Concrete drive up to DPC!

[poddy1967]

Hi-our house has a concrete drive, one of those patterncrete drives, which is great. Kitchen has started to suffer with damp on the 2 walls that run along the drive.

I've checked and along most of its length on this bit of the house it meets or is just below the DPC. It does have a plastic drain between the drive and the house, but only about an inch and a half wide, and often gets blocked as the drain slots are so narrow and water tends to run towards house (obv not a great installer!).

Been thinking of hiring a 12" grinder and diamond cutter, cutting away 150mm wide gap and filling with gravel, well not filling but so that there's at least a brick depth below DPC. However is that a bit drastic?

Any other options? Someone has suggested using lead flashing as a barrier between plastic drain and wall, but going 1 brick above dpc-but doesn't seem to make sense. Any ideas?

 

[loply]

I think the gravel idea might be worth a punt. Other option is to replace it really

Concrete drive laid up to DPC level and sloping towards the house, two biggest mistakes you can make really.

I would presume in due time it will rut and crack so why not be done with it and get it ripped out and relaid 150mm lower and sloping away from the house?

 

[poddy1967]

I think the gravel idea might be worth a punt. Other option is to replace it really

Concrete drive laid up to DPC level and sloping towards the house, two biggest mistakes you can make really.

I would presume in due time it will rut and crack so why not be done with it and get it ripped out and relaid 150mm lower and sloping away from the house?

Thanks, think I will try the channel first. Any thoughts on using lead flashing along the wall as a barrier, so flashing would essentially cover say the first row of bricks?