Ground level & damp question

Tim+ · 2015-11-15T16:26:27+00:00

My daughter's flat has a damp problem at the back in one bedroom. I'm sure that the problem stems from the ground level being higher than the floor level at the back of the house. Here is the area outside the bedroom window. The "ground" is about 5" higher than the floor and the area in the photo is concreted and haunched (right word?) up the wall slightly to stop water collecting next to the wall. Immediately below the window though is an air vent through the wall and this is level with the ground and has no raised lip. What would be the best methods of reducing damp ingress? I did wonder about digging it all out to lower the ground level but the drains are the back of the house seem quite near the surface and without re-doing all the drainage system, I'm not sure that's a starter. I guess ground level higher than floor level can't be that unusual so there must be other options. I imagine building a small raised lip along the lower edge of the air vent would be a good idea. Any other suggestions? Tim

Nov 15, 2015 41 Replies

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Chris Hogg 10 years ago

And might give the OP in the 'Ground level & damp question' thread a hint as to what to try first.

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Tim+ 10 years ago

Just to follow up, I scraped up all the moss off the path to reveal a concrete layer that's actually in good condition and "haunched" up the house wall all the way along, except for about three foot at the end that developed damp. (Much easier to see this without the weeds and moss!)

I can't work out why that end has never been haunched but it seems likely that any sitting water is percolating down between the path and the wall at this point.

On closer inspection, the entrance to the air vent actually has quite a reasonable slope to shed water so I don't think that it is an issue.

Tim

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