damp brick floor

[rebeccac]

We have recently had a terrible problem with our brick floor in our house in Italy.The winter was the wettest in 200 years and we are on heavy clay so it seems to have gathered under our house,formerly quite dry. Some water has run down from an overfull well and we plan to block that off by a channel and wall.

The cement render has been taken off to the level where the walls are bone dry ( about waist height ) and there is always a watermark around the edges of the tiles.The floor lies on a base of ancient limecrete then on clay.Probably at least 100 years old.

One wall faces a road and has a strip of grass.We plan to dig out a French drain here.The other wall is a shared wall with a house that's neglected but reasonably water tight but it means we can't do much there.

Weirdly in both corners instead of stone there is a big hole filled with what looks like soil but we think is some sort of old cement mix thats broken down into a mud after being soaked with water.

Anyway here's the picture- any ideas what we can do apart from taking up the entire floor?

 

[Douglas]

I'd tend to let it dry naturally, just make sure the room is well vented and don't stack anything on the damp bits. Do the french drain thing or better still an English drain (no infill and flagstone top, basically a covered trench). Re render with NHL. We have brick floors on mud which are soaking wet or dry with no real pattern, we live with it. Good ventilation is key.
regards.

 

[christianb]

Natural drying is a good starting point. And you could always whack a de-humidifier in there for good measure.

I'd also consider the French Drain option, but be wary of completely altering the state of the ground around a property if it's been happily sitting on it for centuries. I knew a structural engineer who said he'd seen plenty of problems arise because of such things.

C.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Christian is right - if the recent problems are a one in two hundred years problem, you could let it dry out, re-plaster in a few months and leave a note to reassure the owners in 2209 that they needn't overreact!

 

[worms]

if the recent problems are a one in two hundred years problem

Don't know about Italy, but "once in two hundred year" risks seem to be getting much more frequent in UK!

 

[Penners]

Christian is right - if the recent problems are a one in two hundred years problem, you could let it dry out, re-plaster in a few months and leave a note to reassure the owners in 2209 that they needn't overreact!

I'm with FW. If this is a 1/200-year event, just dry it out and let your great-great-great-(etc) grandchildren worry about the next one.

 

[rebeccac]

Yes I agree that it is probabable that this event will not occur again while we are alive BUT also I do think that the climate is becoming more changeable and we can no longer rely on a dry winter and baking summer in Central Italy! If we are going to get more rain every year then we are going to have to think of a way of solving this problem unless we want a mouldy kitchen.

Would it be be a total waste of time to dig out the edges ie 4 bricks in and put a gravel trench in and then relay bricks onto compact gravel then lime/sand ?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I really think you need to let it dry, divert the run off from the well (presumably the most immediate cause of your flood?) and reassess in 6-12 months time.

 

[Lime]

To my eye it looks as if you have a bigger problem with damp walls than a damp floor.
I wonder if this building, like so many over the years, has had the outside areas built up with soil.
This can happen either deliberately where someone actually places soil around the wall or through the action of earthworms where they bury anything over time.

Would it be be a total waste of time to dig out the edges ie 4 bricks in and put a gravel trench in and then relay bricks onto compact gravel then lime/sand

Where would this drain to?

 

[rebeccac]

Yes that is the main issue as far as we can tell.

I think as you state Lime , the damp is in the lower 6 inches or so of the wall - now that the cement is off its actually escaping at the edges of the floor. we did take up a tile in the middle of the floor and the soil was pretty dry .