Building over Sewers. Find out why we have special rules for building over and adjacent to sewers.

Why do we need special rules for building houses over and adjacent to sewers and stormwater mains?
The answer is: To protect the sewer and your home from damage.
The problem these rules solve goes two ways.
- The council or government body that owns the pipe or service might want to dig that pipe up one day. They don't want to damage your house and they certainly don't want it to fall on them if they are in the trench.
- The other thing is they don't want your builder to accidentally dig up their pipes. That damage costs a lot to fix and that issue is best avoided by keeping excavations away from the pipes.
So the rules for building over and near council sewer mains and stormwater mains (and electricity mains and water supply pipes and internet cables) is to protect you, the homeowner from causing damage to the service pipes and to minimise the effect of the service pipe owner damaging your house if they have to maintain their pipes.
Join structural engineer, Matt Cornell from Cornell Engineers, for The Structural Why Files - Why do you need special footings when building beside or over sewers.
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This video is about building over sewer pipes. It has the general guidelines for building over a sewer.
We have even more information about this topic on our website:
https://www.cornellengineers.com.au/b...
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