Sewage flood in Basement

onthestreet

I am in the process of buying a georgian house in east central Dublin. The basement has been flooded with sewage in the past year. There is a sewage cover inside the basement. It could have been due to the heavy rain in August, when the neighbours had problems. Does anyone have any experience of this? Can the problem be solved or is it always going to be at risk of filling up with the neighbourhood's s*hts, its not a nice thought !!!

Cuddlesworth

onthestreet wrote: »

I am in the process of buying a georgian house in east central Dublin. The basement has been flooded with sewage in the past year. There is a sewage cover inside the basement. It could have been due to the heavy rain in August, when the neighbours had problems. Does anyone have any experience of this? Can the problem be solved or is it always going to be at risk of filling up with the neighbourhood's s*hts, its not a nice thought !!!

If there is a sewage cover inside the basement or at the level of the basement, with the closest other cover being at street level, your basement will always be the first to flood with sewage. And blockages can be really common, especially in areas with "older" plumbing.

kevin37

you need to find out what the pipe layout is. It may be possible to seal or bolt down the manhole cover, You could possibly dig up the manhole and fit a rodding eye which could be un-screwed in the event of a blockage, You could also have a look at the wapro website they do a waback non return valve which would be relatively cheap to fit. (relative to getting flooded).

the_syco

onthestreet wrote: »

I am in the process of buying a georgian house in east central Dublin. The basement has been flooded with sewage in the past year.

First off, check the line that the sewage hits, and then look at what electrics were probably hit below it.

Secondly, check out how many times in the past 20 years it was flooded, and if anyone will insure the house. AFAIK, many sections of Dublin are not insured against flooding.

Thirdly, as said above, check about the sewage lines, and if the manhole is needed anymore. Depending on house age, the need for the pipe may no longer be there, but you should get legal advice before covering it, as otherwise you may be forced (at your own expense) to unblock it at a later stage.

Finally, get a special sewage camera shoved down the drain. As well as waste, another cause for blockages is the collapsing of the concrete pipe roofs. Finding out what fixed last years flood may tell you if it was a permanent fix, or just something to tide over until the next time!

antoinolachtnai

It is possible that it can be fixed. These problems are caused by a combination of factors but different houses have different types of flooding problems and they can often be addressed by repairing drains, installing barriers, installing one way valves or some other measure. But you have to understand the problem.

Another option to mitigate problems might be to have tile flooring and skirting in basement to make any future cleanup easier.

You need advice of a good engineer really.

Things to ask him to find out:

Are you certain it was sewage and not mainly rainwater that came in?

How did it come in? The cover should be sealed and screwed down.

How high did the level rise?

Is the manhole just for this house or does it also serve neighbours?

Could a 'mainline' type one way valve be fitted?

What is the arrangement of the drains?

Are the drains collapsing?