If you’re considering doing any type of extension to your home or you want to build a garage or a conservatory, you’ll need to know where all the drainage pipes are on your property. For this, you need to obtain drainage plans for your home. But, how do you find these?
One of the best places to obtain a current drainage plan is from the local water authority. In many instances, you’ll have to pay a fee to obtain these plans. However, these plans may not show any private drains. Your local council may also be able to provide drainage plans which can be extracted from their archives. A fee may also be applicable for these.
Why You Would Need To Obtain Drainage Plans For Your Property
It’s important for you to know where all the drains are located within your property. This will essentially allow you to locate a broken or blocked drain that may need to be repaired.
Drainage plans are also important when you want to build an extension or any other type of external structure on your property. You’ll also find that these are generally required to obtain planning permission from your local council.
For example, you need to obtain approval if you want to build over a lateral drain that is managed by the local water authority. Knowing where these drains are can help you plan the location of your extension or other buildings to ensure that you stay within the required regulations.
If you’re considering buying a house, it’s also important to obtain a current copy of the drainage plans. This will allow you to determine if there are any lateral drains within the boundaries of your property or if the property is connected to a public or private sewerage system. In fact, if the property is connected to a private sewerage system such as a septic system or treatment plant, the seller is legally obliged to give you this information.
Where Can You Obtain Drainage Plans For Your House?
There are a variety of places that can provide you with drainage plans for your property.
- The development company. If your home is a new or recent build, the initial drawings that were drawn up by an architect should have included a detailed drainage plan. In this case, it’s possible that if you contact the developer or builder of your home, they may be able to supply you with a current drainage plan.
- Local water authority. If you contact the local water authority, they will be able to furnish you with a current drainage plan. In the majority of cases, you’ll be required to pay a fee for this. However, these plans may not show the private drains within your property. But, they will show you all the public and lateral drains that are managed by the water authority.
- The local council. Contact the local council to see whether they can extract your drainage plan from their archives. Most likely, you’ll be charged a fee for this. However, you need to be aware that these may also be out-of-date if there have been any changes made to your property or extensions added since these plans were drawn up. Also, if drainage plans have never been submitted to council, they won’t be able to help you.
- Speak to a past owner. If you have the contact details of a past owner of the property, he or she may be able to assist you with any information regarding the drainage system on your property. They may even still have drainage plans that they can forward to you. If you don’t think you have the contact details of any past owners, check the deeds that you received with the purchase of your property as their details are likely to be on them.
In some cases, however, it might be difficult to find an up-to-date drainage plan because there is no official body or record for private drains on private properties. So, even if one of the past owners did have new drainage plans drawn up, they would not have been required to lodge these with any official body.
The only exception to this is if the property has a private sewerage system. In this case, you would have been given drainage plans that show where any type of treatment plant such as a septic system is located on the property when you made the purchase.
You Might Have To Get A New Drainage Plan Drawn Up
If your home is quite old, the drainage plans that you do have may be out-of-date. In this case, it’s wise to have a new drainage plan drawn up. This can be achieved with a CCTV drain survey.
For the survey, a camera probe is inserted into the drains that are located on your property. Then, live footage is recorded as the camera travels through your drain system. This is a great way to map out your drainage system and can also identify if there are any problems that need attention.
What Information Should Be Included In Any Drainage Plan?
A comprehensive drainage plan needs to show where all the drains are located on your property. Relevant information should include the following:
- A comprehensive layout of all the drainage pipes including all access points, diameter and construction material of the pipes.
- The location, construction and depth of any soakaways on your property.
- Whether you have an onsite effluent treatment tank such as a septic system or cesspit.
- Where the property’s discharge points are.
- The location of any natural watercourses on your property.
- Where the mains water supply is located.
- The location of any lateral drains as well as drain covers.
In Summary
Having the drainage plans for your house is quite important, especially if you’re planning on doing some renovations or want to build any type of external structure.
Some of the places where you can find drainage plans for your house include past owners, the local water authority or your local council. If all this fails, it’s not that difficult to have new drainage plans drawn up.