I have recently joined this forum and would be very grateful for any advice.
I have a Victorian terraced house with a patio in the back garden and along the side return. The ground level behind the house is higher than the inside floor levels and was concreted for a couple of metres immediately behind the house. The garden slopes up away from the house, so the back walls were very damp with water running on the concrete sitting against the wall, causing penetrating dampness through the solid walls.
I excavated a 250mm wide trench around the rear and side return walls to 150mm below the original slate damp-proof course, lined it with geotextile and filled it with shingle. This was done about a year ago, but I noticed that the shingle retains moisture against the wall of the house. I am now removing the shingle and was thinking about installing a channel drain, eg an ACO drain, in the trench.
I then came across the Zebcolm trench on this forum. I wondered whether that would be a better option – to allow air to circulate beside the lower portion of the wall and the water that falls into the trench to soak into the ground naturally. Would this be a problem as the ground is London clay, which I understand does not drain well? Also, as the ground is falling towards the trench, would it be better to have a channel drainage system, an ACO drain to direct the water to the rainwater drains?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
I have a Victorian terraced house with a patio in the back garden and along the side return. The ground level behind the house is higher than the inside floor levels and was concreted for a couple of metres immediately behind the house. The garden slopes up away from the house, so the back walls were very damp with water running on the concrete sitting against the wall, causing penetrating dampness through the solid walls.
I excavated a 250mm wide trench around the rear and side return walls to 150mm below the original slate damp-proof course, lined it with geotextile and filled it with shingle. This was done about a year ago, but I noticed that the shingle retains moisture against the wall of the house. I am now removing the shingle and was thinking about installing a channel drain, eg an ACO drain, in the trench.
I then came across the Zebcolm trench on this forum. I wondered whether that would be a better option – to allow air to circulate beside the lower portion of the wall and the water that falls into the trench to soak into the ground naturally. Would this be a problem as the ground is London clay, which I understand does not drain well? Also, as the ground is falling towards the trench, would it be better to have a channel drainage system, an ACO drain to direct the water to the rainwater drains?
Any advice would be much appreciated.