The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Mon Apr 11, 2016 11:33 pm**

Hi,

I've been reading your site a lot and am thankful for the amount of information I've been able to gleam. Unfortunately I haven't come across a post/question with the same issue we are facing.

We have a non-subterranean cellar at the front of the house (the front door opens onto the top of it). We are getting some damp coming into the kitchen wall from the cellar (same level as the cellar - below the front door). When it rains heavily (as it frequently does in Yorkshire water drips inside of the cellar making the space nearly unusable!

The current patio has been spot laid onto a concrete base. I'm planning on lifting the existing patio - laying some concrete to create the fall away from the house - and then laying a DPM on top of this to dry the cellar, and therefore the Kitchen wall, - before re-laying the patio. My question is will the DPM trap water in the mortar - what drainage should be used (e.g. would some pea gravel channels on top of the DPM do the trick)?
Any advice about how to go about this would be very happily received!

Thanks,
Joe

Posted: **Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:08 am**

You could be opening a giant can of worms better to get someone to look at it as if you need to ask how to sort it will you have the skills to sort any underlying issues below the paving

Posted: **Wed Apr 13, 2016 8:58 pm**

You really need to be looking at waterproofing your walls ( tanking ). There are plenty of liquid membranes and coverings available. An ordinary membrane just placed against the wall probably wouldn't stop the seepage. You also need to lift the slabs that are spot bedded and lay on a full bed.

Posted: **Wed Apr 13, 2016 9:19 pm**

Thanks Both, the plan is to lift the patio, lay some concrete to create a fall away from the house, spread some bitumen liquid DPM paint, then put down a DPM sheet (flashed into the house), then re-lay the patio on a full bed of mortar. This should provide a full patio to take the majority of the water away, and two layer of waterproof protection under the patio for any water that does make it through.

Thanks,

Joe

Posted: **Thu Apr 14, 2016 3:59 pm**

Putting a layer of dpm down wont really help as its going to be covered over hats stopping anything getting under the dpm and working its way up to your walls again. You could lift the whole thing up take care of any cracks ir hole in the roof then paint with few coats of blackjack and then look at sorting the rising damp on the wall so maybe a damp fix that involves drilling holes and filling with a damp proofer. Before you go about relaying your patio

The Brew Cabin

Patio = cellar roof - dpm/drainage - Patio = cellar roof - dpm/drainage