Underfloor lake

[Mark L]

Hi,

Yesterday I had a plumber round to install a new radiator. When he lifted the floorboards, he discovered that there was a substantial amount of water (about 2ft) in the space underneath the floor (this was not far short of the floorboards).

I've had a quick look through some other threads that deal with similar problems, but there are a couple of features particular to this problem that may or may not make a difference.

1. Following heavy rain, there are often pools of water standing against the house (at the front and back) that take a few days to drain. When we pumped the water from under the floor, these pools rapidly drained, so I suspect that inadequate drainage is the problem.

2. We first attempted to pump the water down a drain that serves a path running in front of, and higher than, the front of the house, and, although it did drain, it was slow, and could not deal with the volume of water produced by the pump (we eventually resorted to pumping the water into an inspection chamber for our foul water drain).

3. The water did not return after we pumped it.

My questions are:

1. How serious is this problem? We have noticed the house to be quite damp but have solved this with a dehumidifier. Of more serious concern, many electrical cables were submerged in the water.

2. What is the likely cause? Could it be linked to the "sluggish" drain that I described?

3. Is it normal that the water pooling outside the house has such a rapid connection to the water inside (i.e. it drained so quickly upon pumping the water)?

Obviously I appreciate that without seeing the house you can only offer best guesses, however, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Mark

[Ambrose]

Fully enough i should ask a similar question, your situation sounds very similar to mine- but i only have about an inch of water now and again, it does dissapear though- but all the same i am always left with various 'puddles' under my floor. i have heard of many people having problems like yours - but i dont know the cause or any way to stop it from happening again!

sorry ive not been much help.

[Tony McC]

Could it be that the existing drainage links to a soakaway that's past its best and needs replacing?

My next move would be to fully investigate the SW provision to see what it's like, how it's functioning and where it goes.

[Mark L]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have a look and see if I can work out how the SW drainage works.