Water leakage through party wall into cellar.

[avocado]

I have a terraced house with a cellar. For 2 years it has been dry with an occasional slight smell of damp. About a month ago it filled up with about an inch of water. Over the weekend I dried it out completely, but this evening water has started to flow in through the party wall, about 4 or 5 litres in half an hour. I went next door and asked the lady if her cellar is dry. She went to look on her own and pronounced it dry. I'm not sure if I believe her.

What do I do? The water is definately coming from the party wall on her side. Will the buildings insurance investgate this? What does the party wall act cover?

[Newshound]

I used to live in a victorian terraced house where one of the drain pipes (I forget whether it was rain or bathroom) was actually concealed within the party wall, creating a small lake under the neighbour's floor when it failed. Lucky for me it didn't get in my cellar.

[Stuart Noble]

Check gutters/downpipes for leaks, or blocked rain water drain. The water board can test to see if it's tap water. I guess they check the fluoride or something

[Maris]

This happened to me many years ago but the reason was that we shared the drain with the neighbour (it ran on the neighbour's side of the boundary between our 2 plots) ) and the rat trap got blocked (by my builders rubbish!). There was a gully in the cellar and the foul water started to back up through this. I did not have a party wall with the neighbour because the houses were Victorian semi-detached, but the point is that all sorts of reasons may be to blame for the water presence.

Maris