Rain Water in Cavity Walls

[DIYFun]

Hi everyone

I laid a few courses of bricks on my concrete footing a few days ago, but this morning there was a heavy rain and as a result, the trench was filled with about an inch of rain water in the lowest part of the trench. I was a very worried to see that the rain water had managed to get into the cavity (although top of cavity wall was covered), probably sipped through mortar joints.

I wonder, if the mortar joints are meant to be watertight, or I did something wrong there, but there are no obvious cracks in the brickwork - I used mortar mixture of 1:3 (cement: building sand) for below DPC level.

Do you think the brickwork or mortar joints may be damaged by the rain water sipping through the walls into the cavity?


I am planning to fill the cavity with concrete in the next few days, should the concrete be very wet or relatively dry mixed?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[themiddleagedun]

The odd joint may of had a hole in it, which has let water in, nothing to worry about.
The cavity fill concrete... nothing special required there. For ease of shoveling just a weak-mix not too wet or dry, bit like the little bears porridge
Fill cavity up to ground level.

 

[tony1851]

As above no problem. Cement-based mortar and concrete like wet conditions while curing.

 

[DIYFun]

Thank you guys for the advice. It is relief to know that my brickwork has not been damaged by the rain water. I will take a closer look at the mortar joints for holes.