Jules Stevenson
Member
- Messages
- 1
- Location
- West Wales
Hi Forum,
I've recently discovered this forum and it looks like a great place. I've searched through the messages but can't find anything that helps with my current situation, so here goes
...
We have a stone property we'd like to renovate into a traditional dwelling (currently in a planning hell, but that's another story) where the back wall is adjacent to a minor single lane country road. the property is in west Wales. It's on a hill sloping away from the road, so the road is actually about 1 1/2 meters above the ground level of the back wall (i.e. the original property was probably cut into the hillside). The void between the property and the road has almost fully backfilled over the many years the building was unmaintained. Unfortunately the road is very close (about a meter away at it's narrowest point).
This wall is unsurprisingly very damp. We think that originally the building had some form of slate drainage channels running underneath it which emptied into a gulley in front of the building, but these have collapsed / become clogged with debris.
The walls are bare stone but there was a thin concrete floor put in probably around 1920, so this will also not be helping. We do plan to remove this.
A test pit in the void shows that there is / was some form of retaining stone wall between the void and the road, but it looks in poor condition. Several mature-ish trees had established in the narrow verge between the road and the house over the years which have probably pushed it around a fair bit. These have been cut down now. It also doesn't seem to go all the way down to the base of the property wall, which seems confusing.
Ideally we'd run a French curtain drain around the property and empty it into the gulley, but I'd be very concerned about potential of undermining the road, depending on how deep we need to go. Access is also difficult, but probably not impossible. I also don't think it has any meaningful foundations (yet to dig any inspection pits,. but it's on the to-do list).
We have had lots of ideas on how to tackle this, but would be seeking any advice. Some specifics we've thought about (and please do tell me if any of these are outright wrong / unsafe):
- Redig the 'under dwelling' channels to about a meter down from ground level and reinstate drainage through the building and out into the gulley. I'm assuming it would be unsafe to tunnel under the back wall, so we'd go right up to it and hope that the water will find it's way out? the front of the building is largely open, so easy to get the channels out.
- Put a French drain around the house to a depth that's safe to do so. this would probably be quite close to the internal floor level, but still above it.
- In combination with the french drain try and insert some waterproofing on the lower portion of the wall - something like this: https://www.backtoearth.co.uk/product/mineral-insulation-board-multipor/ below the level of the drain to try and block water coming through, but this might be very difficult to achieve / attach to the wall. Possibly use a membrane instead.
Any advice / ideas very gratefully received.
Jules
I've recently discovered this forum and it looks like a great place. I've searched through the messages but can't find anything that helps with my current situation, so here goes
...We have a stone property we'd like to renovate into a traditional dwelling (currently in a planning hell, but that's another story) where the back wall is adjacent to a minor single lane country road. the property is in west Wales. It's on a hill sloping away from the road, so the road is actually about 1 1/2 meters above the ground level of the back wall (i.e. the original property was probably cut into the hillside). The void between the property and the road has almost fully backfilled over the many years the building was unmaintained. Unfortunately the road is very close (about a meter away at it's narrowest point).
This wall is unsurprisingly very damp. We think that originally the building had some form of slate drainage channels running underneath it which emptied into a gulley in front of the building, but these have collapsed / become clogged with debris.
The walls are bare stone but there was a thin concrete floor put in probably around 1920, so this will also not be helping. We do plan to remove this.
A test pit in the void shows that there is / was some form of retaining stone wall between the void and the road, but it looks in poor condition. Several mature-ish trees had established in the narrow verge between the road and the house over the years which have probably pushed it around a fair bit. These have been cut down now. It also doesn't seem to go all the way down to the base of the property wall, which seems confusing.
Ideally we'd run a French curtain drain around the property and empty it into the gulley, but I'd be very concerned about potential of undermining the road, depending on how deep we need to go. Access is also difficult, but probably not impossible. I also don't think it has any meaningful foundations (yet to dig any inspection pits,. but it's on the to-do list).
We have had lots of ideas on how to tackle this, but would be seeking any advice. Some specifics we've thought about (and please do tell me if any of these are outright wrong / unsafe):
- Redig the 'under dwelling' channels to about a meter down from ground level and reinstate drainage through the building and out into the gulley. I'm assuming it would be unsafe to tunnel under the back wall, so we'd go right up to it and hope that the water will find it's way out? the front of the building is largely open, so easy to get the channels out.
- Put a French drain around the house to a depth that's safe to do so. this would probably be quite close to the internal floor level, but still above it.
- In combination with the french drain try and insert some waterproofing on the lower portion of the wall - something like this: https://www.backtoearth.co.uk/product/mineral-insulation-board-multipor/ below the level of the drain to try and block water coming through, but this might be very difficult to achieve / attach to the wall. Possibly use a membrane instead.
Any advice / ideas very gratefully received.
Jules