Neighbours claim they have damp

[irishpaving]

Did you use a contractor to lay the drive and if so speak to them about the complaint. Only time you need to use a solicitor is to have him ask where the written evidence is to support the claim. In the meantime if there's a heavy poor of rain it would be in your interest to go and have a look yourself & see if there is indeed water run off to the neighbours & possibility of water trickling into the airvent or not. That way you will know who's got a leg to stand on and who doesn't. ???

[Northam Stand]

its a simple matter of installing concrete gully surrounds around the airbricks to allow airflow and also to stop water ingress
If my neighbour decide to fall his patio/drive into my airbricks we would be having a forthright discussion (unlikely as 1 is a reverend and the other a professor)
we all know that airbricks are below dpc on old houses,but it is my pet hate seeing them either blocked or the paving level with them
LLL

Sorry, showing my lack of knowledge here.

Would these concrete gully surrounds need to be ultimately linked to a soakaway? If so, this would mean digging up quite a bit of the drive to do this.

[jay-Manor Driveways]

really need pictures, if there is a header course around the edges(against the neibours house) then maybe you can take that up turn them long ways which will leave a 100mm gap against the house i would then take out the sand and fill (to below the air bricks) with sand and cement , this makes a very cheap gully ( or if you have money to spend install proper gullies) your contractor will be able to this , this sounds like a very simple fix to me and shouldnt have involved solicitors

[lutonlagerlout]

this type of thing gully surround if this is water tight then water can not run into the airbrick
if the water is seeping through the wall then it is a course of lineal drains that are needed adjacent to the wall
roughly £50 per M to supply and install
LLL

[irishpaving]

One way or another you will have to chat with your neighbour to sort it out so i say Get on with it

[Northam Stand]

Thanks again for all your replies.

I've taken some photos, I hope you can access these.

There is a layer (width of one brick width) of shingle adjoining my neighbour's property. I've measured the vertical gap between the top of the shingle and the neighbours' damp course level and it's 90mm. Would I be able to dig down into the shingle by at least 60mm to make the total gap 150mm and solve the problem from a legal perspective?

[mickg]

no. the shingle will be on top of the concrete haunching what is holding the soldier course in place, if you remove the concrete then there is nothing to hold the driveway paving in place and you will get lateral movement of the driveway paving

you could install a linear drainage channel to replace the concrete connected to a soak a way which can have an overflow pipe connected to the existing surface water drainage system

[GB_Groundworks]

is that your drive or his? i'm confused?

surely being that close his gutters and sofits would be over hanging you land if its that tight a boundary?

[lutonlagerlout]

from here it looks like your drive falls towards his wall
90 mm is too high, the contractor should have installed a lineal drain or used 1 of the workarounds on the main website
LLL

[Northam Stand]

is that your drive or his? i'm confused?

surely being that close his gutters and sofits would be over hanging you land if its that tight a boundary?

It's my drive.

The area underneath his guttering is another cause of dispute between me and the neighbours. They claim it's their land due to (what seems to be) an unwritten law that the boundary up to an including the outside part of their guttering is their land, they claim this is commonly accepted, though I've never accepted it. There is certainly nothing in the title deeds to back this up.

It's all got rather acrimonious, they're threatening to put a fence up alongside the shingle (which they claim is on their land) which would make it practically impossible for me to get my car down the drive. Not sure how this would help their damp, admittedly.

[Tony McC]

Has the contractor been asked to explain the construction?

[lutonlagerlout]

if we are building and there is a gutter /soffit detail we normally have to keep 150mm inside the boundary
sadly this sort of dispute is fertile frond for legal types
LLL

[Pablo]

Common sense needs to prevail here from what you have described this is not your fault but it is your problem and you should make it right whether it's through the original contractor or a new one whom you should pay. If the original one comes back then expect to pay for materials at least because although he should have recommended a solution he never quoted for one and you accepted the price. Did any of the other quotes suggest a drain or lower level of paving. Also there may have been other factors that meant the paver couldn't reduce the level anymore like existing levels and exposed blockwork etc but he should have installed a drain if this was the case. With regards to the boundary it is your nieghbours property but because it is useless to them it's accepted that you will have use of it. It's a grey area but that is the widely accepted terms although no one will have it in writing. Another reinforcement of this is that the foundations of the house will be classed as being within their property and they will protrude at least 150mm beyond the wall. Do not go down the line of fighting this it will result in thousands spent and you hating your neighbour what's the point in that.
To get this sorted the only proper solution is a linear channel it will take a day to install and shouldn't cost more than £400 if you have something closeby that you can tap it into. If the water does indeed fall towards their house then a wraparound on the vents will trap and hold water in the corners possibly creating another problem. A cheap fix is not going to be any good in terms of neighbourly relations and you need somewhere to park your car. As a last resort they will not be able to install a fence without entering your property and disrupting your driveway to get the posts in and waste out so you can refuse them permission to do so. Fix it right send some flowers and at least you can make eye contact in the morning the alterative is bad for everyone. If you decide to do it let them know asap but tell them it may take a month or so to organise so you have some breathing space.



Edited By Pablo on 1266834626

[irishpaving]

Did you have a contractor do this work & if so why have you not been in contact with them over this matter or did you have someone you know do the work. Imo you don't have a leg to stand on legally, so you need to resolve this professionally and stop looking for a cheap fix. And maybe if you resolve the damp problem your neighbours might back off with the boundary issue

[SFLandscape]

I know this seems a bit harsh but i agree with your neighbour, your contractor has screwed up , you wont tell if you have been back to him, so get him back tell him to sort it out or do what lutonlagerlout says and put some drain gulleys around them, job done move on