Hi,
Asking on behalf of my mother..
Her 1930s house has an air raid shelter underneath the back lounge. There is even a small trapdoor under the lounge carpet and a sloped wall so the occupants could slide into the shelter in an emergency (never tried the slide myself as it is steep!)
There is also access from outside, just next to the back lounge outer wall.
The shelter is about 6-7ft high.
The problem is, most of the time the shelter is flooded, with about 2ft of water. Pretty sure it's the water table as the shelter hatch outside is well sealed. The walls inside the shelter are plain concrete, I assume water just seeps through it.
I recall when I was a kid and lived there about 30 years ago, it was frequently dry, as I used to play in it. But most times when I am over now, it is flooded. It might dry out in a dry summer but it's rare these days - is the water table generally higher nowadays?
Just wondering if anyone has advice on what could be done to remedy the situation?
She doesn't use the space so could it just be filled in or would that cause the water to get higher (and start affecting the lounge floor)?
Could it be damp proofed somehow? Seems like it would need to hold back a significant amount of water.
Someone suggested a pump but that seems a pain to have to rely on.
We aren't necessarily looking to remedy it now as it's not been a problem other than being an unusable space. Just curious for when the time comes to sell the place and there might be something that can be done to avoid survey issues.
Cheers.
Asking on behalf of my mother..
Her 1930s house has an air raid shelter underneath the back lounge. There is even a small trapdoor under the lounge carpet and a sloped wall so the occupants could slide into the shelter in an emergency (never tried the slide myself as it is steep!)
There is also access from outside, just next to the back lounge outer wall.
The shelter is about 6-7ft high.
The problem is, most of the time the shelter is flooded, with about 2ft of water. Pretty sure it's the water table as the shelter hatch outside is well sealed. The walls inside the shelter are plain concrete, I assume water just seeps through it.
I recall when I was a kid and lived there about 30 years ago, it was frequently dry, as I used to play in it. But most times when I am over now, it is flooded. It might dry out in a dry summer but it's rare these days - is the water table generally higher nowadays?
Just wondering if anyone has advice on what could be done to remedy the situation?
She doesn't use the space so could it just be filled in or would that cause the water to get higher (and start affecting the lounge floor)?
Could it be damp proofed somehow? Seems like it would need to hold back a significant amount of water.
Someone suggested a pump but that seems a pain to have to rely on.
We aren't necessarily looking to remedy it now as it's not been a problem other than being an unusable space. Just curious for when the time comes to sell the place and there might be something that can be done to avoid survey issues.
Cheers.
