Dry channel along house - Would a dry channel be good enough?

[ladyluck]

Hi,
I've literally just had a new patio layed by a landscape gardener - problem is he did not dig and has layed the slabs high - just under the DPC of the house. I found out this was unacceptable when a builder came round to do the gutters and told me the implications, so I looked into it and read the building regs and help on this website that it should be 15cm under the DPC (not 2cm). I have told the fool, and he is coming to rectify the problem (though he says it's fine as it is). He is going to cut a 8" channel away from the house and down to the soil, filled with gravel to drain away water. Will this really be good enough, will it still devalue my house on a survey? Should the sod dig them all up and start again? Thanks in advance . . .

[lutonlagerlout]

usual story
the channel he speaks of is known as a french drain
we dont ;like them for a number of reasons the main one ebing that they act as a reservoir for water
have a good look at
this page
before you let him loose

LLL

[ringi]

If the paving slopes away from your house and the “channel� is under the overhang of your roof and your soil drains reasonable it may work. I am assuming the top of the gravel will be at least 15cm below the DPC and some support will be put in for the paving. (Too many “ifs� for my liking…)

Now if the channel was 3 foot wide and called a flower bed, with the soil level at least 15cm below the DPC….

[ladyluck]

The top of the gravel will be where the paving slabs lie, which is 2cm below the DPC. There isn't much of an overhang of the roof, but the paving does slope away from the house. There are no drains in the back garden so we are hoping the water which will be collected in this small resovoir will seep downwards to earth. . . Won't this work? I don't know what to do now for the best because of his incompetance.