I don't know how long this drain has been like this, but I did notice after the recent lengthy periods of rain that the grass in this area seemed to have no soil under it. I also discovered that if you stood here you could hear the plastic pipes creaking as they are very close to the surface. This is one of our storm water drains on the footpath running to the street kerb. Thankfully it is right beside our green underground power connection box so nobody actually walks on this part of the footpath. It is also quite close to our fence. That said I suspect the builders did this when finishing up and just laid the grass over the top as nobody else would have reason to stand in this exact stop. There were about three or four broken pieces of plastic pipe found inside the drain, one was just hanging there ready to drop off. What they have done is add a short length of pipe to the piece coming under the fence, and then join it to a fitting to drop the level slightly towards the kerb. A similar configuration on the adjacent pipe is intact. So how to easily fix..?? The pipes are glued together at least partly so attempting to replace it with one new piece of pipe seemed like it may not be possible, and would have required a larger excavation. Considering that nobody will actually walks over this I decided to use three pieces of 100mm PVC pipe joiner, like the broken piece in the centre. Instead of using the complete piece of pipe I cut about 1/4 of the pipe away so it could just slip over the top and hold itself in place. The image below will show you what I mean. I washed the exposed pipe so the glue had a better chance of adhering and let the sun dry it out before fitting the sleeves. Of course it is also glued into place with the appropriate PVC adhesive and I was a bit more generous than the builders seemed to be with it. The photo above shows two pieces already fitted and the third sleeve ready for a test fitting. The old sleeve joint was left as it also provided some protection and it helped hold the new piece of pipe in place while the glue dried. The finished job was let dry overnight then back filled with soil, grass replaced and watered in.
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AuthorAfter spending 22 years in the Telecommunications Industry, I've decided to keep those skills alive and offer my services to people needing assistance with small phone cabling jobs in the home or office. Archives
January 2024
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