Dodgy basement plumbing! Help...

[tims67]

Hi, I'm new to the site and am about as handy as a dead goat!

We have renovated a lovely 4 storey victorian house in surrey over past few years, all the work has been done by local tradespeople. On the whole I am delighted with the result.

BUT, in our lower ground floor, [which at front of house is below ground and at back at ground level], I am concerned our builder has taken a short cut which is now causing me a problem.

He installed a wetroom in the middle of the floor, this has a shower, toilet an sink. Ever since we have had this work done we get the odd really bad smell on the floor above, at first I thought something had died in between our floorboards but no it seems to be durgo valve that opens from time to time, which he has installed as the level of the wetroom is below ground. I know that durgo's should not do that, so is it broken or simply incorrectly fitted?

The reason for the concern is that at the front of the house we have a small patio below ground level, this has an acco drain which empties rainwater into a waste that runs the entire length of the house to a sewer at back. I know this is wrong as this is rainwater running into the sewer system. This pipe also picks ups the waste of the wetroom and the kitchen before going into the same sewer.

My question is could the fact that the durgo is not working properly be down to the fact that the toilet waste is connected to the outside world via the patio drain or does this not make a difference and therefore the durgo is simply broken? As the vent is boxed in I was trying to avoid ripping up too many floorboards from floor above or take down the boxing.

If this is incorrectly fitted, can I extend the interior vent pipe that currently has the durgo on it so it runs inbetween the ceiling joists [i.e a 90 deg turn & 12ft run] and outside and then into a conventional stack outside? This seems the easiest solution but not sure what further building regs i would be breaking and indeed whether it would work.

I've asked several plumbers to look but they seem to be more adept at fitting bathroom suites rather than fixing problem and therefore need a greater level of expertise.

I'm hoping someone might be able to enlighten me, thank you for your time.

Best wishes

Tim

 

[PuraTherm]

Sounds like you do have an open vent in the wall. It could be a failure of the durgo or it could be that a vent was incorrectly fitted. The intent of venting is to balance the air in the sewer system. The automatic vents don't do that. If you can run the vent to the outside then I suggest you do it. The distance and the bend is fine. When you run the vent try to keep it graded back to the drain. Flat is ok but try to keep it graded. This will help the air move through the system. As for the storm drain connection. Your biggest problem is going to be if the drains get clogged or slow them the rain water could come back into the house. You should have had a backwater valve fitted when the drains were accessable. To fit one now would reqiure some serious work. Just keep you drains maintained and you should be fine.

 

[tims67]

Thanks, this has given me some real comfort, sounds like outside venting is best and the exit in the wall must be higher than the top of the current top of the internal vent pipe, which is easily done. As the house is very tall, it will have to be three stories high to clear roof line, can I use a rainwater downpipe [std diameter] that is already in place, or do they need to be kept separate? Your point on the storm drain is well made, we had a flood a few months back, rainwater mixed with something else, not nice!

Thanks again.

 

[PuraTherm]

You want to keep the vent seprate from the down pipe but can use the same material so that it looks like a down pipe. Not the best practice but astheticly it will look better. Good luck mate hope all gose well for you.