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You may recognise the precursor to this thread.
To cut a long story short, the water board (Severn Trent) have now located a leaking (lead pipe) water main near our house. It turns out that it is under the building of our neighbour's house. Good news for us on the face of it, but she is around 85, has lived in the house all her life and has probably lived on her own there for 30-40 years. She has a nephew who is coming to visit this weekend, but I have promised to do some research for her.
Does anyone know what happens next? Is she compelled to fix it? Who should stand the cost?
My guess is that she will have to have it fixed, and Severn Trent will not pay for it.
Can anyone please suggest what type of company/contractor she should be looking for? I've heard of 'moling', but how they actually fix things is a mystery to me. Also any estimate of a reasonable cost would be great, but I reckon it is all dependent on how difficult the job is.
Thanks in advance..............
Main or service??
I'd imagine that it's easier to replace the pipe with one that runs outside the house than try to repair the existing one. Just a guess though! 🙂
Will they not just cut it where it enters her property and re route it around her house rather than replace it in situ?
Edit: Wot PP said!
Cut the pipe, after turning it off on the street under the flap, and just fit a new supply pipe, the utility comapny may well do this for her for a fee as they will need to dig up the road and footway. along with her garden.
Sorry - this is the measure of my incompetence - I've no idea of the difference between main or service(?)
Is 'service' water disposal?
Some of the water companies do the first repair for free.
Which side of the external stopcock is the leak?
Apologies - I should be more precise.
It is a clean water supply.
We are the middle of three bay-front terraces. The supply comes off of the street main and goes up a shared access path by the side of our other neighbour. The pipe then (we think) goes under their kitchen and ours (which share a wall) before crossing the shared 'yard' with our elderly nieghbour and going under her kitchen.
Does this help visualise it? I think that she is the 'end of the road' of the supply to the three houses.
A main is the main which supplies all the services. The services are the individual pipes feeding the properties off the main. If its stw (Severn Trent)area, you are responsible for the service from the boundary of your property. A lot of stw lead services are still feeding more than one property. Worth checking if the stop tap in the road footpath is accessible before agreeing on any works. Stw will connect you on to the main for free if you're replacing an existing lead service with a new mdpe one in most cases. However all works on your side of the boundary are paid for by you/neighbour etc and will need inspecting.
They can compel a repair.
If they market Homeserve, and there is no pre "questions" ie do you have a leak ( check t&c's ) tell her to join them and then claim.
Longterm all three properties need to switch from lead to plastic to reduce the lead risk (probably mitigated by phosphate). The best way to do it is with a single plumber doing all three and a decent cost share set up
The STW website has a decent "locate a plumber " bit
I don't work for STW but know the game. Happy to be emailed.
Read the first story here : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertyadvice/8818315/Is-pipe-insurance-necessary.html
Explains that a lot of water compsnies agreed with ofwat that they would repair leaks for free in irder to hit leak targets. The report mentioned has a table covering all the water companies and what they will pay for.
Read your own link, the OP states the leak is under the property, therefore not covered by the water company free repair scheme. If it's in the "yard" there may be some discretion but it is on a common supply pipe and you would need to dig into the details of the t&c's.
Additional point is make sure the plumber she gets is happy working on lead as some plumbers will not touch it.
Danny have a look at the Severn Trent 'lead in water' form below:
[url= http://www.s****er.co.uk/upload/pdf/lead_in_water.pdf ]Lead in Water[/url]
If you and your neighbours share a lead supply then STW will make the new connections for free. As mentioned above it is strictly the reponsibility of the homeowners to replace the lead pipes with hdpe on your property back to the mains, which a builder/plumber could do but new trenches will need to be dug, however I have experience in the past when STW have provided the pipework and made the connections for free, when lead pipework is present and/or it is a shared supply. In order to do this you will need to complete the form below:
[url= http://www.s****er.co.uk/upload/pdf/1_-_LSS_05072011_20110803104049.pdf ]Shared supply / lead water pipe replacement[/url]
In which case all you need to do is provide a suitable trench in which they can lay the new supply, and fill it back in.
Failing this you can apply to your local councils Environmental Health Dept for a grant towards the cost of replacing the lead services. In your case with an 85 year old pensioner having a leaking lead pipe, I would expect the outcome to be positive if the EHO is any good.