Right, question to the masses, as we’re starting to enter a phase of threats with the house builder now!
We bought a brand new build, our down stairs toilet got blocked (4-6wks in). They came cleared it, I moaned at the kids for jamming it with bog roll!
4-6wks later, happens again, I clear it this time still a little annoyed.
Then it happened 2 months later, this time I call say this cannot be right, the then dig up the “pipe junction” (no idea the technical term), after putting a camera down saying they think it is positioned wrong.
about 6-8 wks ago it happened again, out they come camera again, blame us for over bog rolling. Note this is now 4th blockage.
I get home last night for the wife to tell me it has happened AGAIN! this is now the 5 times in 10 months. This has to be wrong!
13yrs in my old place and it blocked once, so 5 times in 10 months for a new build something has to be wrong, right?
I have cleared this out a few times myself and nothing other than what you would expect to see coming out, so am I just unlucky and continue to blame the kids (not that I am, but you get the idea) or should I start threatening them?
It’s a new build. If put my money on it being built wrong.
A friend bought a new build a few years back. Similar issues to you with toilets blocking and sinks backing up through the plughole. Turned out they’d managed to instsll a load of the waste water pipework running uphill rather than downhill. Took quite a bit of work to get it sorted!!
Aren’t you covered by the 10 year builders warranty if it’s new build or is that purely brick and mortar?
I’d get an independent inspection to refute their claim and then add it onto any compensation claim if you’re right, can’t imagine it will be extortionately priced
This… If they won’t budge, you’ll probably need to shell out on someone independent to identify issue and try and claim. Or could your insurers claim against builders?
Our block of flats is ‘relatively new’ (2002)… Turns out on all flats they forgot to connect extractor fan to the actual pipe… although our electrician suggested it was because of how they built it, they put beams that made connecting it a faff with the holes they had cut so didn’t bother. So it was extracting into the ceiling (or space between ceilings and floor above floor)
Bear in mind people lived here (incl us) for 20yrs before anyone picked it up. It was only because the extractor fans broke that we realised.
That doesnt sound right at all. So the the kids became overnight loo roll enthusiasts? I’d keep pushing under the terms of the warranty.
As for new builds. My brothers 2015 new build flat flooded and destroyed the flat below. When they inspected the pipes someone had fudged a joint where the pipes didn’t align. It eventually failed. They were able to claim on insurance and the flat below too but it was a lot of inconvenience.
Drains should be self cleaning and never block. Access points are for very occasional use, exceptional circumstances. The use of wet wipes and certain brands of bog roll can cause issues but shouldn’t.
If drains are laid to the correct gradient and adhere to good practice then they should give no trouble.
You need them to camera survey the pipes, do a level survey and confirm which inspector viewed the pipes before back filling (and when). Drains are a notifiable inspection.
If they haven’t been laid properly then they will have to be dug up and done again.
I have heard of large construction jobs being signed off as compliant by big name insurers (Zurich, I think it was) with out having ever been on site.
Hi, They have put a camera in twice now, the first one they decided to reposition the above. The second time I literally heard nothing back even after chasing.
if the have done a camera survey ask for a copy of the footage , that way it will prove if its bog roll or not. bends & a shallow falls wont help
on the flip side you will have a dual flush toilet & they can be problematic, make sure your kids understand when they need to use a short flush or a long flush
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well the simple way to sanity check that this is not normal: would you say your toilet roll consumption has increased? Of course the answer is no (wfh pandemic aside), so it’s a problem with the plumbing
As HBG says, wet wipes can cause issues. I had a girlfriend who insisted on putting her make up wet wipes and cottons pads down the toilet even though I provided a bin. I asked her again and again and again to stop doing it but she said “well mine has never blocked”. Yes but you live in a London house that has been converted to flats with Victorian plumbing. Top floor as well so even if it had blocked she’d have not been affected. Twice I had to get my whole street rodded, adds up. Never happened again after I ditched her! Probably not relevant to your case but it does highlight that things that might be gotten away with in one area can’t in a newer build area. That said, it’s highly improvable that this is your fault. How many other issues have you had with your property?
We have 100% not, I’ve cleaned this out on more than one occasion myself so I can say for certainty other that what comes out the body and bog roll was all that was down there.
The last time the camered it, I was planning on wfh but they just turned up while I was not there and fobbed my wife off.
I’ve basically said this is the last opportunity for this to be amicably resolved, next step will be me getting an independent survey then taking it from there.
I knew this was not right but just wanted to sanity check really.
If you go down that route don’t expect them to be great to deal with.
An old neighbour of mine tried going through them for a leaking roof but got fobbed off. His wife called them back again, within an hour of the original call, and they offered them £4k cash to get it fixed without any need for assessing or quotes!
Moral of the story is if you use them, be persistent
Also, speaking to a good friend about the NHBC, as far as I understand is they are about as useful as a chocolate teapot. He had an issue with a house he was having redone, cannot remember the ins and outs but needless to say NHBC had signed this build off and it was actually far from code but they are untouchable more or less so I do question the validity of them.
That was NHBC.
Our old place was on a Charles Church development, they’re part of Persimmon. From speaking to neighbours who dealt with them it seems they weren’t much better than NHBC!
Incompetence seems to be a common theme amongst the companies involved in house building!
Relevant and possibly helpful.
My parents are in a 70’s council house. Forever the two toilets have been short push for small flush, long push for large flush.
Downstairs cistern was replaced with one that’s the opposite way round for some fucking unknown reason.
Yep there is no logic to dual buttons, push durations for whether it is a short or long flush. The toilets at work had a large button for a short flush and a small button for a long flush, to encourage water savings.
Never thought I’d be commenting on flushing mechanisms but I seem to remember ours at work had a small one and a big one, but to do a proper flush you had to press both at the same time. Pushing either small or big just released water for as long as you pressed it…
