Water under floor

roblatus · 12 Nov 2005

Hello, i am hoping someone on here can give me some advice.

Under the floor of my house is a void. Ie i have wodden floors with a crawl space underneath.

The problem is that there are puddles of water underneath the floor. I first noticed this when we had to go under the floor to do a rewire last year. also my plumber went under the floor when he put new central heating and gas into the property. Several people have seen this water and don't seem to think it is a problem. I do not appear to have any leaks anywhere. In places the water may be 1-2 inches deep but doesn't seem to have damaged any of the underfloor brickwork and is still a couple of feet away form the damp course.

Several people that have seen it seem to think it is just where the low spots of the underfloor area are and therefore this is where the water pools after say a heavy prolonged spell of rain has seeped into the ground surrounding my property.

Is there anything i could do about this? Could i "fill in" the areas where the water is accumulating with anything?

There is no sign of any rot at all under the floor and the bricks all seem ok like i have said, the only reason i ask is because in one area in the house where i have no floor coverings and gaps between floor boards etc i have noticed a "musty" sort of smell. This area is directly above where some water is below the floor.

Any help or advice is really appreciated because i am at a loss as to what to do about this.

Thanks

masona · 12 Nov 2005

I'm guesssing you may have a water spring under the house????

joe-90 · 12 Nov 2005

Take a look when it is raining and see if you can see it coming in anywhere.

Are you on very low lying ground almost level with the water table?

joe

roblatus · 12 Nov 2005

joe-90 said:
Take a look when it is raining and see if you can see it coming in anywhere.

Are you on very low lying ground almost level with the water table?

joe

from what i have seen under the floor i think it maybe that the house is on a "low lying" bit of ground. Can't see any evidence of where the water may have got in but when it has poured down the area to the rear of my garden is usually "flooded" for a few days til it drains away.

Would it be possible to dump a load of concrete into the bits where the water accumulates maybe? or would this not work?

breezer · 12 Nov 2005

roblatus said:
joe-90 said:

Take a look when it is raining and see if you can see it coming in anywhere.

Are you on very low lying ground almost level with the water table?

joe

Click to expand...

from what i have seen under the floor i think it maybe that the house is on a "low lying" bit of ground. Can't see any evidence of where the water may have got in but when it has poured down the area to the rear of my garden is usually "flooded" for a few days til it drains away.

Would it be possible to dump a load of concrete into the bits where the water accumulates maybe? or would this not work?

that would be solving the problem not the cause.
dig a hole under the floor put a couple of inches of at least 20mm shingle in the bottom, then add a sump pump (with a float switch) , you should then run the pipe to a drain.

You may also want to put some small paving slabs in the sides to stop it caving in

it happens a lot to people with low lying ground and ponds (or at least they notice it most)

Idea being as the water table rises the pump switches on and pumps water out

but as this is surface water i am not sure if you can legaly do that (pump to sewer)

putting concrete down will only mean the water will either lift it, or come out elsewhere, hence curing the problem, not the cause

Tom. · 13 Nov 2005

The water might have been doing this for 100 years. As long as the air bricks aren't blocked up, I wouldn't worry about it.

roblatus · 13 Nov 2005

I think it probably has done it for a while. The house is 45 - 50 years old. I am going to make sure all my airbricks are clear for sure.

Like i said the area to the rear of my garden it is like a mini lake after we have had rain. This usually takes several days if not longer to drain away and has been like this for years becasue i noticed it before i even moved to this house when i used to drive by it.

The only thing that bothers my now is that it smells at the bottom of my stairs right above the biggest area of water. But there is no floor covering here and the boards have got gaps etc in between where they have been lifted for plumbing/electrical reasons.

I am thinking of making sure there is no debris in the water itself that may be going rotten and causing the smell. I am then thinking of just dumping a few inches of gravel or something onto the worst affected areas.

breezer · 13 Nov 2005

as i said you need to cure the cause not the problem, gravel will only meen you cant see the water

roblatus · 13 Nov 2005

breezer said:
as i said you need to cure the cause not the problem, gravel will only meen you cant see the water

i think to cure the cause totally would probably mean excavating almost the entire sub floor area of my property and unfortunatley i just do not have the funds to undertake something like that.

If this problem is caused by a high water table under my property i don't see that there is a great deal i can do. I just wanted some sort of Fix that would allow me to go under my floor without scuba gear on should i ever need to

breezer · 13 Nov 2005

my post never suggested anything at all like that, and it will solve it

roblatus · 13 Nov 2005

if i dig a hole does it need to be as big as the puddle is?? The worst affected bit under my floor is probably a few feet wide by maybe 6 feet long.

Do i need to dig down this entire area? Or just in the middle of it?

Are these sump pimps noisy? How is the pump held in place?

Thanks

Cackhanded · 14 Nov 2005

Apologies for saying this but,if you noticed the water accumulation before you bought the house why didnt you get a good surveyors report before buying??

As to a solution- where the water accumulates outside,try having a large hole excavated and back fill with rubble and gravel to contain it,make sure it is deeper thean the foundations of the house.

eddie

roblatus · 14 Nov 2005

Cackhanded said:
Apologies for saying this but,if you noticed the water accumulation before you bought the house why didnt you get a good surveyors report before buying??

As to a solution- where the water accumulates outside,try having a large hole excavated and back fill with rubble and gravel to contain it,make sure it is deeper thean the foundations of the house.

eddie

I never said i noticed it before i bought the house. I spent about £400-500 on a surveyors report. It wasn't your basic "valuation" it was what was called a "homebuyers report" and was not done by the building society.

The loft space was inspected during the survey but in the survey it says that the underfloor area could not be inspected due to the floor coverings being in place. Ie Laminate flooring.

I first noticed the water when i went under the floor during a re wire which was one of the first things i did when i got the house.

The main area where the water accumulates outside my property is behind the rear of my garden.........on council owned land. Not sure how they would react to me digging a hole in it.

STENDEC · 15 Nov 2005

Breezers solution is not that expensive really!

You need to dig a hole and put a pump in the middle of it. It doesnt need to be a massive hole but big enough to pool the water and line the sides with bricks or slabs to stop it collapsing. Fill it with gravel and make sure the pump has an automatic switch that comes on when the water reaches a certain level. The waste pipe can then be made to empty into a waste drain. Problem solved. Dry (Or almost dry) ground with no stagnant lying water to bother about.

Its a hundred quid maximum if you do it yourself and will stop all your problems and worries.

If you just shove some gravel down there without sorting the cause out it will serve NO purpose whatsoever. None at all.

Surefire · 16 Nov 2005

I had the same thing in my old house. The water authority man came round and said that my house was on the site of an old culvert. Nothing they could do as it was the natural height of the water table. I tried pumping it out but it was back again the next day. In the end I managed to get a council grant and filled the suspended floors with hardcore DPM and concrete. Didn't cure the cause 'cos it wasn't curable (within the realms of a reasonable budget), got rid of the problem though.

diynot

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.

Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

Water under floor

breezer

breezer

breezer

Similar threads