Tracing a suspect pipe path and finding a leak

If it’s a ground water problem you need to determine what height the water table is at and make some enquiries into how to capture the water and route it away from the house - French drain and aco.
It might also be that your house is built on the path of a natural spring!?
 
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Is the water issue on the high side of the hill, or the lower. If it's coming down the hill, then you could drig a trench in front of the house, and install a land drain to take the water round the house and discharge it lower down. But it does seem as though you had 2 issues, and ones been deal with, so you're on the home stretch now.
 
I'd be putting dye in things like this:

IMG_4009.PNG
 
Thanks very much for all your advice guys. I don't know what I'd do without your support. Before I go for the pump option, I want to eliminate every possibility and your expert advise is crucial.

I think you guys are right that the water is finding it's way down a hill/driveway at the side of the house and entering into a gap within the footing stones at the lower end of the property. The landscape at the rear of my house is higher, so it's possible it's coming down from there...How can I be sure?

One option I was thinking of is to dig down outside where the water is entering from and somehow seal it with concrete or some tanking membrane???

Anyway, as promised, it took me a bit of time, but below are diagrams of the house.

View media item 100486View media item 100485
 
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Thanks very much for all your advice guys. I don't know what I'd do without your support. Before I go for the pump option, I want to eliminate every possibility and your expert advise is crucial.

I think you guys are right that the water is finding it's way down a hill/driveway at the side of the house and entering into a gap within the footing stones at the lower end of the property. The landscape at the rear of my house is higher, so it's possible it's coming down from there...How can I be sure?

One option I was thinking of is to dig down outside where the water is entering from and somehow seal it with concrete or some tanking membrane???

Anyway, as promised, it took me a bit of time, but below are diagrams of the house.

View media item 100486View media item 100485

Good effort! I’ve done a lot of 3D modelling in my time and, without a bespoke software, it’s a hellava task... but depicts the situation perfectly.

You are definitely into some groundwork’s that will deflect ground water and surface run-off away from the foundations of your property!
It needs protecting from outside not in... just like roofs and shower screens :)
 
You've got gravel in the French drain, but the dust and dirt gets in, fills the gaps, and water tracks across, so this'll need changing for at least 1" stones. If you dig down and try and tank the area, you'd need to go round the sides as well, but if you dig a trench and install a land drain, then the water gets taken away properly, even if only to a soakaway.
 
Dillalio - Thanks for the 3D model compliment :). As a test to see if water is entering from higher up the ground, I knocked through another inspection hole in the cellar floor - Other than the soil being a little damp which is expected, it's otherwise dry. To me this means two things:-

1. The water is coming down from higher ground, past the side of the house, but all gaps higher up are blocked, except for the one at the bottom of the hill.
2. The water is NOT coming down from higher ground, past the side of the house, but is actually travelling from across the driveway and has found a gap in the cellar.

I agree that I need to deflect the water away from the outside, but would I be better off digging a trench outside, sealing the gap where the water is entering from?


Doggit - Thanks for the idea, but being honest with you, I don't understand what your describing to me. Is it possible I could have a diagram?


Lastly guys, I'm getting yellow water and this is not dye colour...can anyone advice why it's yellow?
 
I think trying to seal anything would be a losing battle. Tanking is very difficult to get right even from a fresh start. The water is just going to take another route.
The best solution is to collect it before it gets to the place where it is coming through, and lead it elsewhere to drain away harmlessly.
Any reason you can't dye test the paving etc?
 
If you click on the blue drain link, you'll go to paving expert, and it's a great site to explain how to install one, and it's got all the diagrams you need. But the sites a little odd, and you need to use the search as well as the index.

Sorry, not as good as you at programs; computer hardware was my forte.
 
Doggit, my apologies as I didn't notice the blue link. I have looked at the pavingexpert website, but it's way above my head and also I still am unsure whether your saying dig around the whole house or just the area where the problem is. If it's the whole house then being honest, that's not possible as we are talking thousands of £££ which I don't have.

John - I forgot to mention in my previous post that I did a red dye test last night on the patio in the rear garden and then spent a long time hosing down with lots of water. Not a drop so far. Also surely if I've dug an inspection hole on the inside of the cellar and that's totally dry, then doesn't that mean there is little or no water coming down the side and that the water entering is maybe further down? It's either that or I simply need to waterproof/block the gap which is letting the water in. Your right that the water will simply disperse elsewhere...but if I apply some form of a membrane from the point of leak to the bottom corner of the house, then the only next location the water can go is down the driveway or maybe a connection to the sewage pipe to drain it...or am I wrong?

You said the best solution is to collect, lead it elsewhere and drain, but how can this be done?
 
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Beyond drain repairs I'm no help. If you have water though, drain or not, 'the dye don't lie'.

I'd keep up the dye tests with simulated heavy drain use. CCTV of a drain won't show a leaking joint.
 
That's right Ian, the DYE don't lie, but that gully has already been replaced and the dye is no longer coming through. I've already tested several other locations, but so far no further dye coming out. To me the gullys are no longer the issue.
 
You said the best solution is to collect, lead it elsewhere and drain, but how can this be done

The land drain will take the water away. You seem fairly hand Ripper, so I would expect you to be able to do this yourself. You were talking about digging a trench and putting a membrane in, but that's not far off of a land drain. You dig a trench about a foot or 18 " wide about 4 or 500mm deep, and line the bottom with permeable membrane. You put in a thin layer of gravel, and then lay in the permeable drain, and run the drain round to an exit point, (either a soakaway, or a surface drain) and then fill the trench with more gravel, and then put the earth back in.
 

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