It's Rats?!

[mike2016]

Found some large droppings in the foul drain. Not connected to the house yet but want to ask if anyone has use those stainless steel rat flaps and had success with them? There are cheaper plastic variants that also prevent back flooding. 

I did buy two of the stainless steel ones for my last house but they always ended up snagging toilet paper and caused a massive clog twice so I removed them. Any advice to stop Rats making their way up the pipe or just live with it? Thanks. 

[Big Jimbo]

I would say that is more than One rat. I had them at my daughters. I used the stainless steel flap things, and told her to flush twice. Bit of a waste of water, but in a couple of years or more, they have never blocked. I have heard that they chew through the plastic Ones. The only problem she had was when a rat died in the soil pipe, swelled up and blocked it. Was a bugger to get it out, and the size of a small cat.

I was talking to a BCO about why we surround the pipes with 10mm gravel. Stop them being crushed ? He said he suspected that it was because they can't tunnel through 10mm pea shingle, as it keeps collapsing on them.

Apparently, underground, they follow the line of soil pipes because they know that that generally leads to lintels, which allows them access to cavity walls. horrid bar stewards.

[Jilly]

They look a bit big to be rat droppings? But rats are most likely. 

[Big Jimbo]

38 minutes ago, Jilly said:

They look a bit big to be rat droppings? But rats are most likely. 

They are defo Rat droppings. I've seen enough of them. Not long ago I removed about 25+ nests from a ceiling.

[kandgmitchell]

I remember when as a trainee in north London, an elderly surveyor used to recommend mixing broken glass into the concrete when blocking up a redundant drain in a chamber. It stopped rats scrabbling away at the fill and using the void behind as rat heaven

[saveasteading]

10 hours ago, Big Jimbo said:

why we surround the pipes with 10mm gravel. 

It is entirely to support the pipe and nothing to do with rats. Because gravel flows into the space and fills it completely, it resists any forces from the pipe, and adjusts to suit any movement. 

It is also easy to lay as a bed to the precise level required.

 

Rats shouldn't want to stay in there once it is up and running, and all sealed. There shouldn't be any food in there either.

But they explore everywhere and it will seem like a ready-made burrow until the tidal waves appear.

[Big Jimbo]

2 hours ago, saveasteading said:

It is entirely to support the pipe and nothing to do with rats.

Just damn handy then that the little buggers can't burrow through pea shingle.