Damp in garage part II

[--s-p-o-n-i-x--]

Background: Garage floods to 1/4" deep through end wall whenever it rains.

Tonight I went to see the gut that owns the patio but he was out. However, I climbed up and looked over his fence.

It appears as though there *is* 6" of gravel around his patio although I'm unsure how deep it is. The soil round here is clay and I suspect the gravel doesn't go very deep. The top of the gravel is about level with the DPC.

Up against the back of the garage he's contructed one of those small wooden cupboard for storing garden tools in. There appears to be a 1" gap between this and the garage wall.

He has painted the garage wall in something that is white and slightly shiny-it's either gloss paint or masonry paint-it's difficult to tell what as the bricks are rough.

Obviously, if the gravel around the patio isn't deep enough this could cause the water in the garage.

However, could the wooden garden store cause any problems? I'd have thought if anything it would keep damp off the wall, rather than encourage it as it isn't actually touching the wall.

What about the paint? Would this cause the mini flood in my garage everytime it rains?

Wouldn't the paintwork slow the flow of water through the wall?

Obviously I'm going to have to gain access to see what is going on but I want to have a rough idea of what to look for before I go.

sponix

[Brian G]

If the ground is clay and above or level with any DPC, then this will hold the water in the gravel and if the wall is only a half brick thick (41/2 inch single skin wall) then the water will drain away through this as most bricks are porus.

Cure, is to dig either a drainage trench to a lower level so the water runs aways (can then be filled with coarse gravel) or dig an even deeper trench to about two foot below DPC, backfill with coarse rubble and use this as a soakaway. Or alternatively, dig a trench to the footings level and 'tank' the wall or give it about half a dozen coats of clear silicone using a 'rough' spray and then lay a loose course or so of ordinary concrete blocks against this to protect it and then backfill with rubble and gravel to finish off.

This won't cause a problem.

If as I suspect, its only a 41/2 inch single skin wall then he's probably done you a favour by sealing the wall. Get rid of the clay to below DPC and that should cure the problem.

[sPoNiX]

I hope so to..

[sPoNiX]

Rather than 'tanking' the wall, would it be possible to stick self adhesive roofing felt to it? I have some somewhere and it'd be quicker than cleaning the brickwork, painting it, allowing it to dry, repainting etc..etc..(I also think I have some, somewhere)

It'd also mean the felt could curve away at the bottom of the wall which'd probably help divert the water.

sponix

[Brian G]

I can see no problem with that as long as you protect the felt from damage by placing concrete blocks against and then backfill against those - and you would need to make sure the wall was dry before trying to stick the felt onto it.

Brian G

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Standard way on Victorian houses without a damp course was to render the wall up to about a foot or so.

[Harry Bloomfield]

Brian G used his keyboard to write :

Soakaways with a clay sub soil do not work, unless they penetrate through the clay level. Faced with the same problem, I dug a trench around, installing a 'leaky' pipe which led to a drain, all then back filled with course gravel.

[Brian G]

Harry,

Basically as I said above "Cure, is to dig either a drainage trench to *a lower level* so the water runs aways (can then be filled with coarse gravel)..." with or without the "leaky" or porous pipe, the water will drain from a higher to lower level whether in clay soil or not.

As you rightly say, you can get problems with 'level' soakaways on clay soils, but it can generally be done with a little thought - although I have come across a few awkward b*****ds in my time. :-)

brian G