Can anyone suggest whats going on here? Leaking gully?

Robby1988

Long story regarding damp, but I have taken up flagstones along the wall at my house today and stumbled into what I think is the problem, but i'm not entirely sure. If you look at the pictures below you can see that to the left of the gully there is sound looking hardcore underneath where the sand was, however to the right of the gully it's all just mud.




Am I right in thinking this is a symptom of the gully having been leaking on that side ever so slightly over many years? I should add the water main pipe doesn't pass under this area.

I'm hoping my instinct is correct as I know that can be fixed fairly easily, just a bit concerned by what damage that could have done. It's an old victorian terrace, the type built straight onto the earth.

Cheers

Doozergirl

The problem is the concrete running up to your wall and then the render coming to meet it. Ditto with paving slabs running up to wall.

The damp proof course, wherever it is, has been totally breached.

If the concrete is angle towards the house and away from the drain, which it looks like from here then it's doubly worse as the surface water is not adequately draining.

You should take out all of that concrete back to the paving slabs, making sure that the ground level for that area is 150mm below the DPC. You can dig out and put gravel in to make it look neat.

You need to find evidence of the original DPC though.

Knock back the render up a couple of courses, try to identify the DPC, then re-render, using bell bead just above the DPC to ensure that it isn't breached and water drips away from the wall.

I can't see anything unusual about the dirt in area around the gully, but having the DPC covered is a big issue. You can also alter the drainage by removing the shoe on your RWP, directing the smaller pipe into the RWP and directing the RWP entirely into the gully so there is no splashback or risk of blockage with leaves etc. They certainly won't help.

Robby1988

Thanks.

I do recognise that the raised patio meeting the wall is not ideal & was going to explore a french drain or something to try and get water away from the base of the wall.

Speaking to neighbours, I get the impression these houses (circa 1860) do not have DPCs so i'm not sure i'd be confident of finding anything if I did dig down. As for having a DPC installed, most advice I read about this is that modern day chemical injections on solid stone houses like mine are a waste of time, so i'm a bit conflicted on that front.

I should add that even though the ground level is raised with the patio, it is still a good foot below the floor level inside.