Dodgy d0wnpipe

We have lived at this house for about six years now and this drainpipe has always played up, recently it stopped running altogether.

I removed the pipe from the wall and found the upper section completely blocked with decayed matter. I pushed a hosepipe up from the bottom and turned it on flat out. It cleared in seconds. Great.

After reconnection I started the hosepipe again this time from the top and waited, within a minute water poured over the top. Damn, the blockage still existed.

Well after about another four hours I'm pleased to say, it is now working perfectly. This entailed removing the downpipe again, because I couldn't reach the bottom of the 80mm brown pipe which disappears under the concrete slab. I had to take up some of the slabs, and remove two barrow loads of grit infill before the cause of the problem was found.

The wall the downpipe is connected to (now part of our house) and the section to the right is about one hundred years older than the rest of the house and the brown pipe simply stood on the grid of another drain which must have been laid many years ago and the brick step section built when our house was constructed.

What I found was the U bend at the base of the original drain was completely blocked with grit and dirt. With a lot of stretching I managed to clear it and clean it with the hosepipe until the water ran clear in a manhole a few metres away. Tomorrow I must mix some mortar and grout the joint which as you can see is just supported by some rag.