Hi all,
Recently, the empty house next door (I'm in a terrace, the houses are five years old, ie pretty new) has gone up for sale. One evening last week when I returned home I heard that the burglar alarm was going off - seeing no sign of forced entry, I assumed it was accident of some kind, and informed their estate agent the following morning.
However, five days later, I thought faintly heard running water. Looked through the letterbox, and the flooring in the house was flooded, about one inch deep, and water was gushing loudly down from somewhere upstairs. I found that the entire rear wall of that house was wet, the neighbouring walls are dry so I figure that the water has internally managed to seep through the walls and outside. Internally I can see dampness in the plaster going all the way up the walls. I immediately called the estate agent and informed them about this. I reckon the running water is what set the alarm off in the first place. Nasty (and pretty stupid of them for not coming out to get it sorted). The water company came out quickly and turned the mains off at the street stopcock.
So here's the question. What about my house next door ? Is it likely that five days worth of gushing mains water would damage the foundations or cause any structural harm ? It's odd that the water was not coming out from under the doors, so it must have drained away somewhere.
My wall backing onto the problem house is mostly a kitchen, but there are units against the walls (and the other parts are tiled and/or painted dark brown) which makes inspection difficult. I can see a darkened patch in the unpainted plaster behind the oven about six inches off the ground. I've no idea whether it was there before or not, or whether it is normal.
Any suggestions ?