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We had a series of works done to our ground floor garden flat over a couple of years, and rather than go through multiple rounds and fees of Building Control we are now going through a single Regularisation Cert process. Council have now done their inspection and main issue they've pointed out...

Oh and I also upgraded the downpipes, accounting for the bulk of roof rainwater, which my landscapers had redirected as part of the new guttering / gulley system... it was showing some leaks in the joints which were counter-productively dripping into the trench. This was my first time doing...

Well after a back-breaking couple of weekends removing all of the too-tight gravel from about 15 metres of "DPC Breathing Trench", I'm now done and it's drying out before being replaced by a much larger 50+mm aggregate to allow air circulation below the DPC and prevent any bridging. I probably...

Sorry to say that although it undoubtedly improved the health of the building, it didn't fix the underlying issue. Also it turns out the 20mm gravel I used in the trench as pictured above (which was VERY cheap gravel from Selco), is far too tight and does in fact retain moisture against the...

Yeah the downpipe is a known issue, it is cast iron with no obvious place to drain to without blocking the pathway. However, the rain water from the pipe is only from the bay roof so is fairly minor and doesn't pool significantly against the cement rendder, the tiles also have a slight decline...

Background: We've lived in the Ground Floor Flat of a London Victorian End of Terrace for 4 years. History of High Humidity: Overall, property has been good with no visible damp but seems to have persistently high humidity which I've been unable to remedy. Ventilation and Dehumidifier reduce...

Not a bad idea, attach with Epoxy Resin and paint with Dulux Gloss?

I have a 100+yr old Victorian house that doesn't have drip grooves in the 2 Bay Windows. I've only just noticed after the recent downpour that water is definitely tracking back onto the bricks underneath the bay window sill. The sills seem to be painted concrete. Question is what is the best...

reporting back to say job done, plinth removed, bricks re-pointed, area paved w new manhole cover, drainage upgraded included removing clay gulley and replacing with plastic, channel/trench against house filled with 20mm gravel. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to carry the gravel trench to the...

I've had patches of peeling paint near my skirting boards in my extension. Having scraped off the loose paint, the plaster underneath is discoloured. It is not obviously wet to the touch, but appears like some moisture may be getting through. The photo is taken from the ground floor extension...

Professionals now in (for landscaping work) and have removed the rest of the concrete plinth and broken up the solid concrete area around the manhole and downpipe drain/gulley... I've been away during the works but upon my Sunday evening return, amongst the hottest of the year in London, some...

Thanks @HERTS P&D I've given that stuff a whirl and will see how it holds up. At first I did the outside of the rubber plug in all the 'threads' and plugged it back in and gave it a wipe down with paper towels. Jobs a good'un I thought, until it promptly started leaking from the inner diameter...

The strap boss below was fitted about 18 months ago for a Combi Boiler outlet and connected to a pre-existing down pipe which I believe is our upstairs neighbours' (there are 2 flats above) wastewater pipe. Worked fine for a while. As you can see in the photo there is now leakage coming out -...

Thanks @JohnD - should I be concerned about the lack of lateral support digging down 3 courses below DPC? Also are you suggesting a dirt-bottomed trench or should I be laying weed membrane and putting in a drainage pipe with holes on bottom?

I finally got some more 18V Lithium batteries for my SDS drill (supplier was out of stock) which was absolutely chewing through the single puny battery I had... so went to town today. The horizontally laid concrete running up to the brickwork on the bay was pretty tough... about 70mm thick and...

more cement plinth removed, the air grille was not sitting on a full brick like I thought but just cemented together pieces of brick and is now coming apart... slightly problematic if it rains as the water will now run straight into the sub-floor. I'll be breaking up the concrete ground level...

Well today my 3-piece Milwaukee SDS Plus Shank Chisel Set arrived from Screwfix. I took to the cement plinth at the rear of the property (adjoining the new build extension) and I was very pleased at the performance of the chisels at removing the plinth. Although the cement was in reasonably good...

Thanks @JohnD ... I have a separate water hammer issue noticeable in the wall between the bathroom and bedroom which happens whenever the upstairs flat(s) turn taps on/off. Not very loud but enough to be annoying at night if sleeping in that bedroom. My point being it appears that cavity wall is...

Well, last night I had a 4am bathroom visit and left the bathroom light switch off to save my night vision... the extractor fan is on the same switch so stayed silent. In the dead of night I noticed for the first time what sounded like white noise... not clearly directional but appeared to be...

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