Advice on removing concrete in garden

[GoldenApe]

Hi I'm looking for a bit of advice. We live in a Victorian terrace and have a small (narrow but long) back yard which is covered by a layer of concrete (about 8 to 10cm thick). This slopes markedly towards the house and bridges any damp course by at least 20cm at the highest point (the level of the concrete in the garden is considerably higher than the level of the floor inside the house) and has caused damp problems in the past. The concrete also looks a mess.

We're now thinking of putting some slabs down in the garden but don't wan't to raise the ground level further and really would like it level, as such I'm thinking of digging out the concrete. I'm wondering if this is wise though - one tradesman had suggested that due to the age of the house the concrete might now be partly supporting the walls and removing it could cause problems, is this likely? If I do remove the concrete should I think about installing a french drain or something similar or would it just be sufficient to the let the water drain through the slabs. Are there any other important points I need to think about before starting. Thanks very much, I've included a few pictures just in case these help.

[actually I've completely failed to insert any images - here are the URLs instead:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/641/photo2xw.jpg
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/217/gardenconcrete.jpg/

 

[r896neo]

What damp proof course is there and is it original? SLate?

 

[WabbitPoo]

one tradesman had suggested that due to the age of the house the concrete might now be partly supporting the walls and removing it could cause problems, is this likely?

No.

 

[GoldenApe]

I'm not totally sure what or indeed where the damp course is (it's buried) but from the age of the house I'd guess it would be slate but might have degraded over the years.

Good to know that removing the concrete won't cause problem, I didn't think it would but it pays to be cautious.

 

[r896neo]

why i asked about the dpc is because if the house has one then you can be relatively confident in the way it was built and it will have foundations of some sort and a few courses of brick above them before dpc level.

Slabs will not drain water so must be layed with a fall away from the house and falling away to a gulley or an area of lawn/flower bed large enough to handle the run off.

 

[GoldenApe]

Ah I see, yes I've no idea about the damp course or the foundations. However, I've always assumed that we've probably got a foundation a couple of bricks deep with the bottom few courses being laid directly on clay and being three or four bricks wide (that's fairly typical for terraces build around the turn of the 20th century round here I think).

With the slabs would I be able to improve the run off between them if we left moderate gaps and only filled with sand not mortar? The reason I ask is that the only drain is at the side of the house and the entire back garden is covered with concrete and surrounded by walls, so no real opportunity to have the water run off.

 

[WabbitPoo]

Good to know that removing the concrete won't cause problem

That's not what I said. I said its not likely. Big difference!



Re: damp course, my house, 200+ years old had no damp course at all on some original walls. Be prepared to get one fitted if damp persists after you have made the changes.