Our house was built in 1910 and we are selling it. The buyers want to get
the drains checked out using a cctv thingy and that's fine by me except I
can't locate an access point anywhere.

Where I suspect it *might* be is undernieth paving stones and 2 inches of
sand as laid by the previous owners. (I know this from removing said paving
stones from the garden and discovering the original black bricked path below
it - much nicer tbh).

Without actually digging the whole lot up just to look, is there any way of
determining the direction a drain is taking? To make an educated guess as to
it's location.

Or, could it be possible that there is no access point at all? I have looked
on the neighbours side and they don't have one either.

Thanks
Rich.

"Rich K" wrote in message
k...
Our house was built in 1910 and we are selling it. The buyers want
to get
the drains checked out using a cctv thingy and that's fine by me
except I
can't locate an access point anywhere.

Where I suspect it *might* be is undernieth paving stones and 2
inches of
sand as laid by the previous owners. (I know this from removing said
paving
stones from the garden and discovering the original black bricked
path below
it - much nicer tbh).

Without actually digging the whole lot up just to look, is there any
way of
determining the direction a drain is taking? To make an educated
guess as to
it's location.

Or, could it be possible that there is no access point at all? I
have looked
on the neighbours side and they don't have one either.

Thanks
Rich.




I have a thing (bootsale bargain) that screws onto the end of a set of
drain rods, and transmits a low power radio signal, and the
accompanying tracker follows it, but you still need somewhere to slide
the rod in.

If you know the rough track of the drain and the access point has a
cast iron cover, you might find it with a metal detector.

AWEM

Rich K wrote:
Our house was built in 1910 and we are selling it. The buyers want to get
the drains checked out using a cctv thingy and that's fine by me except I
can't locate an access point anywhere.

Where I suspect it *might* be is undernieth paving stones and 2 inches of
sand as laid by the previous owners. (I know this from removing said paving
stones from the garden and discovering the original black bricked path below
it - much nicer tbh).

Without actually digging the whole lot up just to look, is there any way of
determining the direction a drain is taking? To make an educated guess as to
it's location.

Are there other houses like yours nearby, ie which may have been built
at the same time? If so, might be worth finding out if they know where
*their's* are.

It was quite common back then for houses (esp terraces) to have the main
drain running from the back of the house to the road directly under the
house, with no provision for repair/maintenance, which means it's an
appalling job if ever the drain needs replacing; that may be your
buyer's worry.

On a slightly different tack, what's your buyer going to do if you were
to stop hunting right now, and tell him, "sorry, can't find the access
point". Will he shrug his shoulders and say 'oh well, never mind", or
will he pull out of the purchase? If he *does* end up getting a drains
survey done, bear in mind all they will do (potentially) is use the
findings to leverage a price reduction; it's not going to benefit you.
All I'm saying is, think carefully how badly you want to find the access
point!

David

Rich K wrote:

Where I suspect it *might* be is undernieth paving stones and 2 inches of
sand as laid by the previous owners. (I know this from removing said paving

Use a metal detector to see if there is a manhole cover under there?




--
Cheers,

John.

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"Lobster" wrote in message
...

On a slightly different tack, what's your buyer going to do if you were to
stop hunting right now, and tell him, "sorry, can't find the access
point". Will he shrug his shoulders and say 'oh well, never mind", or
will he pull out of the purchase? If he *does* end up getting a drains
survey done, bear in mind all they will do (potentially) is use the
findings to leverage a price reduction; it's not going to benefit you. All
I'm saying is, think carefully how badly you want to find the access
point!

David

That's a good point. However, I also don't want to give them the idea that
I'm trying to avoid a drain scan!

Rich K wrote:
Our house was built in 1910 and we are selling it. The buyers want to get
the drains checked out using a cctv thingy and that's fine by me except I
can't locate an access point anywhere.


Agree to the survey at their expense (including making good any damage)
and when the survey company can't find the access point you just shrug
your shoulders. They are supposed to be the experts, after all.

MBQ