RushupEdge
Member
- Messages
- 26
sorry to post another topic so quickly but wanted to also ask about French drains
As previously mentioned I bought a victorian terraced house recently. The previous owner of the property had laid a patio that is way too high - it's above the slate DPC and is actually slightly above the airbricks causing a bit of water ingress when it rains. They've also added a pebbledash render to the house and a concrete plinth to the bottom of the house just to complete the damage. The fall of the patio isn't too bad, and we don't have any pooling of water, just a bit of water entry into the air brick(s).
(The smashed patio slab in front is my handy work - just wanted to have a look and see what was under the patio and if that would explain why it was so high. Looks to be just more concrete. Joy)
I realise ideally we will have to remove the patio and re-lay below the DPC, but at the moment we don't have the cash to do this.
As a temporary solution I'm thinking of building a gravel filled French drain around the wall perimeter. My thoughts are to cut the slabs in situ using an angle grinder, and run the trench along one side of the patio and down to the grass... basically along the red dotted line in this image:
I'm thinking of using a 60mm perforated pipe within a non-woven geo textile membrane lined trench, and then filling this with some form of gravel.
What I wanted to know was the following:
1. If my pipe runs straight into the soil (underground), will this cause any issues? We don't have problems with surface water retention, it's purely to get the ground level lower around the house, so I don't want to go to the expense of a soaraway but equally I don't want to cause any issues!
2. Should the pipe be capped or protected on the ends? I was thinking of leaving the 'house' end of the pipe exposed (with a bend and endocap) so that I could run a hose down it incase of any blockage etc.
3. Does anyone have any recommendations of suppliers or what aggregate or gravel to fill the trench with?
4. Do you think this plan is a suitable stopgap solution?
As part of this I'll also need to replace the air bricks. Planning on fixing these in with a lime mortar. Does anyone have any recommendations for Cast Iron airbricks with insect/rodent mesh?
Any other advice or help that could be offered would be great!
As previously mentioned I bought a victorian terraced house recently. The previous owner of the property had laid a patio that is way too high - it's above the slate DPC and is actually slightly above the airbricks causing a bit of water ingress when it rains. They've also added a pebbledash render to the house and a concrete plinth to the bottom of the house just to complete the damage. The fall of the patio isn't too bad, and we don't have any pooling of water, just a bit of water entry into the air brick(s).
(The smashed patio slab in front is my handy work - just wanted to have a look and see what was under the patio and if that would explain why it was so high. Looks to be just more concrete. Joy)
I realise ideally we will have to remove the patio and re-lay below the DPC, but at the moment we don't have the cash to do this.
As a temporary solution I'm thinking of building a gravel filled French drain around the wall perimeter. My thoughts are to cut the slabs in situ using an angle grinder, and run the trench along one side of the patio and down to the grass... basically along the red dotted line in this image:
I'm thinking of using a 60mm perforated pipe within a non-woven geo textile membrane lined trench, and then filling this with some form of gravel.
What I wanted to know was the following:
1. If my pipe runs straight into the soil (underground), will this cause any issues? We don't have problems with surface water retention, it's purely to get the ground level lower around the house, so I don't want to go to the expense of a soaraway but equally I don't want to cause any issues!
2. Should the pipe be capped or protected on the ends? I was thinking of leaving the 'house' end of the pipe exposed (with a bend and endocap) so that I could run a hose down it incase of any blockage etc.
3. Does anyone have any recommendations of suppliers or what aggregate or gravel to fill the trench with?
4. Do you think this plan is a suitable stopgap solution?
As part of this I'll also need to replace the air bricks. Planning on fixing these in with a lime mortar. Does anyone have any recommendations for Cast Iron airbricks with insect/rodent mesh?
Any other advice or help that could be offered would be great!