Water soaking brickwork from neighbour's leaking toilet

robgoingcrazy

So here are a few more pics.

Firstly, the corner as it was today after the heavy rain, you can see how wet the other paving slabs are from heavy overnight rain falling directly on them. The slab in question however, is mostly dry, and the water has clearly receded compared to the other pics I have posted!



Compared to this in the week when there had been no rain:



The last picture shows a longer angle of both houses, where you can see the neighbour's actual soil pipe, the angle maybe deceptive but you can see where the extension is relative to the houses, there is also a wall which bulges out further into my garden than the actual fencing.

Heaven knows what the legal position is on all those boundaries, just want to stop the water problem lol!

robgoingcrazy

Anybody around lately?!

Water is there again now all the rain has dried off. Not a lot, but looking in torchlight I could actually see a drop appear deep in the crevice, and can hear the dripping sound now the traffic is quiet.

So it doesn't seem to be coming up from underneath, and doesn't seem related to rain. But I am damned I I have a clue where it is coming from!

robgoingcrazy

My builder just informed me he can't come till after Christmas now so am stuck with the problem for now.

Does anyone know if what the British Gas man said is twaddle or not, about it being impossible for an internal leak to escape out through a wall to the outside? After all, if there is enough water it can presumably get in or out of anywhere, houses aren't impregnable watertight compartments, or at least ones built in 1873 are probably not...

I am going to get my builder/joiner chap to take sink unit apart or something when he comes so we can check corner from the inside. In the meantime I have been wondering if it is worth, on a dry day, turning off my boiler and turning off the mains water, and seeing if it has any effect on the water, as presumably my mains water finds its way from the inlet at the front to the boiler at the back of the house, and if that has a tiny leak in that area, could be the problem?

I will try on a few building forums or something as well, with my pics (which are handy, as when it's raining you can't really see the issue properly as everywhere is wet!)

trans4mations

Hi by the looks of them pics it well over due for re-pointing, the drain looks like it needs redoing to as its eating away at the cement, also keep your drain clear of stuff to stop it over flowing, because this will caue water to run over to your foundations an eat it away to an cause rising damp being a terrace an solid brick house. where the cement has gone a cause holes round the drain the water will soak into the ground only to the water table an will cause it to come back out like it looks to be doing once the water table drops the water will only then drain away. so best to get all this sorted asap to stop you issues or atleat elimanate them. also where his brickwork joins yor in the corner ? there a gap this needs cementing to to stop water soaking behind an into your bricks, remember older bricks can be like sponges an absorb water. dampproof spraying them in summer will help ive done afew old houses over the yrs. you can also buy a paint called tanking paint to put on the inside to stop water soaking through inside paint. hope you get it sorted, t4m

JohnB47

robgoingcrazy wrote: »

Anybody around lately?!

Water is there again now all the rain has dried off. Not a lot, but looking in torchlight I could actually see a drop appear deep in the crevice, and can hear the dripping sound now the traffic is quiet.

So it doesn't seem to be coming up from underneath, and doesn't seem related to rain. But I am damned I I have a clue where it is coming from!

Thats a puzzle. So its not caused by direct rainfall but still might be coming from a damaged roof - with a delay between the rain falling and the drops appearing.

I wonder if that wall of your neighbours is a cavity -it looks relatively modern so it should be. So if the neighbour isn't experiencing any rampant dripping and damp inside, perhaps its in the cavity space, which does suggest it's coming from overhead.

It really is essential to get access to your neighbours house to see the state of that corner from the inside - also to see what is fitted there.

robgoingcrazy

I'm not convinced by the rain thing, especially as it was doing it when there was no rain for at least a week as far as I can recall, but will still consider it.

Will have to hope my neighbour cooperates when my builder eventually comes out of the pub.

Of course I don't know if what he is telling me is true - the neighbour on the other side was putting in a new bathroom up to 2 days before his house was repossessed and the bailiffs came to change the locks - seems people can quite easily bury their heads in the sand!

Going to try not to worry about it for a few days now as there is nothing I can do in the short term, have tried at least 5 people but none can come out till the pubs are drank dry it seems.

I thought there was a difficult climate and some people would be glad of some trade, but it seems not!

robgoingcrazy

No news as yet.

Of course I am joking about my builder being in the pub, it's just a plumber that once came said the pub down the road was always full of builders, I think it was even called the Builders Arms at one point

Not heard back from anyone though, I know in my line of work most of my competitors are having 2 weeks off so I am getting more work than for some time lately (to save money, first you have to have some - and it might come in handy for this issue).

Will have a look what the water is doing tomorrow

robgoingcrazy

No news, water is still doing it's thing, can't get hold of my builder, and going to have to sort it after New year's day now as I have given myself a couple of days off so can do some ringing round if the current chap can't get to me

DaftyDuck

Sorry to see this is still going on - not much to add, but just a few fairly random thoughts.

There's a white (?) plastic overflow pipe hiding behind your loo waste over his roof... anything leaking from this? A plastic bag loosely over the end will catch drips less drastically than a cork!

If you are out for a day - better if longer - can you turn your water off at the mains... any change in dampness?

The black (plastic) kitchen waste (?) pipe running diagonally toward the problem area... it's not come unclipped or split in the thickness of the wall? Seems unlikely it'd cause a continuous leak.... just musing...

roger196

Looking at picture 1 of post 56, my first thought would be a blocked drain. Have you tried asking the neighbour to run the taps which feed into the two black pipes and watch what happens.
Have you tried pouring a bucket of water onto flat roof to see where it goes.
Apologies if these have already been suggested.