The property we are buying fronts directly onto a closed road - basically the lane to the church, but with space for parking outside the properties/deliveries etc.
The middle part is rough tarmac and the edges (about 1 metre) are bricks on earth (subsoil is clay). The bricks slope away from the houses, The gutters from the property and the neighbouring one discharge directly onto the bricks.
The ground floor in the property is 23 cm below the street level. The house is timber-framed and the sill beam at the front is completely buried underground. There is a cellar beneath the house and the sill beams are visible inside. The cellar is a sand-stone like ashlar, the house above is brick infill. Other than either side of the door, the timber posts on the ground floor are no longer there - whether due to rot or deliberate removal is unclear (certainly they were not there in a photograph from c.1920 and the sill beam was already underground).
An injected DPC has been put in along that front wall level with the road outside. The inside has been plastered with modern plaster, so until we rip that out, we can't see if there is any penetrating damp.
The surveyor was unable to properly inspect the sill-beam where it is visible down in the cellar due to furniture etc but didn't note any obvious rot or distress to walls etc.
The neighbouring properties, although Listed are very different and much younger and wouldn't have the same potential issue so it's unlikely that everyone along the road would be interested in a drain being laid or anything like that, and digging down to expose the beam would mean that water would flow back towards the house rather than away as it does now.
Was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem. Is there anything that can be done to reduce the amount of water that may be seeping down into the timber and potentially rotting it? Is it even possible for a timber to be underground and not come to any harm? I've read about French Drains, but could one of these just be put into a 20ft section of road and not feed into anything? Would taking up the bricks and adding some gravel to the earth help with evaporation?
Apologies for all the questions - am trying to line up a priority works list for when we move in.
The middle part is rough tarmac and the edges (about 1 metre) are bricks on earth (subsoil is clay). The bricks slope away from the houses, The gutters from the property and the neighbouring one discharge directly onto the bricks.
The ground floor in the property is 23 cm below the street level. The house is timber-framed and the sill beam at the front is completely buried underground. There is a cellar beneath the house and the sill beams are visible inside. The cellar is a sand-stone like ashlar, the house above is brick infill. Other than either side of the door, the timber posts on the ground floor are no longer there - whether due to rot or deliberate removal is unclear (certainly they were not there in a photograph from c.1920 and the sill beam was already underground).
An injected DPC has been put in along that front wall level with the road outside. The inside has been plastered with modern plaster, so until we rip that out, we can't see if there is any penetrating damp.
The surveyor was unable to properly inspect the sill-beam where it is visible down in the cellar due to furniture etc but didn't note any obvious rot or distress to walls etc.
The neighbouring properties, although Listed are very different and much younger and wouldn't have the same potential issue so it's unlikely that everyone along the road would be interested in a drain being laid or anything like that, and digging down to expose the beam would mean that water would flow back towards the house rather than away as it does now.
Was wondering if anyone else has had a similar problem. Is there anything that can be done to reduce the amount of water that may be seeping down into the timber and potentially rotting it? Is it even possible for a timber to be underground and not come to any harm? I've read about French Drains, but could one of these just be put into a 20ft section of road and not feed into anything? Would taking up the bricks and adding some gravel to the earth help with evaporation?
Apologies for all the questions - am trying to line up a priority works list for when we move in.
