Water under floor when rains

Jimbo320, hi

OK Still off post, sorry about this but these comments may~? be relevant?

I have been asked to investigate dozens of insurance claims where water is entering the under building below floors.

If the cause is Ground water, the majority of insurers will walk away, but?

If you can prove that the water entering the property can be proved to contain any of the following then the insurer may assist in getting a remedy?

There are Companies who can perform Chemical / almost forensic tests on the water and tell if it contains, Chlorine? Soap? Faecal material?

If the water contains Chlorine and a couple of other components then the water MAY be coming from a fractured water main?

If the water contains Soap there is a high probability that the water is escaping from a Foul Drain.

As for faecal material that indicates a fractured failed Foul Sewer

As can be imagined, if you can prove what is in the water then you can get the relevant Authority to sort the escapes of water, or Sewage?

OK the investigations are not cheap to undertake but if you can prove the source then the utility provider / supplier can be held up to undertake the requisite repair.

Ken

I have a problem with water under the floor of a terraced house. In fact the whole terrace suffers from this problem.
I have spent 15 years investigating the source and it is the rainwater from the front roofs that is not able to drain away. The water from the backs of the properties enters the foul drains and is taken away safely.
At the front the water comes down the fall pipe and used to go through a 4" salt glazed pipe in the small front garden and then out across the pavement in a cast iron channel and off the kerb and into the road. The Victorian architect specified that the kerb shall be and shall remain 18" lower than the front door step.
In the 1970s the Council modified the street and raised the road by over a foot and put a back-fall on the pavement ie sloping the opposite way towards the houses. They also installed a porous concrete drain under the pavement to carry away the water from the roofs. This porous drain is above the height of the sub-floor level under the houses!
The result is that the sub-floor at the front of the houses is very wet, some times the water gets very deep.
Tests have shown the water is entering from the fronts of the properties, it is free from chemicals etc.

The Council are saying there is nothing wrong with what they have done in the street and it is up to the householders to dispose of their own water!

To prove the water was coming from we set a garden hose running for 24 hours 5 doors up the street (slightly up hill) and let it flow past my house. The water under my house rose 305mm during this period! We estimated 24 tonnes of water left the hose and about 6 tonnes reached the gully 10 doors down the street.

It is driving the residents to distraction and costing a fortune to maintain and heat these homes.

Anyone have any thoughts? I feel the only course now is going to court.

Stardom,

perhaps start a new thread and post some pics.