Water and external house wall

[henry1]

Should I be concerned about the state of this wall? In particular there's a brick partially missing.

The fat grey line to the left is a retaining wall, so ground level to this side is higher.

Furthermore, the horizontal line on the wall where the bricks change colour is roughly the level of the ground to the front of the house.

Behind the wall, on the right half, is a garage, but on the left half, i.e below the front of the house, there's no living space, so I'm assuming it's just soil/rubble. What I'm getting at is perhaps that wall is built to be in contact with moisture, so no need to worry?

 

[vinn]

I obviously cant see the building detail at the front of the house but yes, I'm pretty sure that you are well above any penetrating damp and with DPC's in place you should be free from rising damp.

Note: Regs like the DPC to be a min of 150mm above any ground level.

 

[henry1]

Not too worried about DPC as I'm assuming it's there. The house isn't too old.
I'm more worried about the water marks at the base of the wall in particular on the left...

 

[Ian H]

Is there a drain or anything behind that wall?

 

[henry1]

There's a manhole cover (inspection chamber?) behind the bush on the higher ground. Could that be leaking then? There's no smell whatsoever.

 

[Ian H]

It's hard to say, if you lifted it and simulated a heavy flow you might see more damp on those bricks.

 

[henry1]

Should I be concerned about the state of the wall though?

 

[Ian H]

No but you don't want it to get worse if it's something that can be fixed. It could just be ground water from under those bushes.