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Laying a patio - Advice needed!
powerful_Rogue
Posts: 8,560 Forumite
Hi everyone and thanks in advance!
This is what the area outside my backdoor looks like:

About 5 years ago I bought some weed stopping netting, covered it in sand and then laid some paving slabs on top and cemented them in the middle.

At the time I didn't take into account drainage etc, so think this may have resulted in having to put moisture absorbers into the cupboards that back onto this wall.
Today I have taken up all the slabs and removed all the sand so its back to how it was originally.
I'm planning to put a gully along the bottom of the wall which will then lead down into the garden to drain of the excess water.
My main question is regarding damp proof course look like? The house is 1904 - Is the black at the bottom of the wall the DPC?

This is what the area outside my backdoor looks like:

About 5 years ago I bought some weed stopping netting, covered it in sand and then laid some paving slabs on top and cemented them in the middle.

At the time I didn't take into account drainage etc, so think this may have resulted in having to put moisture absorbers into the cupboards that back onto this wall.
Today I have taken up all the slabs and removed all the sand so its back to how it was originally.
I'm planning to put a gully along the bottom of the wall which will then lead down into the garden to drain of the excess water.
My main question is regarding damp proof course look like? The house is 1904 - Is the black at the bottom of the wall the DPC?

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Comments
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It looks to me like a DPC (I'm no expert) but I would also get a damp specialist out to see whether it's still working and the extent of damage - if any - to the wall, before doing anything with your patio.
I am reliably informed that damp finds its own level, 1-1.5m up a wall.Value-for-money-for-me-puhleeze!
"No man is worth, crawling on the earth"- adapted from Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio
Hope is not a strategy
...A child is for life, not just 18 years....Don't get me started on the NHS, because you won't win...I love chaz-ing!0 -
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I can see drill holes so you most likely have an injected DPC that has been overpainted with bituminous paint.0
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In a Victorian house, the DPC would often be two layers of slate in mortar.

There appears to be something like this in the last of the OPs pictures just above the concrete patio slab
I'd guess the DPC wasn't fully bridged until the slabs were laid, but splashing from rain onto the concrete would have caused some damp hence the chemical injection.
I'd certainly remove the concrete slab, drop the ground level by 15cm and relay slabs plus a dry channel
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