Hi all,
Just wondered if someone could give me some advice. I have built decking before in previous properties, but these have been modern houses with a visible and generally 'high' DPC.
We are now in a Victorian semi and want to make the back kitchen window into french doors which will open out onto a nice deck.
Just to give you a brief background - house is of solid brick construction, a vague slate DPC which has perished and failed in places. The level of the slate DPC is very low to the ground (perhaps as a result of the surrounding ground level being raised over the years?) Also, there are several air bricks on the outside ABOVE the internal floor level which are ducted within the wall, downwards, serving the suspended wooden floor void.
My issue is that I would like the decking to butt right up against the back wall but as I can't see where the DPC is along the back wall I am not keen on the decking touching the wall, but I don't want a bloody great gap!!
What will be the best solution, should I dig down and excavate to bring the finished deck level up to the current ground level (which will cause a problem with a drain potentially and garden levels will be compromised) or build the decking on the current ground surface (a mixture of poured concrete, slabs and shingle) and keep it away from the house - and if so what is the recommended distance so as to avoid 'splashback' and potential penetrating damp.
As it stands, the rest of the area outside the kitchen is laid to concrete so our surveyor at the time of buying the house suggested a 'french drain' around the perimeter to help with the mild damp problem in that part of the house as the ground level seems to be so high - at the side door threshold there is barely an inch below the doorframe before the concrete floor.
I will try to post some photos tomorrow but any advice would be greatly appreciated. On a side note (just because I am paranoid) when the door frame gets fitted in place of the back window - how will it be DPC'd? Do they simply put DPC roll along the bottom and up the side a bit of the opening? I have spoken to several local builders about the job and none of them have even mentioned the lack of/slate DPC or how they would deal with it when the new door frame would potentially breach it.
Thanks in advance!!
Just wondered if someone could give me some advice. I have built decking before in previous properties, but these have been modern houses with a visible and generally 'high' DPC.
We are now in a Victorian semi and want to make the back kitchen window into french doors which will open out onto a nice deck.
Just to give you a brief background - house is of solid brick construction, a vague slate DPC which has perished and failed in places. The level of the slate DPC is very low to the ground (perhaps as a result of the surrounding ground level being raised over the years?) Also, there are several air bricks on the outside ABOVE the internal floor level which are ducted within the wall, downwards, serving the suspended wooden floor void.
My issue is that I would like the decking to butt right up against the back wall but as I can't see where the DPC is along the back wall I am not keen on the decking touching the wall, but I don't want a bloody great gap!!
What will be the best solution, should I dig down and excavate to bring the finished deck level up to the current ground level (which will cause a problem with a drain potentially and garden levels will be compromised) or build the decking on the current ground surface (a mixture of poured concrete, slabs and shingle) and keep it away from the house - and if so what is the recommended distance so as to avoid 'splashback' and potential penetrating damp.
As it stands, the rest of the area outside the kitchen is laid to concrete so our surveyor at the time of buying the house suggested a 'french drain' around the perimeter to help with the mild damp problem in that part of the house as the ground level seems to be so high - at the side door threshold there is barely an inch below the doorframe before the concrete floor.
I will try to post some photos tomorrow but any advice would be greatly appreciated. On a side note (just because I am paranoid) when the door frame gets fitted in place of the back window - how will it be DPC'd? Do they simply put DPC roll along the bottom and up the side a bit of the opening? I have spoken to several local builders about the job and none of them have even mentioned the lack of/slate DPC or how they would deal with it when the new door frame would potentially breach it.
Thanks in advance!!
