Subfloor, street level

[Stevecc]

We have a 1930s end terrace house

Water entering subfloor througth gable wall side. Subfloor below street level.

Normally I would put a acco drain / french drain in, or lower the external level but I can't because the street is the responsibility of the council.

How can a resolve this issue

 

[bernardgreen]

the street is the responsibility of the council.

and therfore maybe dealing with the source of the water is responsibility of the council.

Is it surface rain water from the street , water from a leaking water main or water from a leaking sewer ( can appear to be clean water as it is filtered by passing through brickwork ) ?

Most water companies will test water to identify its source, ( some do this as a free service ).

 

[Stevecc]

Thanks for your reply

It only occurs when it rains. Normally after a days raining.

So I suspect it is groundwater.

I can't see surface water entering the house and it is not coming througth the air bricks.

 

[JohnD]

does the paving have a fall away from the house?

I have seen iron grilles in pavements against older houses, probably where there used to be cellars or workshops beneath. I don't know what sort of permission you would need to dig up the pavement and install drainage.

 

[Stevecc]

Yes the paving does fall way towards the road. Also we are virtually at the high point in the area. So I was a little surprised to see water entering the subfloor (but as I say subfloor is below ground level).

This house will have had no cellar.

 

[JohnD]

have a look at your rainwater downpipes.

Older houses have a clay gulley with trap, or sometimes a clay socket leading to an underground elbow, and these are (IME) invariably broken and leaking in houses built before 1946.

Somewhere in the country there might be an uncracked one, but I have never seen it.

As you have an end-of-terrace the drains for the block almost certainly run towards the road past the side of your house. Leakage can often be spotted by sunken, cracked or patched concrete or paving.

 

[Stevecc]

The roof gutters travel toward the centre of the row of terrace houses. So the roof gutters are drained on another property. The water comes into the subfloor on the gable side of the house

 

[bobasd]

i think you mean the soil oversite below a suspended floor - sometimes called the solum - the subfloor comes directly below the finished floor in a suspended floor construction. eg 3/4" ply sitting on the joists.

ref your question, i would imagine that it depends on the council.
i've only been involved in jobs with something like this twice - one council said it would take some future action (we were long gone) and the other council blew it off.
anything involving the council seems to need letters to councillers and maybe a legal heads up?

 

[Stevecc]

Thanks for your reply

The subfloor floor which is a concrete oversite is below the external ground level