Manhole in the garden: what could it be? ... (Pic attached)

[Sandrine1982]

Hi,

So we've just viewed this house and we plan to make an offer.

We liked the house but the garden is a bit ugly and needs work.
There's also this manhole in the middle that we're concerned about. How common is it to have a manhole in the garden? What could it be??

I'm not worried about the aesthetics as we would cover it with decking or something like that. But are there any other issues that we should be concerned about?

Thanks in advance.
x

It is probably an access cover for the sewer pipe that serves all the properties in your row, running along underneath all the gardens.

We have similar in our row of houses.

As PP says. We have one for waste water. Could be an issue if you want to extend as there are limits to how close you can build and you’d need an agreement from the water provider.

Is it even legitimately covering anything? It looks like it's just been dumped?

Open it up and see what’s inside

Right ... could it be smelly in the summer???

(The kitchen is already extended so we would not need to extend that far.. we'd just like to put some decking over it ...)

Dm unexpectedly uncovered one when she had a shed demolished. The cover was broken but even then it was fine.

It should never smell.
If you deck over it, you will need to make some form of access to it. (You won't want to take up decking if your sewer is blocked!)

I've got one in my back garden. Theres a pipe down the bottom I think.

I was told I wasn't allowed to cover it because it has to remain accessible.

We have one ( I was also a little surprised as first but it turns out it is perfectly normal).

As others have said, if you cover it make sure you will still have access. Google recessed manhole cover - that’s what we used when we laid the patio ‘on top’ of it. Not sure if the solution for decking is exactly the same or similar but I’m sure you’ll be able to do something similar.

It could be the surface water drainage system. The plan in the deeds of the house will show exactly what it is. You could ask the owner or their solicitor or the Land Registry to view the deeds.

If you had decking you would have to have some sort of trap door to give access to it.
Other ideas for camouflage are a large planter, shrubs around it, a raised rockery or border around it….there are lots of possibilities.

It's quite common to have at least one manhole on a property. It's nothing to worry about.

It could be sewage, drainage or it could be venting of radon gas (very unlikely!)
But you do need to find out. Get your solicitor to check.

Access to the underground beavers who live like humans, eat Pret sandwiches and drink cappuccino’s from Starbucks

We have a square manhole in our back garden which covers the sewer pipe from all the local houses. The sewer pipe became blocked by tree roots 100s of yards away and the water board had to access it several times before it was finally resolved. I was amazed at how deep the sewer pipe was. No problems since.

Forgot to say that, even with the sewerage problems we never had smelly problems.

I definitely agree about making sure you have easy access to the manhole. A friend of mine built a conservatory over the manhole in her garden. New neighbours twice blocked the sewer, so she had to have the floor up twice.

No smell from the manhole that she mentioned, though, and no more problems since the neighbours have moved away.

If you are (or anyone else is) wondering about the possibility of radon gas, there are maps here.

Our old house had this- but closer to the house and almost at the back door!

Like others have said, (in our case), one massive pipe along the back of everyones homes, and it collected more and more sewerage the further down the road you go. Our house was the end of terrace- at the bottom of the street!

We had a conservatory put on the back and all along, were advised that it could be built over the manhole cover, as long as an access door is put inside the conservatory.

We ended up paying out £8000 for a sewer diversion! The water company told us that even decking over that manhole was illegal- unless they granted permission and and easily accessed by a door.

Depending how far from the man house your man hole is, and assuming it is indeed the whole neighbours sewerage, think hard about whether you'd even want to extend the house!!! Different rules if its only the sewer from your own home.

We have this in ours, access to sewer drain for the whole role. We turfed over it so it's been no bother...

You need to have access to it in case there are any blockages.

I used to have one. We got a special cover for it that you could put patio slabs into it so you could only see the edge (ours was rectangular though). It never smelt but one day the council did just let themselves into our garden when one of our neighbours had a blockage (they are not supposed to do that!).

I have 4 in my tomy garden 3 are inspection chambers and one main sewer one , we have covered over with patoo slabs ( special ones so can still get access ) as you have to be able to get access still incase any issue or waterboard need
Its not unusual to have manhole covers in a garden

Access to sewer. Had one once, sometimes overflowed if a blocked system, sewage all over garden. Never again would I buy a house with a manhole. Also makes extensions a nightmare/ impossible

I work in utilities.

The cover should have a label, sometimes just a couple of letters - do you have a better photo or can you recall anything like that?

Water water routes are public records and you can obtain a copy of them which will confirm that’s what it is.

Assuming by the post it’s not in your possession or access yet, but please please don’t open the lid ‘to look’. Any underground void like that can have a build up of gas which can be very dangerous. Some have no or little odour. Some can be explosive. You need a gas detector with you and a proper lifting key if you lift the lid.