The most important thing that you have to care about while undertaking any DIY plumbing, soakaways and sewage work are the Local Authority regulations which they actively monitor.

If you are considering altering your existing drainage, or installing a new soakaways system you will almost certainly need to present some detailed plans of the work that you intend to undertake and it will need to be inspected as the work progresses making sure that it complies with the local building rules. In many situations when you are simply replacing damaged parts, there is no need for the local authority to be advised.

Whatever water we see on the surface around your home is usually rain water. In older properties this can discharged into a foul water drainage system whereas in other properties this can discharged into soakaways, watercourses or a surface water sewer. If gully traps are fixed at the junction of the rainwater pipe and the waste water drain, foul odour can be controlled. However, modern systems are designed to keep the foul water and the surface water apart. It’s absolutely crucial that you keep the dirty water drainage system apart from the one for surface water. If you are unsure about the drainage system around your house get advice from the Building Control Department before you start any work.

If you see water bubbling up in your garden it is probable from the garden soakaways and not the sewers.  The soakaways can take rainwater from the gutters and sometimes they fill up if there have been long periods of heavy rain..

Before starting your work, finalise the routes the waste pipes would take. The main things to consider when planning the route of a waste or soil pipe are to keep the route as straight and short as you can. Steep pipes should be avoided during the path design. Use the surveyor’s site level to calculate the drain fall over the complete system. Or just fill a transparent hosepipe with water and use the water level at the two ends to mark the required fall from the starting point.

Don’t compromise the stability of the home when installing the drainage ditch. You have to make sure that no house foundation is undermined if you are laying a drain pipe running parallel to the building.

Try to leave as short a time as possible between digging the ditch and installing the drainage system as an empty ditch represents a risk with the potential for a sidewall collapse. Get the pipes laid quickly and, as soon as they have been tested, fill the trench back in.

The ditch may need to be supported depending on the depth and soil conditions. It is no advisable to not take any risks. It is better to provide support to the ditch walls than allowing the ditch to collapse. Keep the ditch as narrow as possible, but allow room to work in the trench. Protruding stones or bricks should not be left in the base and it should be cleaned to provide a smooth, regular surface. You may need to import a suitable material for the base of the trench if the existing material is unsuitable.

Bricks and/or any other sturdy material should never be used to prop up the pipe in the trench. This will damage the pipe and must never be used as temporary or permanent support. For accommodation of the joints in the pipes,the bedding should be compacted in a regular way with hollows made a appropriate points. A good guideline is that support should be provided for the entire length of the pipe.

An important criteria for pipe layout is that you should be able to access any point with a drain rod to clear blockages. Therefore, a run of drains should be as straight as possible between two points. As a rule of thumb, a directional change in the pipework must have an inspection chamber for rodding access as drain rods do no go around corners.

Following this guide you can see that DIY soakaways creation, plumbing and drainage can be delivered by conscientious DIY enthusiasts.

Installing soakaways?, do this 1st to avaid drainage problems.

Before carrying through any DIY plumbing and drainage or extensive soakaways development, you should first take into consideration the rules issued by your Local Authority.

If you are changing your current sewage, or installing a new system, you will most definitely be asked to show detailed plans of the implementation that you have in mind and it will need to be overseen as the work moves forward to ensure that it is compliant with local building rules. In many situations when you are simply replacing broken parts, there is no need for the local authority to be informed. This may be the case with a small set of garden soakaways.

The water which you see on the surface is basically rainwater. This can discharged into the soakaways, watercourse, surface water sewer or, particularly in older properties, into the foul water sewage system. To stop any nasty odours emanating from the drains a combined system will discharge the surface water into the foul water drains by way of the gully traps. However with the new sewage systems, the foul and the surface water can be kept apart. Soakaways deal with excess surface water in the garden. Foul water should never be connected to surface water sewage system with any new drainage development you undertake. The Building Regulation Department will be able to guide you on any details or procedures you may require for repairs or replacement of your sewage.

Before you begin, you will need to plan the route of the waste pipes. The route should be as short and straight as possible, this will help to reduce future maintenance problems and costs. Steep pipes should be averted during the path design. A surveyor’ site level should be used to work out the fall of a drain. By establishing a datum point and using a hosepipe filled with water to establish levels you can calculate the fall from the datum in a situation when do not have one of these measures available.

The stability of the existing building is of prime importance it should be not compromised while the drain pipe ditch is being installed so check you are not impacting on the existing structure and avoid any existing soakaways.. Keep the drain pipe excavation at a uniformly safe distance from the building face to avoid damage to the foundation.

Try to leave as short a time as possible between digging the ditch and installing the drainage system as an empty ditch represents a danger with the potential for a sidewall collapse. Make sure that you get the pipes laid as quickly as possible and then backfill the trench as soon as the system has been inspected and tested.

Be wary of the depth and soil conditions and if necessary add extra support to the ditch. It is advisable to take proper precautions. Be on the safe side and secure the sides of such risky trenches by propping with sheets or boards. Keep the trench as narrow as you can but of course make sure that there is enough room to work in the ditch including any plan, machinery or tools you require. The base of the trench should be clean and even and free from protruding stones or bricks etc. You may need to import a suitable material for the base of the ditch if the existing material is unsuitable.

Bricks and/or any other sturdy material should never be used to prop up the pipe in the ditch. In fact they should be never used as support as they can damage the pipe as they will focus pressure into a small area. For accommodation of the joints in the pipes,the bedding should be compacted in a regular way with hollows made a appropriate points. A comprehensive support should be used for the whole of the pipe.

An important criteria for pipe layout is that you should be able to access any point with a drain rod to clear blockages. So that is why a run of drains should be as straight as possible between two points or inspection chambers. Inspection chambers have to be provided at any abrupt changes of direction or level, so that drain rods can be inserted easily.

If you follow this guidance, drainage and basic DIY home and garden plumbing can be within the range of the most DIY enthusiasts. You might even be confident enough of expanding that old set of soakaways in the garden.

Tips to solve that obstructed waste pipes problem

What are some of the best remedies to open blocked drainage of your bathroom? The typical plunger is easiest and speediest solution. Using a plunger is very simple if you know how. The plunger will not work if you vigorously push it up and down very but not like a pneumatic drill. Place the cup of the plunger exactly over the drain and push it downwards and upwards with short sharp movements that generate suction within the drain and pipe. The suction created when the plunger is pulled up will hopefully dislodge the material clogging the toilet, tub or sink in your bathroom. Note that some tubs and sinks are fitted with overspill holes that must be closed with a sponge or wet towel before proceeding with the plunger.

You could use a waste pipes clearance chemical that is designed to break down the material instead of the more conventional plunger. The chemicals are normally applied only after an unsuccessful attempt to remove the clog using a plunger. Let the chemicals stay in the drainpipe for some time and then wash them out with hot water, do this slowly to ensure that the water is flowing away. Wear proper clothes while dealing with chemicals, remember the strong chemicals can spill on your clothes and spoil them so be careful with that. Putting on eye cover will be a good idea if you intend to plunge again and prevent the splattering of left over chemicals into your eye. Just be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions to avoid any unnecessary issues.

The next thing you can attempt to use if your plunger is unproductive is to loosen the nuts holding the P-trap in place with pliers or a pipe wrench. You should have a bucket and a towel handy as this can be a really dirty job. If you dont want to destroy the chrome finish of your pipes, then wrap the jaws of the pipe wrench with the electric tape; this will also help you to get a better grip. Once the P-trap is removed, check the trap for any solid materials obstructing the pipe opening. If, however you cannot find any solid materials the problem is probably harder to get to, between the trap and the soil stack deep in the waste pipes pipework.

In case of a clogged up toilet, you can apply a toilet auger. However a plumbers drain pipe snake is more suitable for bath tub or kitchen sink waste pipes. drainage snakes are designed to reach deep down into the far reaches of your narrow pipes. By turning the handle to dig into the blockage, you can bring the clog up and away from the drain. The P-trap should be reconnected once the obstruction is cleared, slowly flush the drainage with hot water to confirm that there is no obstruction and that there are no leaks. Make certain the whole thing is tightly closed and check for any leakage in the P-trap and ensure that the water flows well.

If all the above enlisted methods fail to unclog your bathroom drain pipe, then you should call a professional drainage contractor. Professional plumbers can identify and solve serious problems like aged pipes caving in, tree root invasion, blocked sewer line or soil stack; these should not be attempted by the homeowner as you will not have the right tools to solve the problem.

Clogged drains pipes can cause your blood to seethe

You are standing under the shower for a relaxing time, and all of sudden you realize that water is rising around your feet. How disgusting! the drain is clogged up . What about that wet sinking feeling when you are brushing your teeth at the washbasin on a lousy Monday morning and the filled sink just refuses to drainpipe!. Plugged drains are not only a major nuisance for household work; they are also unhygienic health hazards. Yet many residential bathrooms or kitchen will suffer from a clogged drainpipe incident at one particular point or another. The most preferred approach is to prepare ahead of time for such a predicament by educating oneself on how to fix bathroom drainage when the drain pipes become clogged.

Why do drains get choked, what is the underlying cause?.

Blocked drainage can result from trapped solid objects such as hair, dust and particles between your bathroom drain pipe and the attached pipes. The problem gets worse when the particle build up is cemented together by the residues of detergents and cleansing cosmetic items. When the offending mass becomes too dense to allow any water to flow through freely, the problem is identified as a blocked drain pipe. If the water has started building up quickly in your tub or sink, then without delay you should unblock the drain.

Some effective ways to unblock your bathroom drain are listed below.

If you’re facing a plugged bathroom sink or bath drain problem, there are a couple of different things you can do to get things running smoothly again. The first thing that you need to do is to remove the plug of your sink or bath drain. With a bathroom sink this can be as easy as pulling it right out or as complicated a problem as looking under the sink and removing the nut that holds it in place. With your bath tub, you can either unscrew the plug right at the drain or removing the overflow plate to remove the assembly.

It is important to remove the plug because only then you can view the things that are clogging the drainpipe inside the drainage pipe. It is very likely to look like a small mass of hair and debris wrapped around the drain pipe’s hardware. Reach down into the pipe and pull out as much as possible. If the debris is further down than your hand can reach, push in a bent wire or coat hanger and coax the clumps out. Removing the hair, detergent residues and the rest of the material will surely solve your problem.

In a case of deeper clogging, your hand or hooked wire may not do the trick – you may have to try the next step. A plunger will be helpful next step in removing clogs that are out of the reach of your hand. To begin with, you should plug the overflow drain pipe to make sure that the plunger has optimum suction. Now, place the plunger straight away on the opening of the drain pipe,and thump it up and down a number of times. When you let go of the plunger, any excess water should flow out right away if you have dislodged the blockage.

Even the plunger may not clear the most dense and hardened matter inside your plumbing – that’s when you will have to deploy a chemical drainpipe clearing product. This method should only be used as a last resort because the chemicals used are dangerous and can be harmful to your bathroom fixtures.

Call a professional plumber if all else fails.

If the above methods fail to solve your clogged up drainpipe problem then you may have to contact a plumber. Plumbers have special equipment to clean the blocked drainage speedily and effortlessly such as a drains snake, drainage contractors also employ water jetting to clear blockages and cctv drains cameras to view inside the drain. Calling in a plumber does cost money, but you can then rest assured that your drains are completely cleared and will not hassle you in the near future, a good plumber will also clean up any mess created as a bonus.