soil against my back wall causing damp walls

[alprod]

Thanks for that.

I'm going to tackle this at the weekend. I'm getting gutters fixed and then i'm going put in french drains and build up the ground level so it slopes away from the house.

Whats the best things to use to build up the ground. Do i just buy loads of top soil or is there any other type of soil i should buy, cheaper the better.

One final question, as i only have about 1m of land at the side of my house then it goes onto a slope onto a railway line. Where will i drain the french drain to? I can't build a soakaway as it has to by 5 meters away so where should it go?

 

[DonJenzus]

Hi

If the slope is so close. I would drain it there.


What comes to the type of fillings. I advise you to use "frenchdrainsand"
It is commonly used as a bed for the french drain as it has no sharp or large stones that would possibly damage the drain.

Also make sure that the french drain canal needs to be atleast 20-30 cm wide from the bottom to the top, that way the capillary moisture from the side of the house won´t be able to get to your walls

The fillings from bottom to top.

1. 2-5cm of French drain sand
2. french drain (remember that it needs to slope all the way)
3. 2-5 of frech drain sand on the top of the pipe
4. washed rubble almost to the top
5. To the top i suggest you use filling that won´t let the rainwater through
It´s not mandatory, you can use rubbel, but then you should install a "filtercloth" just under the top rubble, that way the grass and the weed won´t bother you.
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[alprod]

Cheers,

I ws just going to dig the trench and then use landscape fabric and then fill that with washed gravel, cover with fabric and then cover it all with soil. Would that work?

On top of that i could then put down a barrier sheeting and then maybe conrete or slab over it in the future?

 

[JohnD]

on top, you could put paving slabs, with a bit of a fall away from the house.

the trench will settle unevenly so no point in putting a lot of work into setting them in concrete yet.

 

[alprod]

Would recommend just putting loose paving slabs on top then until it settles?

 

[DonJenzus]

Yep. You got it. Or you can always compress the gravel with a 100kg machine. Don´t know what it is in english. But it vibrates as h*ll.

After that you can put the slabs and concrete them