Clay pipe coming out foundation

[gOBO81]

Whilst digging a trial pit today for our structural engineer, for proposed extension works, I hit and cracked a clay pipe coming out through our foundations. I guess that's what those concrete blocks I removed prior were warning me of.

 

As I exposed more of the pipe I uncovered a "joint" where the pipe was merely butted up against another section of pipe, and misaligned. This led me to believe this isn't a fluid carrying pipe and maybe just a duct.

 

To double check I flushed all the toilets and emptied a bath to check for the sound or vibration of water flow - nothing. As the pipe was quite badly damaged and needed repair regardless, if in use, I broke off a section to inspect it internally. The pipe was choked full of silt/mud and felt like it may even have been blocked with cement as i poked back into the direction of the foundation. With the absence of a cable or pipe inside it doesn't appear to be a duct either.

 

Inspecting under the floor inside the house there is a soil pipe that heads vertically down through the solum near where I would expect a pipe to be if it were the same pipe, but it's about 4ft away along the foundation. The connected toilets would have long since backed up if it were the same pipe.

 

Feeling fairly confident the pipe is not in use I backfilled the hole.

 

Now, it's obviously still bugging me a bit. Is it common to come across pipes that may have been abandoned and what about it being "joined" by merely butting up to another section of pipe?

 

Cheers

 

 

[ProDave]

Rainwater to a soakaway?  Long since silted up?  Does it look like it could connect to a downpipe?  Of so use a hose to run water down that downpipe.

[bassanclan]

Or an old land drain 

[gOBO81]

Definitely appears to be long since silted up but with the state of that butt joint I don't suspect that would have taken too long, in any case.

 

It doesn't appear to be connected to any downpipe, at least not at the rear of the property where it exits the foundation. That's not to say it couldn't be serving downpipes at the front of the property and the pipe travels under the house from front to back, but wouldn't that be odd - to run the pipe under the property?

 

It's fairly secluded property built on the grounds of an 1800s coal miners estate. I believe there used to be three tennis courts here at one point, so maybe an old land drain that was discovered while laying foundations and they've built over it.

 

I guess i'll take a hose pipe to the front of the property and aim it down a downpipe there. If it backs up that could be it, otherwise who knows....

 

Maybe 

[saveasteading]

That is how land drainage  was done. Just butted. They filled with roots very readily.

[Crunchynut]

Yes it’s a land drain - I have them all over my plot. They were laid as you describe -just butted up. Sometimes they are horse shoe shaped. I just pulled them out and carried on.

[gOBO81]

Thanks fellas, puts my mind fully at ease now. I dare say I'll uncover more of these as works progress over the next couple of years. At least now i know.

3 hours ago, Crunchynut said:

Sometimes they are horse shoe shaped. I just pulled them out and carried on.

It is a bit of an odd shape i.e. not completely round. Appears to have a flat bottom.

 

[saveasteading]

2 minutes ago, gOBO81 said:

Appears to have a flat bottom.

Never seen that. Spreads the load, less likely to break.

[Crunchynut]

Yup-that’s the horse shoe shape. Like a big ‘u’ rather than an ‘o’

[Radian]

Seeing as it definitely is a land drain, even though it may be silted-up, might it not still be active after heavy rain? We had a whole series of these that were cut through when digging the foundations for an extension. The trenches filled in no time after rain - just before the concrete pour.

You can just see the broken pieces in a loose diagonal line:

To stop this flooding our foundations and patio we dug a french drain and connected it to the land drains, and drained the whole lot along with the regular rain water.

[Crunchynut]

Yes - I don’t know how they work because they are just butted up and seem full of soil /silt ….. but they do work.  They knew a thing or two in times gone by …..

Edited May 20, 2023 by Crunchynut

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, Crunchynut said:

but they do work

Unless they get a tree root through the joint....then they fill with roots.

[Radian]

2 hours ago, Crunchynut said:

They knew a thing or two in times gone by …..

I dug out a 1770 George III halfpenny piece right next to one of the pipes which dates it quite well. Considering their age and the fact they are still working, I really can't fault them.