manhole in house

Yellow_Fern

Hi all,
I have a manhole in a late 1970s council built house. It is in a kitchen. Is there anyway this can be moved and it complicated or expensive to do so?

Calahonda52

where is the next one, front and back

endacl

'Manhole', or 'escape hatch'...?

Yellow_Fern

endacl wrote: »

'Manhole', or 'escape hatch'...?

Id love souterrain escape hatch in my kitchen, this one is a bit wet.

banie01

endacl wrote: »

'Manhole', or 'escape hatch'...?

Batcave access!

banie01

On a serious note tho, it very much depends on where the adjacent access points to the pipe itself are.
If you have alternate access it could well be possible to get rid permanently.

I'd assume a plumber could advise but their may be maps and access issues that could require other professionals to advise.

Hagimalone

I presume its a foul mh, what's going into it? Has it ever blocked, which direction is it going, front or back? How deep is it?

Yellow_Fern

Hagimalone wrote: »

I presume its a foul mh, what's going into it? Has it ever blocked, which direction is it going, front or back? How deep is it?

Sewage of sorts. It leaked years back and it was very disruptive.

Metric Tensor

A manhole is almost always built on a pipe that's coming from somewhere and going to somewhere. You need to figure out what pipes are coming into it and what ones are going out and see if these can be re-routed.

My guess is that it would be expensive or very difficult because if it was simple to reroute the sewers then the manhole wouldn't have been built inside your kitchen in the first place.

Yellow_Fern

I managed to get a picture. Its not really a manhole. Not sure how to describe it. [IMG][/img]

Gumbo

Looks to be the original soil stack.
Is this an extended part of the house?

monstermag

Gumbo wrote: »

Looks to be the original soil stack.
Is this an extended part of the house?

The good news is it's not a manhole, it's a 4 inch waving pipe leading to a waste access junction outside (WAJ). Open up your aj's outside then run some water from your problem pipe inside and pinpoint where your access aj is. If either of the walls pictured are backing on to exterior walls you could be lucky and find your aj somewhere very close to that 4 inch pipe and then you could simply redirect waste out through the wall, but l suspect the 4 inch pioe is running beneath the kitchen floor the opposite side of your appliances. Either way I think just new pipe work would do, I never seen a soil trap like that inside. Strip that out put new pipe work in with p traps. You could probably tidy that up for around €20.
I'm not a plumber but have done some bits and pieces in my own house. Hope this helps.

Metric Tensor

Hard to tell from the picture but that could be what's known as a stub stack with an air admittance valve at the top of it.

If you go to modify/replace the set up pay close attention to how the sewers in that area are vented.

Yellow_Fern

monstermag wrote: »

The good news is it's not a manhole, it's a 4 inch waving pipe leading to a waste access junction outside (WAJ). Open up your aj's outside then run some water from your problem pipe inside and pinpoint where your access aj is. If either of the walls pictured are backing on to exterior walls you could be lucky and find your aj somewhere very close to that 4 inch pipe and then you could simply redirect waste out through the wall, but l suspect the 4 inch pioe is running beneath the kitchen floor the opposite side of your appliances. Either way I think just new pipe work would do, I never seen a soil trap like that inside. Strip that out put new pipe work in with p traps. You could probably tidy that up for around €20.
I'm not a plumber but have done some bits and pieces in my own house. Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot. This pipe is in the corner of the front wall. So the party wall is on the left. Its from about 1981 I think. If I do this course of action would it create more space?

monstermag

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Thanks a lot. This pipe is in the corner of the front wall. So the party wall is on the left. Its from about 1981 I think. If I do this course of action would it create more space?

I assume it's going out under your front wall down your driveway and into the main public sewer..it's a front external wall so you can't really have any pipe work there, it would look terrible. Looks like there's a sink, dishwasher and maybe washing machine going into it and possibly downstairs toilet. So it's there for a reason, l would stick with it but just redo it with new stub stack/air admittance valve. Keep the two inlet pipes and copper pipes tighter to the wall so they can fit neatly behind appliances. As l said the good news is it's not a manhole, that would be madness having one inside, l was scratching my head when l read that. I don't think it's bad workmanship either, it just needs upgrading.

Yellow_Fern

Gumbo wrote: »

Looks to be the original soil stack.
Is this an extended part of the house?

No, part of the original kitchen. There has been no extensions. It is a terrace in Cork.

Yellow_Fern

monstermag wrote: »

I assume it's going out under your front wall down your driveway and into the main public sewer..it's a front external wall so you can't really have any pipe work there, it would look terrible. Looks like there's a sink, dishwasher and maybe washing machine going into it and possibly downstairs toilet. So it's there for a reason, l would stick with it but just redo it with new stub stack/air admittance valve. Keep the two inlet pipes and copper pipes tighter to the wall so they can fit neatly behind appliances. As l said the good news is it's not a manhole, that would be madness having one inside, l was scratching my head when l read that. I don't think it's bad workmanship either, it just needs upgrading.

Thanks. It is incredible appreciated. Once it leaked and it leaked sewage. I guess 30 years ago. We were afraif of that ever happening again. BTW why does it need upgrading?

monstermag

Yellow_Fern wrote: »

Thanks. It is incredible appreciated. Once it leaked and it leaked sewage. I guess 30 years ago. We were afraif of that ever happening again. BTW why does it need upgrading?

I only suggested upgrading it because I thought it would free up a little space for you, but if it's not giving you any trouble I. e no smells no leaks, it should be grand as it is. One leak in 30 years is not a bad return albeit the worst kind "sewage" that could have been under unique circumstances and might never happen again. If it does start smelling in the future it could simply be because the seals may have perished due to old age and then an upgrade could be necessary.