Is surrounding floor of my house to high?

[edscull]

This is the back. I'll show you the front in another post. Thank you for anyone's advice.

Also what is that blue crap on my bricks. It's meant to be 110 years old.

 

[Zebra]

I would say yes it's too high, and not an ideal material as concrete will splash water into the wall. However, before digging all the concrete out I'd be having a poke about and investigate: is there a DPC? Where is it?
Is there damp internally at this location?
When you say blue crap, I assume you mean the paint or bitumenous stuff applied to those two courses of bricks that we can see. I would say it's some sort of waterproofer which doesn't look like it's doing any good.
The concrete render is probably an issue too.

 

[Lacan07]

You're meant to 'step up' when you cross the threshold and enter your house. Looking at the photos it appears the inside is slightly higher than the outside, so not ideal. The dark stuff is bitumen paint applied to protect the wall from splashing rain.

 

[MatthewC]

You're meant to 'step up' when you cross the threshold and enter your house. Looking at the photos it appears the inside is slightly higher than the outside, so not ideal. The dark stuff is bitumen paint applied to protect the wall from splashing rain.

Do you mean "the inside is slightly higher" or "lower"? It looks to me as though there is a step down which,as you say, is not ideal.

I would take an angle grinder to the concrete, remove a channel at least 8 inches wide (away from the wall) and six or more inches deep, and add a layer or pea gravel. As it is, you get splashback and so every time it rains the bottom foot or so of the wall gets wet. Rain does not splash so much off gravel.

 

[erikwoolf]

We had to dig through layers of paving blocks, cement and rubble to get to the DPC level. Roughly 40cm below ground level, anything build from 1875 onwards is supposed to have a DPC so if you can't see one chances are it is buried underneath that concrete. This is what ours looked like.

 

[edscull]

Thanks for all replies.
Does yours need replacing or.will it still be ok?

 

[edscull]

The thing I'm concerned about is that I've got two water mains at the back that run to the front where one turns off half the water to my home and another one few meters down the road for the other half of my water supply. Then a gas line somewhere and electrics. So coz this house is a terraced, old and been changed so many times. I don't know how far or where they are all buried. If I hit one. It cost too much to repair..if I damage the cable. Then I'm screwed as I've got old wire, and it cost thousands to have all rewiring to my house.

 

[Zebra]

Dig carefully!

 

[LadyArowana]

The thing I'm concerned about is that I've got two water mains at the back that run to the front where one turns off half the water to my home and another one few meters down the road for the other half of my water supply. Then a gas line somewhere and electrics. So coz this house is a terraced, old and been changed so many times. I don't know how far or where they are all buried. If I hit one. It cost too much to repair..if I damage the cable. Then I'm screwed as I've got old wire, and it cost thousands to have all rewiring to my house.

Any friends with metal detectors?

 

[erikwoolf]

The thing I'm concerned about is that I've got two water mains at the back that run to the front where one turns off half the water to my home and another one few meters down the road for the other half of my water supply. Then a gas line somewhere and electrics. So coz this house is a terraced, old and been changed so many times. I don't know how far or where they are all buried. If I hit one. It cost too much to repair..if I damage the cable. Then I'm screwed as I've got old wire, and it cost thousands to have all rewiring to my house.

You can get in touch with your utilities providers and ask for maps showing where everything is, this includes a map from the DNO for the main electricity line and from the water supplier. Unfortunately some of them charge for the 'service' for example Thames Water you can apply online and it costs 50£ approximately. Still it is worth it for me given the expenses related with damaging the supplies.

 

[a twig]

Hand trowel, thick rubber gloves and go carefully

 

[a twig]

You can get in touch with your utilities providers and ask for maps showing where everything is, this includes a map from the DNO for the main electricity line and from the water supplier. Unfortunately some of them charge for the 'service' for example Thames Water you can apply online and it costs 50£ approximately. Still it is worth it for me given the expenses related with damaging the supplies.

From bitter experience these maps are often not that accurate they will give you an idea of where the utility company "think" everything is, so useful as a starting point, but always worth taking precautions etc

 

[Lacan07]

Do you mean "the inside is slightly higher" or "lower"? It looks to me as though there is a step down which,as you say, is not ideal.

I would take an angle grinder to the concrete, remove a channel at least 8 inches wide (away from the wall) and six or more inches deep, and add a layer or pea gravel. As it is, you get splashback and so every time it rains the bottom foot or so of the wall gets wet. Rain does not splash so much off gravel.

Looking at the photos it appeared to me that the inside was slightly higher than outside but lens perspective can be deceiving. You may be right though. Either way the outside is too high.

 

[Lacan07]

The thing I'm concerned about is that I've got two water mains at the back that run to the front where one turns off half the water to my home and another one few meters down the road for the other half of my water supply. Then a gas line somewhere and electrics. So coz this house is a terraced, old and been changed so many times. I don't know how far or where they are all buried. If I hit one. It cost too much to repair..if I damage the cable. Then I'm screwed as I've got old wire, and it cost thousands to have all rewiring to my house.

You're digging a shallow trench not the Suez canal, just be careful. Most services should be beyond your scope although best to proceed with caution.

 

[erikwoolf]

From bitter experience these maps are often not that accurate they will give you an idea of where the utility company "think" everything is, so useful as a starting point, but always worth taking precautions etc

You are right, looking at the map they have provided to us it is barely readable. I did discover though that you can hire a professional cable and pipe detector for just 40-50£ per day. This is similar to what all utilities companies are using when they come around for surveys https://hirecentres.com/surveying-measuring/147-cable-pipe-detector.html