Drain survey advice please

[SlopesOff]

I have been advised to use a company that do fixed price surveys.

This is to locate a smell and fix the problem, have already had a plumber round.

Is there anything I need to be aware of and is it best to get them to do the work or get the plumber back?

I’d get a different plumber in , can you not track down where is coming from yourself by process of elimination?

We have tried to find it many times in the last couple of weeks although it has been on and off for a few years and I have managed to get rid of it, this time it is foul and will not go. Always thought it was from the downstairs toilet, however, it has been removed along with a section of floor and there is nothing untoward underneath.

The smell is still in the same place and there are only 2 options, either remove more floor or get a survey.

On the basis that we could end up taking up all the floor on half the ground floor versus a camera survey I think the camera is the better option. I just wondered if there is anything I should be asking before I arrange it.

sound like stagnant water under floor water alway goes to lowest point is there crawl space under your house to get someone under it rather than rip floor up.

We had a drain survey by camera a year or two ago; it was pricey but well-worth it as it tracked down the cause of the foul smell. (Rats getting in via a superfluous drain, and then dying...)

Sadly I'm pretty knowledgable on drain issues don't under any circumstances remove any floor until you know exactly what and where the cause is. TBH I'm not sure why a camera survey they should be "pricey". We had 6 years of blocked drain problems and our water/drain provider did a camera survey from every conceivable direction about 20 times it doesn't take long to do it and doesn't appear overly difficult.
If its not a communal drain you maybe able to claim on your house insurance, we didn't realise we even had drain cover on ours until our constantly blocked drain was about to flood the house and in desperation we rang our house insurance company to warn them of a potential claim for damage and they advise us to make a claim for fixing the drain on the insurance.

Definitely a camera survey. I'm trying to get our builders to do it as there is a damp patch obviously coming from underneath but getting them to actually move their useless carcasses into action is something else!

As soon as you start ripping up floors etc it becomes 10x expensive

There's not much to the survey really they just come in and send a camera around your drain system. You should get a fully sectioned report with shots of all the junctions and any possible damage. Which there may be minor stuff depending on the age of your drains. Ours was really quick and I don't remember it being pricey. Just checked ours was £234 this included a diagram of where the drain runs, all the photos and a break down description of each section examined.

Thank you everyone.

We run a drainage firm, the average residential under say 4 beds can be done within 2 hours, which is around £200 plus vat including footage, report and recommendations.

Thank you IndecentFeminist