The Brew Cabin

I have just had a new block paved drive laid, and they done a lovely job except...

Originally my drive sloped down towards the house, but "kinked" back up about a metre or so away from the brickwork, and all of the water soaked into a central gravelled area. The contractor has, at my request, fitted some lovely kerbed edging to the gravel.

He has sloped the drive down towards the garage (with a narrow strip drain, which is fine) and similarly towards the bay window/door wall (three bricks down on the blue brick). The bit of path in front of the bay window is only 1m wide x 3.5m long

I ran a hose at the weekend, and noticed that water runs from the left hand side of my drive, avoids the grate in front of the garage, and ends up along the front of the bay window wall, and dissapears gradually into the sand joint between the blue brick/block paving. I cant tell where it would eventually end up, because the sand is still very porous

I believe he should have fitted a drain here, or channelled blocks to allow the water to run off into a rainwater pipe (which he has block paved around) which is at the other end of the bay window wall.

Am I being too picky? is a hosepipe sprayed on the ground a fair test?. What real damage could this do to my house from such a small area of path?

What can I reasonably expect him to do about it?????

Thanks for listening...

Have I got this right? The surface water from the entire drive falls towards the garage and the drain installed there, but never actually makes it into the drain as it is directed towards an area of paving beneath the bay window, where it sits, sulks for a bit and then finds its way through the joints to the sub-layers?

If that is correct, then you have a serious problem. The joints will self-seal over the next few weeks and then you'll have a puddle which will take longer and longer to disappear. It will also encourage the blocks to become green and manky with algae and other crud, and it can cause problems with settlement over the longer term.

It's relatively easy to rectify this problem NOW, but the longer it gets left, the worse it will become. I can't say which is the more feasible, but either the blocks need re-laying to re-formed levels that direct all the surface water into the drainage system, or the drainage system itself needs lowering to ensure the surface water finds its way in, or, possibly, a bit of each.

What you can reasonably expect is that your driveway drains properly to suitable drainage points. Areas of standing water are not acceptable and any decent contractor will gladly remedy the problem. Have you asked your contractor what they propose to do?

Yes Tony, thats right!

I have had the chap back in, who has agreed to put channelled edge bricks around the bay window wall, ending up in a rainwater drain (currently sealed with a gutter downpipe)

He was a bit reluctant at first, he said that "there was not much he could do", and then he said that when sand sealed, it would run along the house, and he would open up the drain cap for it. I said that I wanted some form of channel or drain, as I had read that water against the house is not a good idea.

It was only when I actually demonstrated with a hosepipe that he finally relented.

Can I just say that if it wasn't for this site, and your advice, I might just have left it.....

Many thanks


Matthew