Buying your first or new home can be quite a stressful experience to say the least. We all know there are many factors that need to be looked at pre-purchase and most are critical.
We remember the mortgage as we need to know we can buy the property and we can afford it, we remember the building survey and the survey for any services that could run through our property.
What we fail to remember that we need to dispose of the sewage and, grey water and rainwater. Drains are extremely important to our lives and if they go wrong can be very expensive. How would you know if the property you are buying has drains that are in good condition?
Our Home buyers Drainage surveys will do this for you. We will survey the whole drainage systems to check the condition and how well it is working. Being a drainage specialist and with a team that of Engineers that have been in the drainage industry dealing with Mains and Off Mains drainage.
There are three parts to our Surveys and we will guide you through these:
- The drainage survey is where we will jet clean the drains so we can obtain a much clearer inspection. The inspection is carried out using high tech drain CCTV systems. While we are carrying out the CCTV we will also be noting where the drains run and in what direction and taking other information to build your end report.
- The second part is to find where the drains discharge to. Drains discharge to many different points and we need to check if they are working ok and are to the binding rules for Off Mains. These could any of the following:
- Mains Network– Owned by the Sewage Undertaker (Not always the water supplier)
- Cess pit or Cess pool – close and sealed tank which you will need to empty regularly.
- Septic tank – a sealed tank which separates the solids from the liquid (called settled sewage) and this liquid passes to a drainage field to secondary treatment which will percolate into the ground.
- Package Treatment Plant – this is a living system; it is the same as larger sewage works you may see near towns or in villages but very much scaled down. They need to be maintained and most will discharge to a watercourse. The Environment Agency allow these discharges but there is a consent to which they must be within. If they fail, you can be find for a pollution. These PTP also discharge to soakaways and drainage mounds where there is no watercourse around or you could be in an area where the EA do not want any discharges.
- Pump Station – these are mechanical lifts to transport the sewage to a gravity drain. These could be connected to the mains (most are) or could be used to discharge to a septic tank, PTP or cess pool. Pumps are used when drains are too deep to that they cannot be connected using gravity flow.
- Reports – we will send you our findings along with a drawing that is basic and simple. The drawing will not be complicated and as you read the report you can reference the any items to the drawing. A lot of companies use other systems which can be confusing, and you have to scroll through the pages to find the information. We do it simple so you can understand quickly. We will highlight any issues in three levels which will be one of the following: Red, Amber & Green. Red will be serious and Green minor.
Quotes/Estimates for any remedial works will also be part of this package. We will only price for works we feel are coded Red/Amber so you can see what will be required but this also gives you the costs to fix and if you have the budget to fix or may asked the seller for a discount or for them to complete the works.