Extension built without A.J

FortunaMan

My mother had an extension built 2 years ago. It is a small extension at the back of a terraced house. It consists of an extended kitchen and downstairs toilet.

About 6 months ago water started flowing out of the toilet bowl onto the floor. She called a drain company who came to the house that day. The guy couldn't believe there was no access to the sewer line in the form of an access junction. He tried for a few hours to clear the blockage through the toilet bowl and eventually did however he said that he was lucky to get it cleared and without access via an A.J it could become a big problem in the future.

She had an Engineer design and oversee the whole project and he signed off on everything at the end. She has been in contact with both him and the builder and both just blame the other without offering a suitable solution.

Should an A.J have been included and should the engineer have made sure it was installed. We believe there was an existing AJ but they built the extension on top of where it was. Will it be a huge job to put this right?

Gumbo

Would there be access to the sewer line from a neighbors?

Calahonda52

I suspect that the extension was built not just over the AJ but also the sewer pipe passing down all the houses.
It sounds like, that the problem was caused by the head of pressure from the upstairs bathroom in her house, maybe not, just a guess.
As Gumbo suggests, is there one next store, up stream or down stream.

I suspect the sewer will be the old clay pipe stuff so while breaking out a new AJ is possible inside her garden, its a bit trickier.
It might be worth getting a camera down the toilet, or from the neighbours to see the condition of the pipe work.