Onoff

I'm just stunned thanks to Jeremy's post to find that there's two boreholes within spitting distance of my house that were surveyed but noted unused back in the mid 60's. The scanned documents are fascinating, one around 10 pages long, all type set with the surveyor's hand written notes (& opinions) as to their dealings with the landowners. Gives details of the drilling and the strata at various depths and then the capping details down to size and spacing of the bolts used.

Out of interest what are you using to paint it black? Or do the powers that be specify that too? I'm quite a fan of Bedec barn paint. Never ever come across a product that covers, so well, timber on the FIRST coat. Seemingly ticks the environmental boxes too. http://bedec.co.uk/BARN PAINT LEAFLET.pdf That being said I always used to use Sadolin way back when. Seem to remember it took an age to dry. Bedec, 3 coats in a day no problem.

.....party copied from other thread: Anyway, no obvious wet patches on the ground. Tried the stethoscope atop the styrofoam cup on a bit of 3" plastic down pipe like in the video above. Could hear the rushing water with the pipe end directly on the steel / MDPE pipes down the pit but 2' above, trying to listen down through the clay, not a peep. Tried the stethoscope then on a bit of thick wall steel tube and tbh MUCH sharper than the plastic pipe but again no good 2' above it. Quite a lot of ambient noise. Tried later when dark & quieter but still no joy. Even stuck a 4' length of M10 studding in the cordless and punched a few holes in the ground along what may be the pipe route - no geysers yet. It doesn't help that I don't know the exact route. It's allegedly "up the side of the path" but that doesn't tie up with the pipe being a straight line from the meter inside the fence to where it comes up in the house. Looking like tonight it'll be a case of getting physical and (hand) digging a perpendicular, exploratory trench across where I think it may be. Oh joy! Fair play to the old boys in the 1930's or whenever who dug the trench AND our cesspool by hand.

"Brace" yourself..... What, no double angle on the ends?

Don't really know them tbh.

I was going to use that to title the thread but seeing as there's no sign of a leak..... Just come in from playing trying to find it. Lopped a few lilac shoots, small ashes and got the scythe out on the grass & weeds as that's a "wild" bit (missus not impressed by my suggestion that if I "did a Poldark would there be a wet patch" ). Anyway, no obvious wet patches on the ground. Tried the stethoscope atop the styrofoam cup on a bit of 3" plastic down pipe like in the video above. Could hear the rushing water with the pipe end directly on the pipe down the pit but 2' up down through the clay, not a peep. Tried the stethoscope then on a bit of thick wall steel tube and tbh MUCH sharper than the plastic pipe but again no good 2' from it. Quite a lot of ambient noise so I might try later when it's dark (& quiet). Even stuck a 4' length of M10 studding in the cordless and punched a few holes in the ground along what may be the pipe route - no geysers yet.

Fantastic! Turns out there's on on a farm at about 40m deep and a Mid Kent Water one at circa 95m deep. Basically one either side of my plot. Both done in the 60's.

Thanks all. This place truly is the "fountain" of information! Going to start trying to pinpoint it tonight using the length of drainpipe "acoustic" method first. If I get anywhere I'll try the spade ended drill. The missus can't see why I can't "just start digging at the stopcock by the fence and carry on towards the house"! Bless her. I'm aiming for a localised repair now, then when the BIL is back from holiday I'll get him to do a trench at his convenience. It will I'm sure, given the pipe age, be one of those that'll come back top haunt me repeatedly if not done properly and replaced along it's entire length.

One "method" I read of was to take a 3 or 4 foot length of studding and grind a flat ended "spade" on the end. Then use this in your cordless to drill down thru the lawn to find the leak.....sort of. I suppose you get a little "geyser" if you strike lucky. The idea of the flat end is so as not to drill thru if it's a plastic pipe. Don't think I'd want to chance it on MDPE tbh! Might have a crack as mines's steel though. My money's on a tree root.

Do you still have their number?

We bought a shell as our first house that was about 2/3 the valuation of the adjacent, similar properties. Tried to argue for a lower banding whilst we were renovating. They basically rejected the application. A lot of people were trying it. The council in question set up a small office in a separate building on a road that runs between 3 towns with a deadline for applications with an ambiguous address. There were stories of people delivering their application to "1 New Road" in Town A rather than the "correct" address.

My kinda guy, Sod's Law one of the neighbours will be on his mower when I try:

God no! The pipe'll be fixed / replaced shortly. The well/borehole seemed like a good idea at some time for watering/flushing at least. Just wondering how on earth you would go about it? Is it a DIY proposition? Could you dig a hole and "sink" concrete rings as you go? How was it done in the "old days"? How do you know how deep it needs to be? Safety when digging and so on..... I bought a dowsing book at Godshill a couple of years back actually. Now you say it Dave I remember you saying about it on eBuild.

Mine did EXACTLY what it said on the tin....or was it Nick? I pressurised it to nom. 3 bar, it rose a bit whilst curing initially then has sat at 3 bar with the "test" water in it for months now.

This has come up on the back of my mains water leak. Discussing it with the wife tonight and I mentioned that some on here have had success with dowsing. She's grew up locally all here life and pipes up "There used to be a well on here!" (she's not sure where of course). Now I've known her for 30 years and she never mentioned that before. She then proceeds to tell me about various other smallholdings locally who had wells and a local stable who still have one apparently. So.....it got me thinking! The single track road next to the house is relatively new, only tarmac'd in the last 50 years. We are btw pretty much the lowest house at the bottom of the valley. Before the road it was a seasonal water course and in fact still resembles a small river when it rains heavy. I'm guessing then the water table here is pretty high? The whole place is damper than a damp thing. Tentatively thinking well digging or borehole. Wouldn't know where to start. Any pointers?

Thanks for that. Had a quick search on the subject and it seems plumbers often use a 4' length of copper tube. Tomorrow's fun! All a quick eBay search for "listening rod" brought up was Rod Stuart!

Bugger! Noticed a "rushing" water sound this afternoon within the house. With every water using thing off I traipsed out to the water meter to see the digital meter whizzing round. From the stopcock and meter OUTSIDE the boundary it comes in in old STEEL, from the right of the picture, under the fence. Originally it came to this, another stopcock and meter: I've had this second meter taken out so now there's just a second stopcock inside the fence. Either side of the above stopcock in the picture is a bit of MDPE but original STEEL either side of the MDPE assembly. The steel is circa 60 years old. So, going to the left of the above picture it runs under the lawn; lilac bush, mature conifers etc all in steel. Then under the concrete path around the house, I think under the front bedroom and then comes up in the bathroom to a new stopcock: Of course this is where I've just concreted the new floor so the corner might have to come up! Mentioning to the missus that I said about replacing the water main before I did the floor I got "So it's my fault now is it?" Closing this stopcock and the rushing sound is still heard. There's nothing getting past it as I've connected a bit of drain hose to the new drain cock and with the stopcock shut and drain open there's still the rushing sound but nothing comes out of the drain cock. So something like 30m lawn to dig up and inspect / replace the old steel. Sod's Law my mate with the digger is on holiday. Again we've had the discussion about future issues with the trees..... No obvious pooling on the ground but then the pipe's about 2' deep. Any clever way of pinpointing a the major leak? Dowsing? (Seriously).

BDSM dunge.....

Ta. Something like this is the plan. The inset panel shown as "pebbles" is where she wants mosaics. I think I'd worked out the side of the bath tiles based on 5mm gaps but could drop to 3/4mm easy enough. Now I've chamfered the corner that end tile will be cut anyway. Not sure what the grout width was tbh on the mosaics but as they're contrasting then thicker grout lines on those might work? EDIT: Debating some subtle plinth lighting of some description.....

Plan is to get the woodwork all in, screwed together and "easily" removable. A dry run if you like. Then take apart and glue, screwing back together. I'll probably treat it with something too. Then all back and mark the concrete where the BOTTOM, fixed batten will sit. Drill some counterbored holes in the bottom batten and whack in a few st/st studs. Slightly over tighten to account for shrinkage. Shim as required. Then back it off and a good slug of Sikaflex etc. 12mm marine ply sides shortly and figure where the removable tiles will be. Then batten behind, cut corresponding removable panels in the ply. Was planning 5mm grout gaps, colour tba. Would it make sense, as well as bonding the tiles on with silicon to grout ALL the tiles on the box in "silicon"?

The "open" end of the bath, near the sink I'm having the join mid-way. BUT the other end where the bath goes into the corner formed by the two walls I'm debating re-making the "join" up near the bath edge - see dotted line rather than in the middle as it is now. That way I'll be easily able to get to the join in the riser cupboard next to the doorway (the multi-socket is sitting basically in what will be the riser):

Get digging, it's cheaper than the gym and the beer tastes better at the end of it!

I reckon that when first done they may have used the old 2" brown tape on the joints. I bet they placed the DRY tape against the boards and then tried to PVA over the top hoping it'd soak through i.e they didn't PVA the joint first, SOAK then stick the tape on THEN PVA over the lot. I've similar but not so bad on the 4 upstairs ceilings in the dormer. Mine's circa 1988. HOT water will soften Artex up to scrape it off but it's messy. Also likely won't work if it's been gloss painted.

Nah! I was proper careful. I know exactly where the envelope of the bath sits. It's even less now I'm tapering the sides!