French drain

[LadyArowana]

Yes, if you have the right barcode reader it will tell you each ones name, swipe a sheep and it will only say sheep :lol:

That's because you need a baa-code reader.

:roll: Have you been spending time with Mr Wiggs by any chance?

 

[Penners]

worms... do stop it.

:wink:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I think worms just took the Joke of the Month award.

Brilliant. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Feltwell]

I did like the Tim Vine joke that's just won an award:-

Conjunctivitis.com - that's a site for sore eyes

 

[Penners]

Tim Vine again:

Albinos – you can't say fairer than that.

Milton Jones:

I saw a dead baby ghost today... on second thoughts perhaps it was a handkerchief.

Ken Dodd:

How many men does it take to change a toilet roll? Nobody knows - it’s never been done.

Bob Monkhouse:

I want to die like my dad did - peacefully in my sleep. Not like his passengers - screaming in terror.

 

[Flyfisher]

Bob Monkhouse again:

"They laughed at me when I said I wanted to be a comedian . . . . they're not laughing now."

 

[Zebra]

Doubt it's an option for me though as the the land against the exposed gable end isn't mine.

No no, this is exactly my situation too. I'm building my French drain on land that isn't mine, so it isn't impossible.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Interflora are busy today, what with it being Valentines Day: Run florist, run!

 

[Zebra]

Whereas zebras all look completely individual, eh? :?

Hang on, how did you get hold of that picture? That's Sarah, Ben, Rich, Jackie, Steven, Zara, Annie and I out for a drink last Saturday night! Someone must have put it on Facebook. I'm the fourth from the left, you can totally tell it's me, the one with the slightly more defined stripes on the face.

 

[LadyArowana]

Hang on, how did you get hold of that picture? That's Sarah, Ben, Rich, Jackie, Steven, Zara, Annie and I out for a drink last Saturday night! Someone must have put it on Facebook. I'm the fourth from the left, you can totally tell it's me, the one with the slightly more defined stripes on the face.

The pictures from the karaoke later are better though

 

[Penners]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[FamilyWiggs]

But she definitely hooked up with the wrong kind of chap later though.

 

[LadyArowana]

But she definitely hooked up with the wrong kind of chap later though.

:lol: That is disturbing for more reasons than I can count!

 

[Zebra]

I was only getting a mate to give me a piggyback home from the pub! Haven't we all done that at some time?

 

[paddytt]

Our builder is proposing to use a mini-digger to dig out a French drain around our house. We're a little concerned about damage to the foundations. I didn't think a French drain was deep enough to warrant a digger?

The main purpose is to drain away the water from the thatched roof. Should we make it quite narrow and directly under the drip line, thereby avoiding getting close to the wall?

Thanks

paddytt

 

[Penners]

Paddytt - the risk to the building from use of a mini-digger that close to the foundations depends entirely on the skill and knowledge of the operator. The risks, as you'll obviously be aware, are (a) that the digger will knock nine bells out of your building, and (b) that a less-than-knowledgeable operator could dig below foundation level.

I think you need to be very sure about your builder's technical knowledge and digger skills, if you're going to allow him to do this. Otherwise I would insist on a hand-dug trench.

Incidentally, for future reference, it's advisable to start your own new thread if you want to ask a new question.

 

[Feltwell]

Our builder is proposing to use a mini-digger to dig out a French drain around our house. We're a little concerned about damage to the foundations. I didn't think a French drain was deep enough to warrant a digger?

The main purpose is to drain away the water from the thatched roof. Should we make it quite narrow and directly under the drip line, thereby avoiding getting close to the wall?

Thanks

paddytt

I'd say yes, keep it under the drip line if it's purpose is to carry away your roof water. How deep is your builder looking to dig and how far away is this from your walls?

You *can* dig right up against a wall, but you need a digger with a knuckle joint at the base of the arm (so it can have it's arm at 90 degrees to it's usual position) and a very good operator.

But if here, as I suspect, you're digging 2-3' away from the wall then any decent mini-digger driver can do that and it's a lot easier than digging by hand! You don't want to go too deep - imagine a line drawn outwards from the very bottom of your walls (i.e. wherever your wall stops underground), sloping down and away from the wall at 45 degrees - you don't want to break the line. Chances are you have no foundations, in the modern sense. You can get very narrow buckets for mini-diggers, no wider than a spade, although that's not really that important, it's where you dig.

You also need to know roughly where your services are and those bits will need digging out by hand, but any good builder will do this by default.

You could of course dig the whole thing by hand but it's hard physical work and it's quicker with a mini-digger - they are not that expensive to hire if your builder doesn't have his own, it will work out cheaper than paying for labour to hand dig.

 

[Zebra]

Our builder is proposing to use a mini-digger to dig out a French drain around our house. We're a little concerned about damage to the foundations. I didn't think a French drain was deep enough to warrant a digger?

I only have experience of building one French drain, which isn't working, so don't listen to me!! However, is the depth not dependent on a) its purpose and b) the depth of internal ground levels compared to outside?

The depth of mine is 150mm below internal ground level, as its purpose is an alternative to being able to lower external ground levels. The distance from the house might also be a factor. How deep is your internal ground levels relative to outside? Or is its purpose just to catch the drip off the thatch, in which case I imagine its depth would be of little importance?

 

[Zebra]

If we all don't mind having two conversations at once, may I also ask for any further opinion on my own French drain? Sorry Paddytt, not meaning to cut across your conversation...

My new plan is to have an open gully instead of a gravel filled one, the earth held back by lintels stacked on top of each other, spaced away from the wall at intervals by means of some sort of plastic-milk-crate-type-thing and covered with a grille. Then I wouldn't need polythene or bitumen or whatever against the outside of the wall, as the wall will be able to breathe properly, and the groundwater won't come near it.
But I won't be able to insulate the wall either, mainly because the insulation would get squashed by the plastic-milk-crate-type-things, or only be able to be fitted inbetween them, and would prevent breathability.
It's a 9 inch solid brick wall, which will be insulated higher up (woodfibre external wall insulation covered with a lime render starting at 300mm above external ground level i.e. 600mm above internal ground level, and joining with the insulation & render on the timber frame above). To what extent would it matter that the lower part of the wall was cold? Would it attract condensation as it was colder than all the other walls? Or is a non-insulated 9 inch wall quite fine and normal? Thanks and sorry if I'm over-thinking things again!

 

[Flyfisher]

Paddytt - the risk to the building from use of a mini-digger that close to the foundations depends entirely on the skill and knowledge of the operator. The risks, as you'll obviously be aware, are (a) that the digger will knock nine bells out of your building, and (b) that a less-than-knowledgeable operator could dig below foundation level.

I think you need to be very sure about your builder's technical knowledge and digger skills, if you're going to allow him to do this. Otherwise I would insist on a hand-dug trench.

At a previous house we had some building works done that involved lowering the floor of an internal garage by about 4 feet. When disussing the job with the buiding contractor boss, I asked if they would be using one of those very small diggers that can fit through doorways.

His basic response was 'not a chance' as he wouldn't take the risk of the driver making a mistake and knocking down a wall or similar. So he had his chaps hand-dig and wheelbarrow it all. It was certainly hard work for them but I was amazed that it only took them a couple of days.