Posted: Mon Feb 05, 2007 10:47 pm
Hi all. I noticed damp on the walls and this got worse as time went on. I thought it was caused by condensation and to a certain point it is.
I have removed the skirting boards which were rotting, two of the joists will need replacing and so will some floor boards.
The problem is that water is coming in from next doors wall below the floor boards. The house was built in 1906. I dug down and removed lots of bricks, broken pipe, rocks and gravel and (ARGH!!) clay. The water table appears to have dropped but I now have 2 ft of water that is not going away or getting higher.
Any idea how deep clay normally is?
I realise I need to add an air brick for ventilation and hoped to fill the hole with dust free limestone and gravel. I was going to put a membrane sheet on top with the intention of preventing the water vapour to destroy everything again. I was also going to treat the wood against rot and paint the walls to skirting level with black rubber - damp proof material. The plastering would be redone with the necessary waterproofer. Would this be a terrible idea and how long would it last yr or decades?
I am unclear what to do now because less than a metre away from where the water comes in I have found a drain pipe that runs from the problem area to the front of the outside wall (just less than 30ft), Would it be best to test this some way to see if I can use this to drain the water away? I am assuming this is what happened years ago.
Please help me with suggestions as I am getting desperate now - baby due in March
and the house looks like a building site !!
I have removed the skirting boards which were rotting, two of the joists will need replacing and so will some floor boards.
The problem is that water is coming in from next doors wall below the floor boards. The house was built in 1906. I dug down and removed lots of bricks, broken pipe, rocks and gravel and (ARGH!!) clay. The water table appears to have dropped but I now have 2 ft of water that is not going away or getting higher.
Any idea how deep clay normally is?
I realise I need to add an air brick for ventilation and hoped to fill the hole with dust free limestone and gravel. I was going to put a membrane sheet on top with the intention of preventing the water vapour to destroy everything again. I was also going to treat the wood against rot and paint the walls to skirting level with black rubber - damp proof material. The plastering would be redone with the necessary waterproofer. Would this be a terrible idea and how long would it last yr or decades?
I am unclear what to do now because less than a metre away from where the water comes in I have found a drain pipe that runs from the problem area to the front of the outside wall (just less than 30ft), Would it be best to test this some way to see if I can use this to drain the water away? I am assuming this is what happened years ago.
Please help me with suggestions as I am getting desperate now - baby due in March
and the house looks like a building site !!