waterproof footings

[DADDYLONGLEGS]

Hi everyone, newbie here.
Bit of advice please.
My elderly neighbour has a water tub touching our boundary fence which overflows regularly,
flooding my side.
I have asked her son politely many times to sort it, and have even offered to move the water tub to the other end of her garage at my own expence.... but alas nothing gets done.
SO!
I am going to dig a trench to the end of our fence which is approx 2 mtrs long.
I wil dig down to approx 400 mm below ground, the put up a bit of shuttering to a height of about 150mm above ground and in effect construct a retaining plynth.

a couple of questions please: (a) I am thinking of adding a cement waterproofer to the mix, what do you think?

(b) being a lot older than I think I am and I will probably struggle to mix this amount of concrete, I was wondering if I could buy a crop of fence post mix and add the waterproofer and just slit the managable bag and pour the contents into the trench.

Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.

 

[williamglossop]

Hire a mixer
Order ready mix
Fence post mix will be costly

 

[^woody^]

Waterproofer will be a waste of time

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Drill some holes in her side of the water butt, near the top.
Frank

 

[DADDYLONGLEGS]

never thought of the drilling of holes...Lol!

so no water proofer eh!

Ref. the fence post idea, do you think my dam made of post mix will stop the water coming through to my side, or will it be porous?

 

[Himaginn]

It could be classed as an environmental nuisance.
To direct rainwater onto your neighbour's property clearly breaches the convention of dealing with rainwater.
This is what you neighbour has done, in a roundabout way.
Therefore contact your local environmental department for advice. They may serve an enforcement notice on your neighbour.

 

[londoner1]

Hi everyone, newbie here.
Bit of advice please.
My elderly neighbour has a water tub touching our boundary fence which overflows regularly,
flooding my side.
I have asked her son politely many times to sort it, and have even offered to move the water tub to the other end of her garage at my own expence.... but alas nothing gets done.
SO!
I am going to dig a trench to the end of our fence which is approx 2 mtrs long.
I wil dig down to approx 400 mm below ground, the put up a bit of shuttering to a height of about 150mm above ground and in effect construct a retaining plynth.

a couple of questions please: (a) I am thinking of adding a cement waterproofer to the mix, what do you think?

(b) being a lot older than I think I am and I will probably struggle to mix this amount of concrete, I was wondering if I could buy a crop of fence post mix and add the waterproofer and just slit the managable bag and pour the contents into the trench.

Your thoughts and opinions are welcome.

Middle of the night, jump over fence, move, job done.

 

[DADDYLONGLEGS]

oooh! to call in the heavies is bit harsh don't you think.
I am hoping my idea of blocking the water ( which I think wont be a huge expense + a bit of graft) might be the best diplomatic way. Then if that does not do the job then the gloves will come off. lovely people and I dont want to fall out with them.

 

[Doggit]

You're going to a lot of effort because you're neighbor and her son won't deal with the problem, so calling in the heavies is a reasonable thing to do considering their lack of consideration toward you, but I can understand you're reservations to escalate things. It might be that you've got to point out what their laziness will push you to do; but there may be a simpler solution to the problem. If the tub regularly overflows, it suggest that it's being fed from the rainwater down pipe, so does the down pipe sit directly in the water but, or does it have a feed off pipe, in which case, the feed off pipe is set too high, and just need lowering. If set at the correct height, they will feed excess water back in to the down pipe. If the down pipe has been put directly into the water butt, then they are just a lazy bunch of b*******, and have no consideration for you, and so deserve all the problems that environmental health heap on them - which will actually only be a polite letter asking them to deal with the problem.

 

[DADDYLONGLEGS]

thanks for that doggit, sums it up really.
Yes the downcomer is straight into the butt, there is NO drain. the tub fills then simply overflows, amd with the mega rain we all have had lately it can be a lot of water.
You have just given me a light bulb moment, LoL!
their downpipe is next to mine, seperated by a simple fence panel.
I'm thinking, if they would allow me to link into their pipe and route the water to my bank of water butts. this would give me more control of surplus water. Walla!!