Water under my bungalow

FreeBear

youth_leader said: My side of the road is higher than the houses opposite which were built in the early 30's, my bungalow is 1938.  My drive slopes downwards to the road, no road drain nearby. My semi detached neighbour doesn't have a problem with wet.  My garden at the back is raised.

What type of soil do you have - i.e. Heavy clay or sand ?

Just wondering if a trench dug around the house (say 500x500mm) and back filled with sharp sand & gravel would help. Would have to be careful not to cut in to underground pipes or cables..

youth_leader

It's heavy clay here FreeBear. 

Good idea to have the trench.  There is a three/four inch layer of gravel surrounding the extension at the back.  I've just seen the planning permission come up for my old house, he's having a french drain right around the house.  

Such a bore.  This was supposed to be a lock up and leave place to live whilst I travelled! 

ccluedo

Gosh, I really feel for you youth_leader, what a time you are having with your new home

As mentioned on your previous thread, I had a similar issue a few years ago.

Altho it wasn't actually the culprit, one of the first things investigated at the time was the fact that (unbeknown to me) the house had a soak away in the back garden.  Whilst the mains water goes into the main drains, the rainwater from the gutters go to the soak away.  Apparently these can get blocked over the many years since built.  Neighbour also have loads of pine trees with needles going everywhere and indeed the gutters had plenty on the odd occasions we had them cleaned.
We only discovered we had a soak away when, as part of the investigation, they dug down at each drainpipe to see if any blockage there. Camera work was inconclusive but realising it didn't go to the main drain, they then dug up the garden to follow one pipe which led to the massive soak away.

Just another thought to add to your list

youth_leader

Thanks ccluedo, very helpful, I'll certainly follow up all leads.  

Luckily I know it's not the gutters as they were all blown off in the storm and I have new ones - but I can now hear the crows pecking at the moss on the roof, so will get the ladder out for a look.

ccluedo

youth_leader said:

Thanks ccluedo, very helpful, I'll certainly follow up all leads.  

Luckily I know it's not the gutters as they were all blown off in the storm and I have new ones - but I can now hear the crows pecking at the moss on the roof, so will get the ladder out for a look.

Sorry, I meant the soak away IF u have one, not the actual gutters - don't want you falling off any ladders!

Bendy_House

youth_leader said:

Hello again, I've marked the air vents on the diagram. Concrete floor areas shown with scored lines, the actual kitchen floor is tiled.

What's to the left? The writing is half-obliterated. Are you detached or semi?

Beds 2 and 3 - the latter in particular - certainly appear to have a much reduced ventilation. I suspect beds 2 and 3 originally got their through-flow from the top of your plan, which has now been concreted over.

Didn't the guys who came out not check for vents?

ccluedo

I think you said previously that it was a semi detached and that your neighbour has no issues...so another thought that occurred is perhaps something gone awry under the extension concrete floor re pipework.  As you say, u may well never know until all the timber flooring is taken up - and even then like ourselves, u still might never know the actual cause but can at least rectify it at that point.

youth_leader

Sorry, yes I am semi detached, bad photo, it says party wall on the left.  

The damp/timber surveyor said he hoped that the builder had vented the concrete but couldn't tell until the floors were removed.  The chipboard was really difficult to cut as well as being black and mouldy, and he only made a 12 x 12 hole in the front bedroom. 

It could be the pipework ccluedo, there are three in the lounge/kitchen. 

I'm going to contact my surveyor and say I'm satisfied there isn't a burn underneath.

GDB2222

Couple more questions:


When you peer into the air bricks at the back of the house, with a torch, what do you see? Can you poke a cane in a long way? 

How deep is the floor void? If you cut a decent sized hole, could someone get inside and see what is going on under the whole of the floored section? It seems a b***** stup** idea to take all the floors up before knowing what's going on. Is there an under floor equivalent of a drain camera?  

Are you quite sure you don't have a massive water leak? Turn all the taps off, then check your water meter. Check again a few hours later.  How about the drains?

GDB2222

Oh, and we live near the bottom of a hill, and we have a little spring that appears in our front garden. It's tiny and wouldn't appear on any maps. Maybe yours unfortunately comes up under the house, but possibly you could trace its route and persuade it to come up in your garden instead?