Drainage Plans for My House and How I Find Them

The drainage plans for your house show you the entire drain system passing underneath your property. Drainage plans are important for knowing the structure of your drainage system, the sewer water and surface water from your property, and where the pipes can be accessed. All this information is extremely helpful if you’re considering building next to your property, installing an extension, or fixing a broken pipe underground.

Why Do I Need a Drainage Plan for My Property?

You may be wondering why drainage plans are important and why you need one for your property. Having a drainage plan helps you to identify where all the drains lead, and this is the main reason you need one. What’s more, if you want to apply for an Environment Permit, consent to discharge into a watercourse, or planning permission, having a drainage plan is essential.

If your property is very old and you have drainage plans, but you don’t think they’re up to date, you must have new drainage plans drawn up.

Coastal Drains Provide Drain Tracing Services

If you need to have new drainage plans for your property drawn up, the team at Coastal Drains are here for you. We provide comprehensive drain tracing services, locating your drains so that you don’t have to. By using a multiple-frequency digital locator, we can detect and trace your drains with absolute precision and accuracy.

In addition to locating the drains on your property, this system is also used to locate buried services such as electric, gas, water, telecom, and more. So, with the help of our drain tracing services, you can get a full picture of your property’s underground drainage system.

What Should Your Property Drainage Plan Include?

If you’re getting a new drainage plan drawn up for your property, it’s important you know what information should be included. A professional drainage plan should include all the drains on your property, storage areas, effluent tanks and the following:

• Location, depth and construction details of any soakaways.
• On-site effluent treatment plants.
• Storage areas for raw materials, products and wastes.
• Discharge points from the site.
• Bounded areas, with an indication of capacity.
• Watercourses, springs and boreholes on or near the site.
• Main water supply and sprinkler control valves.
• Sensitive areas such as unmade ground.
• Location of emergency equipment, like spill kits and drain covers.

How Do I Find Drainage Plans for My House?

If you want to get hold of your property’s existing drainage plans, it is possible to contact your local water authority. However, it is important to note that you usually have to pay for permission to access these plans. And generally, the drainage plans provided by your local water authority will show you the location of all main drains on your road and not the private drainage system of your property.

You Can Access Property Drainage Plans from the Council

Likely, your local Council will also have the drainage plans for your property. These can be extracted from the archives (note that you will be charged an administration fee for this access).

It is worth noting that the drainage plans provided by your local Council may not be what you will find on your property. The reason for this is that new drains may have been installed since the last drainage plan draw-up, extensions may have been built, and other changes may have been made. So, just be aware of this when you send in your drainage plan application.

Ask Your Neighbour for More Information

One point you may not have considered is asking your neighbour if they have any information regarding your property’s drainage. Not only will they be able to provide you with knowledge of joint drainage systems, but they may also know about drainage installation works or maintenance on your property. At the very least, your neighbour might be able to give you more information about your drains.

Ask the Previous Property Owner About Drainage Plans

If you’re able to get in touch with the previous owner of your property, it may be worth asking them about drainage plans, building regulations or planning permissions applications they have applied for. Asking the previous property owner is not only a great way to find out more about your house, but it can often be the easiest way to get hold of your property’s drainage plans.

Contact the Coastal Drains Team for More Information

Finding the drainage plans for your property, or having new plans drawn up, is very important. We hope this article has been informative. If you have any questions or would like more advice, contact the Coastal Drains team for more information.

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