Blocked Pipes In Condo

[theoldgit]

We live on the fifth floor an older condo in Thonglor, we noticed that the water was flowing away very slowly in both of our showers, then over the new year things got worse and water was coming up through the drains.

It got that bad that both bathrooms were flooding with water coming up through the drains, at one stage as I was baling out the water I couldn't keep up with the water coming up, both bathrooms were flooded. It was not clean water coming up, it contained a sand like sludge, the sludge remained when I baled the water out or it eventually drained away.

It reached a climax when we returned home from lunch and it had overflowed into one of our bedrooms and even to the lounge, it was a nightmare.

The staff in the Juristic Persons office didn't really understand the issue, they certainly seemed unable to cope with it, the maintenance guy tried using a plunger and put soda down, both to no avail. The Juristic Person herself expressed her surprise at the flood explaining that the people on floors 6 & 7 were away for the holiday so we shouldn't get water, when I explained that there were still people on floors 8 through to 23 still showering happily I got the "Thai smile"

They called the emergency plumber, who took five days to arrive, they supposedly cleared the pipe though they only treated on of the two, it certainly improved the problem, but water and sludge was still coming up through the drains. They came back, didn't charge for the second visit, and spent 45 mins working on both drains, this seemed to sort the problem.

We had people come in to clean the carpets and all seemed good, now a week later the problem has returned, though thankfully not to the same extent. Water and sludge are coming up, though the water eventually drains away.

I really need to get to the root cause of the problem. Thankfully our condo is only rented so we could move out and find somewhere else to live, we are reluctant to do this as we have been here for more than three years and are quite happy, we would probably lose the deposit on this place, this seems to be the norm, and we would have to pay a new deposit, I suspect this is what we will have to do though.

Has anybody else had this sort of problem, I would be grateful for any advice or experiences.

[Darrel]

Are they having a problem on the 4th floor?

Either way, the drains will need cleaning by someone who knows what he's doing with a specialised power jet machine. Nothing else will do any good. And they will probably need to be checking out in the corridor where the access to the downpipe is, rather than in your unit, as the blockage must be in the downpipe. So look for a drain-rodding company, not a plumber.

(Never did get a "thank you" for the bank info, by the way.)

[theoldgit]

Thanks for your input on this Darrel. They don't seem to be having a problem on the 4th floor, which is an office, below that are the car parks.

The guys that came out probably were not plumbers, but their equipment was a bit basic, guess I will need to kick arse in the office and involve my landlady.

Sorry about the discourtesy for not replying over the bank, it was very rude, thanks for the info,

[Darrel]

If there is sludge coming back up, and if there are no residential units below yours, it may be that it is backing up from much further down. It is possible that the 4th floor office isnt connected to your downpipe at all and that your connection is the last one before the drain at the bottom.

[hhgz]

"our condo is only rented"

If you rented it from the owner, you should contact him, and mention that you're dissatisfied with the solution, and that you will move if the problem is not resolved.

[theoldgit]

"our condo is only rented"

If you rented it from the owner, you should contact him, and mention that you're dissatisfied with the solution, and that you will move if the problem is not resolved.

Which was one of the first things we did, not only to seek help with the problem, but I thought that advising her that her property had a problem was the right and proper thing to do.

She certainly wasn't very proactive in addressing the problem, we got it resolved and deducted the cost from the rent. I think if I owned a property that was having a problem with waste water I would work with my tenant to protect my property.

We have been happy for the three and a half years we have lived here, though we are now thinking that we might move on later this year, this issue has certainly been a contributory factor.