Which? drainage - Drainage

[Beeb]

Where do I start?

Here goes - 9 weeks ago we discovered, following pool of water appearing in our back garden near our rear door, we discovered that the mains water pipe to our house (c 1830's) had ruptured underneath it and it looks as though it had been like that for some time. The pipe was fixed more or less straight away. The water damage has resulted in our walls and floors becoming saturated with moisture readings off the scale. We had the usual calls to insurance co etc and until yesterday industrial driers and dehumdifiers installed. However, the house is not drying out. My builder has dug test holes in the concrete floor in the rear of the house and found very wet soil. The front of the house is timber floors over soil base and 2ft from floorboard height is water and lots of it! We also dug a hole in the garden to establish if it is the water table and yes - 2ft down was water. BUT, I since been in touch with the Environment Agency to find out how high the water table is where I live - they can't help me - don't have any records. SO i contacted my local planning dept who referred me to a drainage expert with the council who may know how high it was and the feedback i am getting is that it may be the typical ground water level. I am not convinced - as our property is around 200mtrs from a drainage ditch down a lane which is on a decline and the water level must be at least 6 ft below ours.

So how do i go about getting rid of this water - if indeed I can without it compromising the structure and fabric of the house. Or before we do anything - should we have a site survey done?

Has anyone had any experiences like the above. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[danensis]

The water under the timber floor is not a problem if there is plenty of ventilation. Make sure the air bricks are clear and there is a through draught.

If you have a hole dug, use it as a sump, and install (hire) a pump and pump all the water into the ditch. If the ditch is lower than the sump, you should be able to siphon the water out.

[Tony McC]

There's nothing unusual in a water table varying in level by 1.8 metres over 200m distance. The capillarity of the local soil/sub-soil will have a major effect on WT level at any given point, and there could be a clay anticline or berm between your property and the local ditch/stream, acting as a barrier to groundwater flow.

Your only option is to seek onsite advice. Without seeing the site, the precise layout, geomorphology, drainage etc, it's impossible to say what should be done. Bring in that surveyor recommended by your LA - if they are putting forward a name, it's a fair bet that they believe the surveyor is familiar with the local regime and knows what they're talking about!