Why is it so important to book a drain survey prior to completing a property purchase? A standard house survey will not usually look at the drains of a property. However, problems with the drains can quickly cost thousands of pounds to put right.
Who Owns Which Section of Drain
Drainage responsibility changes at the point where your drain (run) joins a shared drain or a public sewer. This joint point can be difficult to locate and it is vital to establish where the problem lies when something does go wrong with your new property drainage system.
Whether the Property Connects Correctly
Older houses can have problems with the way that the drains connect to the sewers. In the past, some people have even diverted their drains off somewhere else in their garden without telling anyone. If you are buying a property, it is worth commissioning a CCTV Drain Survey before you exchange contracts in order to find out if there are any problems with the way that the drains connect.
Structural Condition Along the Run
The environmental condition also details any structural damage along the length of the drain and specifically any sags, cracks or displaced joints within the drain. A sag in a drain can cause problems as waste will block in the sag on a regular basis. In addition displaced joints allow groundwater to enter the drain which can cause a drain to collapse quickly.
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Root Ingress at Junctions
The surveyor will check for signs of root ingress into the drainage system. This will normally occur at the joints between individual sections of drain. The sign of active root growth will be shown as a mass of feathery white growth. Older instances of root ingress will appear as a compact, dark mass in the pipe.
Drainage Under a Planned Extension
The Drain Survey for a Proposed Extension / Building. Your drainage will run underneath where you intend to build your extension or new outbuilding. Will any of your new drainage run underneath the footprint of your new extension / outbuilding? How easy would it be to build over the top of your drainage?
Drain Surveys are easier to obtain before you complete a property.