jamesemails-silver
New Member
Hi,
Just wondering whether anyone has come across this before and/or can offer an explanation.
My bath and basin have drained very slowly ever since I bought the new-build house almost 30 years ago and it has often got worse and been restored to its normal poor condition with chemical cleaners. I had Dynorod out twice with no improvement. The pipe goes through a tight double bend to get round a beam just before it goes into the stack which meant it poked out into the room below and was boxed in - obviously as an afterthought by the builders. I finally found the nerve to cut down the box, cut the last bend off the pipe and have a look inside. [A snake went down most of the pipe so I was sure the problem must be at these bends.] The pipe at the curve was surprisingly clean but it was almost completely blocked in the last few centimetres where it joined the stack - just a tiny slot near the top maybe 12x4mm and surprisingly neatly symmetrical and horizontal remained open, though either the block was porous or there was another hole I couldn't see as, fortunately, there was no pool of water in the pipe. The stuff blocking the pipe looked a lot like the material a breeze block is made of; dark grey and granular, but definitely not part of an actual block, and was very hard - I had to use a hacksaw blade to cut into it before I could break it apart. I remember when I first took the basin trap off I found a number of similar grey granules in it, which makes me think it's something the builders dumped down the basin, but why would it build up where it did? Surprisingly, there was no sign of any hair or anything else you might expect to be blocking a bathroom drain, and surely if the blockage built up over time it would have trapped some hairs, unless the drain cleaner removed all trace of them.
But why/how would it build up where it did? I'd have thought it would be the last place a blockage would occur. I suppose it could build up over time if there had been a lip there to start with and sediment was added a tiny bit at a time, like a stalacmite, but I'm sure I've never put anything down the drain that was remotely like this material, and certainly not regularly. Could it be toothpaste? That's really all I can think has been put down there. Or was it a disgruntled builder/plumber when it was first put in, like the coins behind dashboards of cars built on a Friday afternoon? Obviously that was the last time anyone saw this end of the pipe. To be fair though, I think it must have got worse over the decades as I'd surely have queried it with the builders if it had been so slow when new, though it's hard to remember that far back. [There were some fab bits of work on the house, like the canopy over a projecting window that stopped the window opening more than half an inch! The foreman knew about it but still signed it off.]
Anyway, any ideas?
Cheers.
View attachment 40525
Another question... One time I used a lot of drain cleaner down this pipe an ivy growing on the wall outside died very shortly afterwards. Have you come across underground ivy roots getting into plastic pipes? (I've had roots in clay pipes before.) I'd have thought it unlikely but I can't think why else the ivy should die so quickly? There is some glugging from a long way down the pipework as the water drains - after it had cleared the blockage inside the building. Actually, if the WC really does drain into the stack then if there were any blockage a bit further down the pipe I'd imagine there might be a telltale smell. The vent at the top of the stack is fresh as a daisy.
Cheers again.
Just wondering whether anyone has come across this before and/or can offer an explanation.
My bath and basin have drained very slowly ever since I bought the new-build house almost 30 years ago and it has often got worse and been restored to its normal poor condition with chemical cleaners. I had Dynorod out twice with no improvement. The pipe goes through a tight double bend to get round a beam just before it goes into the stack which meant it poked out into the room below and was boxed in - obviously as an afterthought by the builders. I finally found the nerve to cut down the box, cut the last bend off the pipe and have a look inside. [A snake went down most of the pipe so I was sure the problem must be at these bends.] The pipe at the curve was surprisingly clean but it was almost completely blocked in the last few centimetres where it joined the stack - just a tiny slot near the top maybe 12x4mm and surprisingly neatly symmetrical and horizontal remained open, though either the block was porous or there was another hole I couldn't see as, fortunately, there was no pool of water in the pipe. The stuff blocking the pipe looked a lot like the material a breeze block is made of; dark grey and granular, but definitely not part of an actual block, and was very hard - I had to use a hacksaw blade to cut into it before I could break it apart. I remember when I first took the basin trap off I found a number of similar grey granules in it, which makes me think it's something the builders dumped down the basin, but why would it build up where it did? Surprisingly, there was no sign of any hair or anything else you might expect to be blocking a bathroom drain, and surely if the blockage built up over time it would have trapped some hairs, unless the drain cleaner removed all trace of them.
But why/how would it build up where it did? I'd have thought it would be the last place a blockage would occur. I suppose it could build up over time if there had been a lip there to start with and sediment was added a tiny bit at a time, like a stalacmite, but I'm sure I've never put anything down the drain that was remotely like this material, and certainly not regularly. Could it be toothpaste? That's really all I can think has been put down there. Or was it a disgruntled builder/plumber when it was first put in, like the coins behind dashboards of cars built on a Friday afternoon? Obviously that was the last time anyone saw this end of the pipe. To be fair though, I think it must have got worse over the decades as I'd surely have queried it with the builders if it had been so slow when new, though it's hard to remember that far back. [There were some fab bits of work on the house, like the canopy over a projecting window that stopped the window opening more than half an inch! The foreman knew about it but still signed it off.]
Anyway, any ideas?
Cheers.
View attachment 40525
Another question... One time I used a lot of drain cleaner down this pipe an ivy growing on the wall outside died very shortly afterwards. Have you come across underground ivy roots getting into plastic pipes? (I've had roots in clay pipes before.) I'd have thought it unlikely but I can't think why else the ivy should die so quickly? There is some glugging from a long way down the pipework as the water drains - after it had cleared the blockage inside the building. Actually, if the WC really does drain into the stack then if there were any blockage a bit further down the pipe I'd imagine there might be a telltale smell. The vent at the top of the stack is fresh as a daisy.
Cheers again.
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