I have a drains issue ( they all need a sleeve/ replacement)
Firstly what experience does anyone have of sleeves
Would you prefer replacement or drains
I have put a lot of drains in places Always in plastic and set in pea gravel to allow for ground movement..The old clay ,best replaced in plastic ,so easy to do ,depends how deep it is of course , never had one sleeved . Get a quote for both from same firm
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Thanks
How have you dealt with the toilet provision for the tenant
They had to go to a friends loo. You can also get an expanding bung ( for the drain, not the tenant) this will hold back any waste on the day . a repair/replacement is done.. Usually this is in an inspection chamber tho, so does not lend itself to all situations The people have NOT got to use the loo
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Is it a cracked drain or the interceptor?
I don’t have any direct experience of sleeving drains, but I’m a retired plumber with 40 years experience.
I own a property 185 miles away and have a similar issue, although mine’s a single disturbed joint which rears it’s ugly head on occasion.
I was quoted £565 +VAT to sleeve this section, which is about a 2M run. I had planned to do the repair myself as I think I could expose the pipe, cut out the joint and replace with plastic within a day and the materials will be around £60. Unfortunately I’ve got a health issue preventing me from doing it right now. Luckily another LL friend of mine who lives in the area is lending me his handyman. I’m confident I can talk him through the job over the phone, it’s pretty basic stuff really.
Obviously it depends how extensive your repairs are and I can only advise based on my experience, but I would certainly get as many firms as you can (within reason) to come and quote for both options.
A lot of firms will do this FOC and personally I’d steer clear of ones who talk about wanting to do a “survey” and charge you handsomely for the privilege (another guy wanted £120 +VAT just to look at that section).
If you’re in a position to do so you can probably do a lot of the menial work yourself if you go down the route of replacing, there’s no point in paying tradesman rates to dig holes.
Regarding your tenants, providing they’re willing to communicate with the guys doing the job I’d imagine it’d be a case of “If you don’t mind using the loo now if you need to because it’s going to be out of action for a couple of hours” a few times throughout the job.
I know it’s an annoying expense, but you could hire a porterloo if the tenants are being really awkward and you want to cover yourself.
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that is a bad crack. I do not see how a liner will solve that,. What they call a dropper sounds like what we call an interceptor or simply a drop into the deeper main drain. Seams like a dig out job to me
Personally I’d still ask for alternative prices for repair or replace for your drains and broken down if possible. Even if you can’t excavate yourself, you may well be able to get it done for less than the plumbing/groundworking firms would likely charge and it’s the bulk of the work. Once done the laying of new drains is relatively quick. I guess it depends on your attitude to money vs hassle.
I understand that, I’m not in a position to do anything laborious myself ATM. It sounds like you’re probably better to get someone to do the whole job for peace of mind.
The only other thing I’d add is try to get recommendations from friends/neighbours rather than using online sites such as Checkatrade, their sites are open to abuse and “ratings” can’t be relied on IME (as a for instance I knew a dodgy LL who was an equally dodgy plumber. A glowing review was a prerequisite for moving into one of his bedsits).
In your position gut feeling is probably the way I’d go too, the guy who gave me the price to sleeve mine tried to blind me with science. Fortunately I was in a position to tear a lot of what he said apart. Best of luck, hope you get it sorted without any issues.
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Moral of the story
Expose and replace the drains
After full excavation the drain at the manhole end dropped because the clay connection had weathered and there was a fracture at the other end
This would not have been dealt with liner and the drop would have been insurmountable
Changing the drains was the right thing to do
So thank you and Colin
Saturdays survey was scare mongery snd it was cheaper to change the drains than line them I’ve dealt with my side
Severn Trent not responding to my complaint ….
And the landlord is vilified
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Drain access is the defining issue, maybe a drain is too near or even under the building for it to be dug up and replaced.
I have a subsidence claim currently ongoing and the insurers drain inspector has proposed digging up outside and sleaving under the building. Not a lot of choice if you don’t want to knock down the building. Although I must say I was surprised they didn’t propose to sleave the whole run.
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Not a major issue if you expose the existing drain completely then replace it in one go.
I’ve just amended a drainage layout for a new refurb / layout change and I simply told the tenants not to use anything going into the drains for an hour or 2 until I made the new connections, i.e. bung the tenants rather than the drain… 
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