Outside drain inside utility room

[drainsdrains]

Offer accepted on a terraced house, waiting for dates for surveys. Our only concern with this property is that there appears to be an outside drain inside the utility room. Neither of us have any building knowledge so is there anyone more expert than us who can tell us if this is likely to cause an issue?

I got the pics from the 360 walkthrough online so apologies that it's not more clear!

Ask if they have a combined drains system (normal for older houses). If they don’t or don’t know get a full survey before you buy.

So there’s a boxed in soil pipe running down through the utility? If so then this is pretty common when ground floor extensions have been done. You would want to check that there is good waterproofing around where the soil pipe goes through the utility roof as this is a potential leak spot, and ideally there should be a little hatch somewhere in the boxing in around the pipe to allow you access to the boxed in section.

@drainsdrains- agree with mini pie - we had an interior pipe with a little hatch - it worked out all Ok ( victorian house ) If it works I would not worry

I'm not exactly sure what the issue you're worried about is here, @drainsdrains.

If it's the soil stack being partly within the utility room then our previous house had the soil stack entirely within the house. It had been built that way in the 1960s and had been that way with no problems I know of for sixty years or so.

Our new house has a soil stack which starts outside but enters through the roof of a sig le storey extension, where it's boxed in in the corner of the downstairs loo.

The only downsides I can think of with arrangements where the pipe starts outside and comes in through the roof are the slim possibility you may need to get access to the pipe for maintenance at some point and the risk that the roof could be prone to leaking around the pipe if the detail there hasn't been well thought through. As long as there's no sign of rainwater getting in, I wouldn't worry.

If you need to get the drain rods out to unblock them, how will that work?
I think I' d get a specialist opinion.

Do you mean the downpipe off the roof? If it's been boxed in then you could have leaks without realising and it could mean ripping all that out if it ever needs maintenance or replacing. I'm guessing the utility room is an extension? If so, I'd be a bit worried that they've done it on the cheap to avoid rerouting that pipe and I'd want assurance that they hadn't built over outside drain access points (a build over) which will cause you even more problems if your sewers ever block.

If it’s just a downpipe either the sewage stack or gutter it’s fine. What you need to know is where the manholes are. They can really cause problems if there’s a blockage.

@emmathedilemma

Do you mean the downpipe off the roof? If it's been boxed in then you could have leaks without realising and it could mean ripping all that out if it ever needs maintenance or replacing. I'm guessing the utility room is an extension? If so, I'd be a bit worried that they've done it on the cheap to avoid rerouting that pipe and I'd want assurance that they hadn't built over outside drain access points (a build over) which will cause you even more problems if your sewers ever block.

It's not "doing it on the cheap" in our case. Unless we wanted to completely reconfigure the upstairs to more two bathrooms, or have some ugly and blockage-prone six metre run of waste pupe running near-horizontal, the soil stack has to be where it is.

It wasn't done on the cheap in our old house either - in that case the developers would have actively chosen (and paid more) to fit the soil stack internally to keep the outside walls clear for the look of it.

Unless there's something more at issue than is evident from the OP, I can't see anything to be concerned about here.

Thanks for the reassurance everyone! Will be checking the building reg certificates but as everyone says, doesn't seem to be a major issue. We may be able to move the pipework in time.