Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 12:46 pm
We have also had a very similar problem. We live at the bottom of a hill, and the road was historically built on the site of a stream that has been contained in a pipe under the road. The soil is heavy clay. We knew we had a problem with water under the floor (assuming it was an inch or so in wet weather). My husband cut inspection chambers and the oversite was damp and musty but not wet (weather had been dry for a month). Then came bank holiday Monday and heavy rain. This time there was 8 inches of water filling up our floor void. We pumped all morning, at least 10k gallons.
What I wanted to comment was that I researched my garden at the local building control, and obtained a diagram of the shared storm sewer that runs the length of all the houses in the road. (None of the neighbours had been able to tell me about this; they all said they had soakaways that were not working properly). We rodded ours, and discovered quite quickly that there was a hard blockage on the corner of our house. Husband dug and excavated the drain to discover that a builder before we lived at the house had dug footings for an extension and removed a 3' section of drain. So we for 4 years have been receiving not just our own rainwater, but rainwater from the downpipes of the two houses upstream from us, which was flowing quite rapidly in a couple of gaps in the blocks below ground level.
The pipe has now been repaired, and my (mad?) husband has been busy rodding the drains of all the other houses which have been heavily silted.
Obviously the original (careful) builder who built all the houses knew that a soakway would never work on our soil, so put in a really good drainage system. If this had been maintained properly, none of this would have happened. Someone near the bottom of the run has removed the drain completely and we are in the process of trying to get them to reinstate it.
All our floor joists and flooring has started to rot. We have a ring main under the floor that was tripped out for much of the winter. The floor has also dropped and the kitchen will need replacing.
I can't tell you how frustrated I am that the removed drain would have been obvious when the foundations were dug (there is a catchpit 6' away as well). These were inspected by Building Control, who have visited the house recently and been quite shocked at the damage they have seen. However, they still have the nerve to stand in front of the broken drain and tell me it is nothing to do with their department.
My advice to anyone who is seeing a lot of water in their garden is not to believe anything the neighbours tell you anecdotally without further research. Our house was built in 1958, and the plans were still available to view at the council. These gave us so much information. The neighbours have been accepting that it normal to live with a garden 3" deep in water every time it rains.
When the whole sorry saga is finished, I will copy a diagram showing the catchpits and drains and give one to every neighbour so that they can pass it on if they sell the house. That way, hopefully the drains will be preserved.
I have now officially become a drain bore. All I can say it that is I am pleased it was only rainwater!
What I wanted to comment was that I researched my garden at the local building control, and obtained a diagram of the shared storm sewer that runs the length of all the houses in the road. (None of the neighbours had been able to tell me about this; they all said they had soakaways that were not working properly). We rodded ours, and discovered quite quickly that there was a hard blockage on the corner of our house. Husband dug and excavated the drain to discover that a builder before we lived at the house had dug footings for an extension and removed a 3' section of drain. So we for 4 years have been receiving not just our own rainwater, but rainwater from the downpipes of the two houses upstream from us, which was flowing quite rapidly in a couple of gaps in the blocks below ground level.
The pipe has now been repaired, and my (mad?) husband has been busy rodding the drains of all the other houses which have been heavily silted.
Obviously the original (careful) builder who built all the houses knew that a soakway would never work on our soil, so put in a really good drainage system. If this had been maintained properly, none of this would have happened. Someone near the bottom of the run has removed the drain completely and we are in the process of trying to get them to reinstate it.
All our floor joists and flooring has started to rot. We have a ring main under the floor that was tripped out for much of the winter. The floor has also dropped and the kitchen will need replacing.
I can't tell you how frustrated I am that the removed drain would have been obvious when the foundations were dug (there is a catchpit 6' away as well). These were inspected by Building Control, who have visited the house recently and been quite shocked at the damage they have seen. However, they still have the nerve to stand in front of the broken drain and tell me it is nothing to do with their department.
My advice to anyone who is seeing a lot of water in their garden is not to believe anything the neighbours tell you anecdotally without further research. Our house was built in 1958, and the plans were still available to view at the council. These gave us so much information. The neighbours have been accepting that it normal to live with a garden 3" deep in water every time it rains.
When the whole sorry saga is finished, I will copy a diagram showing the catchpits and drains and give one to every neighbour so that they can pass it on if they sell the house. That way, hopefully the drains will be preserved.
I have now officially become a drain bore. All I can say it that is I am pleased it was only rainwater!