Standing water against rear house wall

[Funtimes]

Hi Guys,

I have a problem with water pooling at the back of my house when it rains. There are 2X drains but the water doesn't drain towards them it just stands and I end up having to broom it into one of the drains.

I'd like to have a go at fixing this as whilst theres no signs of damage inside I'm worried about what it might be doing where I can't see. The house is a 1930s semi with cavity walls, have lived here about 8 years and the water has always been like this.

I've taken the pictures in moderate rain then ran the house for a little whileto show where it pools. In heavy rain I can easily get a couple of inches pooling accross a lot of it.

Any pointers greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[ted456]

You could cut very shallow channels (almost ruts) in the surface to lead the standing water into the gullies? I've seen it done but dont know whether it was successful in the long term?
What you cannot do is to raise the surface of the in-situ concrete: the surface is already too high - look at the door sill, and the only visible air brick. In best practice both would be approx 150mm above surface level.

fwiw: A number of other issues are suggested in your pic.

 

[KenGMac]

Funtimes, good evening.

Simplist way, and lease disruptive would be to form grooves in the concrete?

Such machines are.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_...8975-0&mkcid=2&keyword=concrete grooving&crlp

It should be possible to hire this type of machine.

if you carefully form grooves running away from the gullies, the grooves will "encourage" water run of towards the gullies?

OK yes you could rip up all of the concrete and install a new slab + suitable falls into the gullies, messy and very, very invasive?

Ken.

 

[Funtimes]

Thank you for your kind suggestions guys, really appreciate it. Any option that doesn't involve ripping it up is good with me as long as its not doing more harm than good.

If I hired one of the large disc cutters would it be worth cutting out a section along the wall if its too high?

@ted456 can you please tell me what other issues you can see?

Cheers

 

[ted456]

If you cut a section out near to the wall - what then? One of the other issues is that moisture could be entering the wall and affecting/rotting any joist tails in the wall.
You need to examine the skirting area in the rooms looking for damp signs.
And hopefully go below the suspended floor (or somehow check the sub-area) and examine the timbers for penetrating or condensation water damage.
Suspended floors need air bricks at approx 1500mm centres.
The waste pipe entering the soil pipe is running slightly uphill.
There are better ways of dealing with the projecting ledge between the brickwork and the render. Its possible that that ledge is introducing moisture into the wall?

 

[Funtimes]

@ted456 thank you for elaborating further. Cutting a section out near the wall, fair shout I was thinking out loud,not sure where I was going with that. Ok putting in the airbricks and changing the angle of the pipe I follow you. Please excuse me if I'm missing the obvious, but I don't follow what you mean about the projecting ledge and rendering, are you saying water could settle on the ledge and soak into the wall/wick into the render somehow? What would the fix be?

I can't see any evidence of damp on the skirting boards in the toilet and utility room. Most of the area where the water pools is a kitchen and theres units against the back wall so I'll have to do some dismantling to look and to get to the subfloor, definitely something for the weekend.

 

[ted456]

Does your kitchen have a suspended floor?
No need to move units - move appliances or remove say the sink back panel.
Find the access trap for going under your suspended floors.
If the ledge isn't causing damp problems forget it for now.

 

[KenGMac]

must admit, if it were me?? I would use the grinder that cuts several grooves in one pass close to the wall, start of with a single pass, with the groove ending up on the lip of the gully.

Why? because the grooves will encourage rain water to get to the gully, if you cut several grooves [as the machines posted cut several grooves in one pass] it will take a wee while for dust Etc. to block a single groove.

Cut the grooves close to the wall so it does not represent a trip hazard.

Suggest once you make the first pass, flood the area with water and await results?? You may have to get a few buckets of water ready + the hose pipe.

May??? I stress May??? save you chopping out the area of slab near the wall???

Ken,

 

[Funtimes]

Does your kitchen have a suspended floor?
No need to move units - move appliances or remove say the sink back.
Find the access trap for going under your suspended floors.
If the ledge isn't causing damp problems forget it for now.

Thanks @ted456, is it bad to say I don't know entirely if its a suspended timber floor? Its all units and a dishwasher along the back wall, I took a small kickboard out just now as its less noisy (sleeping children above haha) and I took a couple of pictures, I can't see any signs of water ingress, it smells a bit musty but not damp. If I had an access hatch it could be potentially anywhere under the flooring right (I found two layers of vinyl then some kind of board)?

I'll have more of a poke around in the daylight.

 

[Funtimes]

must admit, if it were me?? I would use the grinder that cuts several grooves in one pass close to the wall, start of with a single pass, with the groove ending up on the lip of the gully.

Why? because the grooves will encourage rain water to get to the gully, if you cut several grooves [as the machines posted cut several grooves in one pass] it will take a wee while for dust Etc. to block a single groove.

Cut the grooves close to the wall so it does not represent a trip hazard.

Suggest once you make the first pass, flood the area with water and await results?? You may have to get a few buckets of water ready + the hose pipe.

May??? I stress May??? save you chopping out the area of slab near the wall???

Ken,

@KenGMac thank you I will look into hiring the concrete grinder and running some grooves as a first attempt.

Cheers

 

[Funtimes]

Forgot to add the pics underneath the units.

 

[JP_]

Concrete looks very close to the air brick. Damp is probably getting in there, which will explain the musty smell. Do you know when the path was raised?

 

[Funtimes]

@jonbey No ideas afraid, first looked at this house in 2011 and bought it the following year, it was like that then.

 

[ted456]

The view under the units looks dry although i cant actually see the plastered wall.
The access trap could be anywhere in the house - traditionally, they were located out of the way under the stairs

 

[Funtimes]

Hi Guys, I'm after a bit more advice on this please. I've cut come channels in the concrete but its not had the desired result. The water is not flowing into the gully but still standing nearer the gully, I think I'd have to really butcher it to get it flowing and its starting to look a mess.

Would ripping up a small channel of concrete and putting an ACO drain or similar be an option? Or am I down to breaking it all up, lowering the drain inspection chamber and gullys and putting some other kind of surface down.

As an afterthought would putting stormdry or similar along the bottom bricks help keep some water out until we are into the better weather for doing a longer term solution?

Cheers