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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 11:42 am
by mikiex
Hi,
I have a tricky problem with my drive, I bought the property nearly 2 years ago. I didnt really notice the problem although it is very obvious when you look at it that the drive allows surface water to flow back to the house. I dont think this was pointed out on my full survey, its probably too late to do anything about that.
I am looking to install a linear drain, but the rain water drain which is just inside my neigbours property is not that much lower than my drive. Another problem is the bay window which sticks out into the slope. the nearest drain to the other side of the house is right around the corner under more block paving. Is there any advice of what I could do to get some kind of drainage working without completey digging up all the block paving.
When I have investigaged my walls which were damp after we had very heavy rains for a few weeks, it looked like the mortar below the block paving is being damaged by all the water. So I think I may have to inject new mortar/repoint when I have the block paving up.
Here are the images:
The images
thanks
Michael
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 2:29 pm
by lutonlagerlout
should be no problem for a builder to make a connection into that gully,all you see is the top the invert is lower down
does water pool against the house?
most brick s below dpc perish a bit ,this is fairly normal and not the end of the world
you can run a linear drain around a bay,just requires some mitred cuts
hope this helps
nice pictures of the weeds btw,roundup works well on these
LLL 
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 3:48 pm
by mikiex
Thanks for the reply LLL, the problem I see with the bay is that the block paving slope contines from the bay to the house,
There is not much if any fall across the front of the house. So how can I make the drain go around the bay, unless I have some internal fall in the drain?
btw the weeds, I'm sure they help drink up the water
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 7:11 am
by seanandruby
Without knowing the depth of your neighbours pipework, or if it goes into a p trap, or straight on to a ninety bend it is hard to see what solution you will need. hopefully there will be the depth to put an oblique junction ( y branch ) a 45% degree bend and the hopper etc; this should give you quite a bit to play with so that you get a minimum fall. also you will need to put in a silt trap, aco supply those with the channels.
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:41 am
by Rich H
The linear drain doesn't need much, if any, fall. It works like a gutter - as long as the water doesn't have to go uphill, it'll be fine.
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 8:41 am
by mikiex
Thanks
I'll have to investigate the drain more, is it possible for me to do the drain myself or would I be better off getting someone else to look at that? Also are there any drains on the market that have internal falls, are these adjustable?
Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 1:02 pm
by matt h
the drains should be able to follow your existing slope which appears to have adequate fall . Your brickwork appears to have frost damage, but this is common with older properties. when fitting the linear drain you may want to change some of the worst ones:)
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:14 pm
by mikiex
I've been looking at putting in a run of Clark-Drain, but I have the problem that if I remove the blocks next to the house that will give me 20cm gap, the drains are 15cm wide, do I put the drains next to the building and have 5cm of concreate/ cement next to the blocks? To make sure I get any fall, I think the drain will need to be a bit lower than the blocks around the bay window
Any ideas??
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:31 pm
by Dave_L
Linear drains - great invention - even laying them them nigh-on flat - works a treat.
I see the gulley is to the right of the bay window - higher than the other areas - typical!!
Do you have any gullies to the left of the bay which are suitable?
Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:33 pm
by Dave_L
Other than that, it's going to be an excavation of some sorts - why not rip the driveway up and start over - and get those blocks laid nicely! The lines and levels are all a bit twisty and wavy!
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 2:51 pm
by mikiex
Dave_L wrote:Linear drains - great invention - even laying them them nigh-on flat - works a treat.
I see the gulley is to the right of the bay window - higher than the other areas - typical!!
Do you have any gullies to the left of the bay which are suitable?
Thee nearest gully on the other side is right to the back of the property and this is also not a straight run, it would need to avoid a few pipes etc. to get to that. - its block paving all the way around the side of the house
I would love to dig it all up and start again, but I'm on a budget, I dont really have the money to do this.
I added a diagram of what I thought may work - putting cement in the 5cm gap between the drain and the wall... is this a goo idea or not - considering the car being parked on the drive also.
I did a very quick diagram
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:24 pm
by mikiex
any answers to this one?, or should i search for a 100mm drain instead of the clark one? -
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:38 pm
by mikiex
I am now wondering if i could get away with having some kind of fairly shallow open concreate channel that just runs straight into the gully - can you get these that maybe look like block paving?
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:04 am
by matt h
aco drains would work best imho. It would also be advised to open up the brick work and rake out the cavities to ensure they are not blocked above dpc, insert extra air bricks aroun the bay. This will assist to keep the damp down
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 11:12 pm
by mikiex
Hi Matt, thanks for saving me from talking to myself too much
I'm starting to look at getting a dished channel, the drive is not a very big area althought it is fairly steep. it's probably not perfect solution, but it would be the easyest to intergrate because they come in 200mm by 200mm blocks, which will match the rest of the block paving without relaying it all or having a concrete gap between the linear drain and the blocks. Also I won't have to dig up the clay gully - which I dont fancy doing. On the other hand I will have to cut the blocks with a circular saw..never know that might be fun
On the subject of the walls are solid, so no cavities. When we had loads of rain for a few weeks non stop this year,
the inside walls near where it can pool on the block paving did get damp at the bottom. Also some of the floor boards looked damp- even within the middle house some walls seemed to get a little damp. I'm not sure if this was just rising up from the foundations or water running in from outside.
Some of the motar around the bottom of the house where the block paving is looks more like soft sandy mud than solid
mortar. So I was planning on repointing it with some new mortar (maybe with waterproof additive?) (using a motar gun maybe)