Standing water on back garden slabs

[Circuital]

Hi all,

Recently a friend had his wonky paving re-set and cleaned by some handyman who is now refusing to answer calls. You'll see why from the pics...

Water used to drain down quite quickly after heavy downpours, with a little standing. However, now, it stays there for a few hours, to the level you can see on the pics.

Is this just a case of lifting the slabs and using compacted sand to re-set the slabs at a slight angle so that water drains away from the house wall, towards the small garden stone wall opposite? The stone wall has little slots at the bottom, every 40cm or so. I have uploaded two pictures which show the problem from either end.

Any advice is appreciated!

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• Circuital
• 21 Aug 2014
• 1

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• Circuital
• 21 Aug 2014
• 1

 

[garyo]

To me it looks deeper on the side away from the house, so the fall on the slabs is correct. It's obviously not draining though. Are the slots in the wall blocked?

 

[Circuital]

To me it looks deeper on the side away from the house, so the fall on the slabs is correct. It's obviously not draining though. Are the slots in the wall blocked?

Thanks for the quick reply. Looks like you might be right. I've got him to send me some more photos (attached). Looks like the slots may actually just be broken mortar! He scraped down the slots with a screwdriver and they're full of mud. He also lifted up one of the slabs and he says it's concrete underneath with a layer of mud on top.

Would it be worth him digging deep under the slabs where the water collects the most, to make a small soakaway, or is this a little risky with it being so close to the house (it's about 1.20m from the house wall)?

Thank you in anticipation again.

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• Circuital
• 21 Aug 2014
• 1

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• Circuital
• 21 Aug 2014
• 1

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• Circuital
• 21 Aug 2014
• 1

 

[cannonfoder]

relift the patio an reset the slabs with the right fall away from the house.
check the dpc on the house should be 150mm below?

if it was my patio id dig it our an base it then sett the slabs on a wet mortar mix then install a aco drain along the wall or try to clean out the Weep holes

 

[r896neo]

Hang on, before you start digging soakaways, Get a level out and find out whats actually happening.

Where does the paving fall towards?

Where is the water supposed to drain to?

It's hard to tell from the photo's but it appears as though the ground the far side of the wall is lower so just let it drain through there with the aid of a few holes/ joints raked out as they appear to have been.

Its fair to assume that when originally laid the paving did drain somewhere so that pathway should still be ok unless the paving has been re-laid to fall a different direction.

 

[Circuital]

Thanks again. I've just been round with a spirit level and although the fall is generally away from the house wall, in parts this is not the case. One or two of the slabs by the house wall sit lower, so the flow is towards the wall and a few around the centre are also a little lower than the surrounding slabs, so the water just sits there. So it does look like a case of lifting them all and resetting them with a level.

@cannonfoder: By Weep Holes, do you mean the slots in the small garden wall please?