Hello all, Looking for any opinions on the following:
Just bought a terraced house , the front of which faces slightly up hill (the terraced houses on the other side of the road are approximately 4 feet higher). There is a garden at the front of the property that slopes gently down to the front of my property, this is always quite wet and this is affecting the walls in the property (even one internal cupboard under the stairs where the walls are deteriorating to the extent that it comes away in my hands at points)
I was considering digging a french drain out the front but, from reading this site, it doesn't seem like a good idea. Another problem is that there is no drain outside the front of the property that I could use as a run off fro any construction ( the nearest is two doors down that serves all of our gutters)
I don't really know how to proceed - I have thought that a last resort will be to build a driveway on the front garden that can be sloped back into the road. However, this is a last resort and is way beyond what I can afford to do at the moment! (first house!)
Oh yes, the house was built in 1917 - the walls are single layer (not cavity) as far as I can tell. They are rendered on the outside and there is a slate damp proof course).
Any suggestions welcomed!
thanks
AL
Drainage for terraced house
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84-1093879891
While a French Drain may not be ideal, you could use the modern equivalent, a drainage composite. I wrote about these in another thread just a couple of days ago.
Even if you did install a composite, you still have nowhere to outfall, unless you find that there's a SW sewer in the road and the council are happy for you to make a new connection. So, your first task should be to identify just where you can get rid of any water intercepoted at the front of the house. Once you've solved that conundrum, identifying a suitable drainage system becomes much easier.
The idea about installing a driveway confuses me. If the garden backfalls towards the house, how would installing a driveway drain towards the road? Surely the driveway would either have to follow the profile of the garden, and backfall towards the house, or be elevated somehow, at the house end, and so create fall out to the road.
Even if you did install a composite, you still have nowhere to outfall, unless you find that there's a SW sewer in the road and the council are happy for you to make a new connection. So, your first task should be to identify just where you can get rid of any water intercepoted at the front of the house. Once you've solved that conundrum, identifying a suitable drainage system becomes much easier.
The idea about installing a driveway confuses me. If the garden backfalls towards the house, how would installing a driveway drain towards the road? Surely the driveway would either have to follow the profile of the garden, and backfall towards the house, or be elevated somehow, at the house end, and so create fall out to the road.
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AL
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:44 pm
Thankyou for your reply Tony,
Re the driveway: yes my intention would be to pack the garden with sufficient amounts of hardcore to allow the driveway to slope towards the road. An expensive measure.
Looks like I am a bit stuffed then , since I have no option to get rid of the water even if I can collect it in an area nearer the road. I doubt the council would be amenable to me joining onto their sewer, although the plans say that there is one out under the pavement.
Out of interest, I spoke to my neighbour and he said that he has the same problem - but had rather unwisely attempted to solve the problem by digging a trench in front of the house and filling it with concrete. Funnily enough its his side of our property that appears to be where the water ingress is worst (right underneath - in the cupboard under my stairs)
Yesterday I dug right down at the front of the house so that the damp course is approx 300mm above the ground level (thats got to be a good start , it was right at the level of the DPC before!). Now I'm going to try and level out the garden to within 1 metre of the road and then have a steeper incline on that final metre (with possibly a french drain between the incline and the flat area). How does that sound?
thanks for your help
AL
Re the driveway: yes my intention would be to pack the garden with sufficient amounts of hardcore to allow the driveway to slope towards the road. An expensive measure.
Looks like I am a bit stuffed then , since I have no option to get rid of the water even if I can collect it in an area nearer the road. I doubt the council would be amenable to me joining onto their sewer, although the plans say that there is one out under the pavement.
Out of interest, I spoke to my neighbour and he said that he has the same problem - but had rather unwisely attempted to solve the problem by digging a trench in front of the house and filling it with concrete. Funnily enough its his side of our property that appears to be where the water ingress is worst (right underneath - in the cupboard under my stairs)
Yesterday I dug right down at the front of the house so that the damp course is approx 300mm above the ground level (thats got to be a good start , it was right at the level of the DPC before!). Now I'm going to try and level out the garden to within 1 metre of the road and then have a steeper incline on that final metre (with possibly a french drain between the incline and the flat area). How does that sound?
thanks for your help
AL
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84-1089053830
To be frank, it doesn't sound promising. If you install a 'French Drain', to where will it drain?
Actually, councils are a lot more amenable to drainage connection requests than you may imagine. If you and the neighbour, along with one or two others were able to show that you have a serious problem with standing water and backfalling levels, then the "powers that be" might even consider subsidising the installation of a connection to accommodate, say, a pavement gully to which they'd be prepared to allow your pipework to connect.
Actually, councils are a lot more amenable to drainage connection requests than you may imagine. If you and the neighbour, along with one or two others were able to show that you have a serious problem with standing water and backfalling levels, then the "powers that be" might even consider subsidising the installation of a connection to accommodate, say, a pavement gully to which they'd be prepared to allow your pipework to connect.