French drain

[Feltwell]

A strip of plywood or a floorboard with either thin strips nailed across it, or lots of shallow cuts across it with a saw - to give some grip - would make a great escape ramp for anything that's not able to scramble out by itself.

Which reminds me - I've got to block a hole in the eaves of the garage, stop the sparrows from nesting in there. I spent ages last spring rescuing baby sparrows that had got into the garage itself - including one fledgling that I found trapped in the bin It couldn't have been there that long, left outside on a bench it disappeared within 5 minutes, with me on cat lookout.

 

[paddytt]

Our French Drain went in at the front of our house yesterday, and the path alongside was started today. The side and rear will be done soon. See our blog for the full story:

http://thethatchedhouse.blogspot.com/

 

[Zebra]

Gosh paddy that looks ever so good! Not very deep I notice, I take it you don't have much in the way of foundations?.... But you decided to let them go ahead and dig it with the digger? Well I hope it makes a big difference!

 

[paddytt]

Yes, Darren the Digger is excellent, he's dug all around the house with no problems.

That end is the highest point, the drain slopes away and get deeper towards the other end of the house, as you can see below. We are not sure how deep the foundations go, we didn't dare dig too close at that side. Since that part is late C15th or early C16th, we were surprised that there were any foundations at all! There is no damp along that wall, so we concentrated on getting the runoff away from the thatch.

 

[AMc]

We are not sure how deep the foundations go, we didn't dare dig too close at that side.

If I were there with my wellies on I would be tempted to dig a spade width test pit with a spade so you know for future reference. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Our structural engineer insisted on 3 test pits, one in the garden to establish the soil structure (done with the digger) and two next to the load bearing wall for the vinery (dug by a Latvian with a spade). The engineer and the Building Control Inspector were very complimentary about the soil - a "good blah newton metres" and they were more impressed that there were a good 5 feet of brick foundations under the wall. Given I was removing a big chunk of that wall and replacing it with a steel girder I felt a lot more comfortable having found out what I had under there vs. the nagging worry that there were 3 courses of brick and then clay.