Drainage - Damp - DPC Level

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Hi all.

I've had an ongoing struggle with my developer to fix faults on my house. All the levels around my house were level with or above the DPC, all air bricks were covered by soil or decking.

Round the back the damp would rise up the render turning it green and black. They are currently working on this to clean it and then paint, although with the weather it is proving impossible. A ten day estimate is now 2 months and no further forward. Back garden is a swamp due to it being solid clay. Scaffold all around the house but nothing can be done.

Anyway, these issues are hopefully being sorted.

The front of the house has a small garden approx 3-4 foot wide. This is where the soil or rather clay was right up to the DPC. The warranty provider advised it was a problem due to the DPC breach. In his report he suggested this as a possible fix.....


Our Observations:

 The external ground level on all three elevations is at or close to damp proof course (DPC) level i.e. less than 150mm below DPC. See photographs 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

 All paving and drives with the exception of the principle level access into the dwelling should be laid at least 150mm below the damp proof course of the dwelling.

 A simple ground work solution to resolve the problem could be to;

1. Cut back the various external ground finishes at least 150mm back from the face of the external elevations.

2. Excavate the 150mm wide trench to a depth of 300mm from the level of the DPC.

3. Form the edges of the trench.

4. Back fill the 300mm deep trench with 150mm free draining gravel.

5. Level the upper 150mm of the trench clear to maintain the 150mm clearance of the DPC.


"..........."..........


This was nearly 2 years ago they were told to do the repairs and they have tried to start from the beginning of October when it rains most days.

The public paving out front is level with the garden and my DPC.

As they took so long to start these repairs I had to dig out a channel around the front of the house, about 30 foot in length. I dug about a foot down and a foot across to clear the DPC and air bricks. The remainder of the garden is level with the DPC. So a trench I have running around. Problem I have is I asked the warranty provider where the water will drain to. They have not answered. The developer is saying it does not need any drainage as its fine as is.

The rain and subsequent surface water has no where to go. It pools up in the channel. When it eventually soaks downwards, presumably against the foundations ,the brickwork just underneath the render/DPC is constantly soaked. Even after 4 days of no rain, they remain soaked. When it rains, it splashes from the remainder of the higher part of the garden onto the render. This puts mud all over the white render, approximately 1-2 foot high.

Should this channel have some sort of drain fitted to take the water away from the house? It's a townhouse, a lot of water runs off into this channel.

Here is a few pictures to show what I mean.
 

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Hi, I sorry to hear your troubles.

It sounds like the developer has made billy basic errors.

The landscaping would have been tiwards the end of the build, I wonder why they got it wrong.

Anyway, yes, if water is building up, it needs to discharge somewhere.

Sometimes a gravel space next to a house just helps prevent rain splash, but if its sitting on non porous clay and or paths or patios direct water into it, then it must have a discharge point.
 
Is this a new build property, (at least when you first moved in)?
 
Is this a new build property, (at least when you first moved in)?


The house was a show home. It was 4 years old when I bought it. They said any fault, cosmetic or structural would be fixed prior to moving in, if not just add it to the snag list. Tenancy was ending and I had to move in on the date agreed. Faults not fixed. Added to snag list, then the developer turned round and said, sorry house was sold as seen and refused to fix anything. I've had to fight them every step of the way. Warrant provider agreed certain things were structural and had to be repaired. The list is endless. Main issues. Roof leaked twice, whole roof replaced twice. Render cracked in multiple places, full of damp and algae. All the DPC Levels wrong. Garden solid clay and all the building rubble buried under rotten deck that's now been pulled out by me as they have finally agreed it was faulty and the levels need lowering 150mm below DPC

Probably a lot more faults if I git a snagger in but now I'm out of the two year warranty. Every fault is denied by the developer. Been 2 years 9 months. In total so far I've had scaffold around the house for 9 months. A back garden I can't use right now or other times when scaffold was up.
 
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Hi, I sorry to hear your troubles.

It sounds like the developer has made billy basic errors.

The landscaping would have been tiwards the end of the build, I wonder why they got it wrong.

Anyway, yes, if water is building up, it needs to discharge somewhere.

Sometimes a gravel space next to a house just helps prevent rain splash, but if its sitting on non porous clay and or paths or patios direct water into it, then it must have a discharge point.


More than half the development has the wrong DPC levels. Paths and driveways covering air bricks, front gardens all higher than DPC and covering air bricks.

If I dug my garden down to the level suggested in the report, the garden would have a 300mm drop from the public paving. Basically the paths and roads have been built level with a lot of the DPC courses or the houses built wring, whichever way you want to look at it.

There is no discharge point. The water sits at the bottom of channel I dug out, then slowly seeps away. The channel is dug to the level in the report but if I go one more inch down I hit the hardcore. Garden is solid clay. I've already dug about 5 ton of clay out in the back and added soil do I can grow plants.

Below is a picture of the back garden after I pulled the rotten deck out. The clay is dark orange type colour, hard as rock when dry and sticky heavy compacted when wet. Also pictures of the damp when deck was there and one of the front. And one of whole in the roof.

What type of drainage would work for the situation?
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If a lot of the development is in a similar situation then I would suggest you form a residents committee and try to get your local MP onboard.
My step sons FIL bought a brand new house near London and the snag list was unbelievable! They all got together and pressured the builders who have now agreed to do a large number of repairs.
You say the developers claim the house was 'sold as seen'. Did you have a survey done and, if so, was it a simple valuation survey for a mortgage or a full house buyers survey?
If it was a valuation survey you may have a course of redress against the building society, possible under something like lack of duty of care/negligence, but it may be a hard battle. If you have any paperwork describing what they should have or pictures that don't look like the finished structure then that will add weight to your case.
 
Before I purchased the house I pointed out the faults I could see. The sales team said everything would be fixed, the house would be like a brand new home. I trusted them. On the sales form it said sold as seen but there was no terms and conditions to say what this meant. I asked what it meant, they said it meant things like the cooker, fridge, light fittings that were out of warranty weren't covered so sold as seen.
My solicitor was their recommended one. They never questioned or stated what sold as seen meant.

My survey was done by Natwest who I got the mortgage with. I didn't think I'd need a full house buyers survey as I believed the house was brand new, so just a valuation mortgage.

I paid 3/4 deposit of the purchase price, my life savings and former house sale cash, then I mortgaged the remaining 1/4.

The house was already built, it was just all the faults that I could see and the faults that occurred from day one of moving in.

I did write to my MP but he did nothing. I'll try to organize a group as I know lots have had problems with their houses. I can't even remortgage unless I pay the developers solicitors hundreds of pounds for a certificate for a change to the title deeds.
 
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