J.A.S.'s fixing the damp & swimming pool in the house thread....

John_Pierpoint

http://robuild.co.uk/london_builders/displayimage.php?pid=2016

This is quite a common problem on the other side of the Atlantic, when renovating "old" ticky tacky houses built with semi basement "storage". There is most likely videos of such work on u-tube.

cyclonebri1

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

And i totally agree.

I've spoken to more builders today. I don't particularly like the ones i saw today, so i wouldn't have them doing the job, but it doesn't stop me asking them.

So far everyone is of a mind that the wet floor should be left :mad: The other concern/point that was raised is how do you get the floor dry enough to do any work. Within 2 hours the float is at 90 degrees & within 7 hours the level is back to 4.5 inch. It simply doesn't stay dry anywhere near long enough.

I spoke with my manager today too. I know he knows a bit about the building game although i'm not sure how much. He said he'd go for the solid floor approach with a double DPC layer. I can't remember the order he said he'd go in, so let's say for arguments sake it was hardcore, DPC sheeting, concrete, DPC, insulation, screed. I've no idea of the order so that'll probably sound funny to you, but the point is he said double DPC to try & better stop the damp/wet.

But he's not seen it yet.

The chap i want to come out & have a look wont be back until Monday though. Just need to select another guy in the meantime.

This was the reason I came to the conclusion that solid infill which allows the water reasonably free passage at the bottom levels would be best.

JustAnotherSaver

Yeah, perhaps a mixture of what the damp fella said - fill with 20mm limestone (or 3/4" depending on your age ), & then perhaps the hardcore & concrete on top of that etc.

Although you would have to get a pretty watertight seal otherwise it would just shoot up the walls.

I sent off an email to the council to try & determine the origin of this water yesterday so they've forwarded that to the relevant department. The water board say they'll be in touch about it by 9th Jan.

Because ATEOTD, i think you could get every builder in the country, but until we know the origin of this water, it's almost pointless. IMO we need to know WHY/HOW it's getting there. I highly doubt it is, but IF it's a broken drain pipe then just fix it & job done. Maybe it's a simple fix (highly doubt), but the builder should be fully informed as to where it's coming from before they put their suggestions forward because the origin may influence what they recommend.

Out of interest - a thought has just occurred to me ........ how strong are wet bricks?
What i'm getting at is the dividing wall between us & our neighbour is a solid wall. I get under the boards & there's no hole, no pipe, no nothing. Just a solid wall, but obviously this wall has been deep in water at various times. Does being deep in water weaken it?

I'm hoping we don't wake up one morning to see the wall has collapsed. A bit OTT i know, considering 81 years in & the house still stands, but i just thought then - it can't be good for the bricks, surely? Or does it make no difference to them?

zaax

Worth waiting for the councils reply. You haven't mentioned any smell so it can't be sewer, and it might not be natural water, as natural (stagnant) water does go off after a while. The water authority might be worth asking, just in case. Mains water has its own properties, which natural water doesn't, like fluoride.

JustAnotherSaver

zaax wrote: »

Worth waiting for the councils reply. You haven't mentioned any smell so it can't be sewer, and it might not be natural water, as natural (stagnant) water does go off after a while. The water authority might be worth asking, just in case. Mains water has its own properties, which natural water doesn't, like fluoride.

Yeah the damp fella did say that we'd notice a stink if (for example) we went on holiday for 2 week & came back. It'd smell.

The house has its own smell but it's certainly not a bad one & not one that i'd associate with damp/mould. I've smelled that before & this doesn't smell like it, although the damp fella said you can smell it. Maybe the trained nose can, but i certainly can't.

When i drain the water & watch it flowing back again, it looks clean. Yeah there's sludge on the base, but the moving water is clear. I've smelled the sludge & it doesn't stink at all.

The water board replied last week to say that they'll be replying by the 9th. Yes that is not a joke - they sent a letter replying to say they're going to send a letter replying :rotfl:

Only just got in touch with council yesterday but i think it said something about 5 working days, so by the end of next week we should hopefully have something.

I'm not holding my breath though. I suspect both will say no sorry we don't know anything. Water doesn't just appear from nowhere though.

cyclonebri1

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Although you would have to get a pretty watertight seal otherwise it would just shoot up the walls.

It's not going to go any higher than it gets to now though.
Looking at your measurements, there are an awful lot of homes in the uk that if you dug down to the same depth, the resulting hole would fill with water at this time of year.

Mine would for 1, a few years back I had to expose the foundations of my internal spine wall when I took on a dilapidated bungalow refurb.
Council BI wanted to view the depth of foundation prior to my loft conversion.
At a depth of 30" from floor level the hole filled.

My parents had a bungalow some years back, it had all concrete floors. You could here the water run under that property from the inside and the front garden of every similar property in the avenue flooded to within about 12" of DPC for any wet winter periods.

No damage to any properties.

John_Pierpoint

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

No damage to any properties yet.

It very much depends on the subsoil, possibly the local vegetation and the size of the building and the nature of its foundations.

I live in an area where the local authority had to commission an unstable land survey. Fortunately I managed to dig that up before purchasing my present property nearly 40 years ago - during that time every one of a dozen houses in an adjacent road has had to be underpinned and all new build has to be on rafts sitting on bored piles. (the water then passes underneath).

Existing owners could have put a trench of French drains down to a land drain round their houses, which might have avoided the problem. Beware of old tythe maps with names like Spring field, Spring lane, Summer road etc. Also beware of infill "modern" houses in areas between Edwardian and earlier houses. There could be a reason why the original builders avoided those opportunities.

JustAnotherSaver

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

It's not going to go any higher than it gets to now though.

Perhaps.

We've not seen a full 12 months yet though, or heavy rain, serious heavy rain.

What i was getting at was however many litres of water over such an area equates to 4.5" as it currently stands. Fill that space & in my mind (which may & quite possibly will be wrong as i usually am) then the same litres of water has less space to span, so will shoot up the walls (or at least could do). It'd have to go somewhere.

As i've said though, we need to get this chap in. I know he's a highly regarded builder, but what i don't know is how much, if any, damp experience he has. You can be the best builder in the world, but if you don't have any knowledge in this area then you could make it worse. I doubt any builder would admit to not having a clue as well. At the very least you'd get the old classic - tank it (that i seem to be getting off of every other Joe i speak to).

Looking at your measurements, there are an awful lot of homes in the uk that if you dug down to the same depth, the resulting hole would fill with water at this time of year.

True. To be fair just shy of 1mtr is quite a void.

I say that based on all the non-knowledge i have :rotfl:1mtr could be standard for all i know :rotfl:

Anyway i'm actually looking forward to getting someone in, but as a pessimist, i'm sure it'll be short lived & the response wont be a positive one. Live with it, or block & beam it (meaning the water remains & the effects on the walls continues). Who knows, maybe i'm too negative. We shall see. Bit disappointed our driveway man didn't get back in touch like he said he would though. Will need to chase him up.

cyclonebri1

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Perhaps.

Who knows, maybe i'm too negative. We shall see. Bit disappointed our driveway man didn't get back in touch like he said he would though. Will need to chase him up.

At a metre you have a greater depth to the water table than I have, and I live on top of a hill at 550 ft above SL:D


If 1 out of 2 promised appointments actually happen then you would be about average in your success rate, from personal experience that is.;)

JustAnotherSaver

Bit off topic to the damp, but having a sod it it's getting on top of me day today :rotfl:

P'd off about this water level for the past few weeks we took to doing upstairs. Thankfully the bathroom is sorted, as is the 2nd bedroom. Master bedroom just needs papering & box room needed painting, which i did (painting) over Xmas (twice since the first colour scheme didn't work (& yes, we bought testers)).

None of the doors shut properly though. Turns out it's because there's 101 layers of paint on there as when we removed them it shut ok.

We tested for lead paint which came back a positive. Gutted. So we got that remover/stripper gel. What crap! So took a common sense approach by just softening with a heat gun at distance, wearing a mask, having the windows open.

Paint comes off fine but then there's that mustardy sticky stuff behind which is a bloody nuisance to get off, especially on curved wood. It's taken hours already & we've only done half a door frame. There's 3 other frames to do & the bannister, spindles & whole staircase.
We're thinking of just finishing this frame & then saying forget that one! What a carry on.

So this Sunday is most certainly going to be a day of rest since our head isn't in it today.:mad: