it would over flow into the drive so we syphoned it off to the waste drain. We had discussed getting a pump, but an alternative would be a water butt which you can then empty off how you see fit

@Random63638 Yep, plan to join 2x slimline 100L water butts together as space is limited on that side of house.

Only going to be £70 for everything from wickes and have a 10 minute youtube video showing how to do it

@Oldraver This is why i didn't want to fork out to have it be problem after problem, so giving up on replacing or fixing :p also as i dint want to replace my paving slabs till this time next year, i really dont want one lifted and then garden dug up!