Old fashioned "damp proofing"?

[The Old Chapel]

Hi,
First Post! My wife and I have recently moved in to a previously converted 200 Year old Methodist Chapel. 2 weeks in and I'm already on a steep learning curve! So here I am to learn some more...

The weather is nice, why not go clear the front garden I thought, nice productive job out in the sun I thought...

1 - On one side of the porch the gutter down pipe seems to terminate in a 12" clay pipe soak away. The pipe is broken so I've dug it out and will look to replace it. Eventually we'll remove the low brick wall and replace with a low stone wall which is more fitting to the surroundings, planning has been approved for this by a previous owner but the period has lapsed and I'll need to reapply, I digress... When this work is done I'll get proper drainage laid too for the porch down pipes so it's drained away from the property.
2 - I've noted at the top of the soil surface there are slate tiles flat against the house, as if used to make a barrier to keep the soil away from the stone wall.
3 - Clearing the other side of the porch there are roots everywhere from a wisteria plant. They've (along with some other clematis type plant) got behind the slate tiles mentioned above, pushing them away from the stone wall, and some roots have worked their way in to the joints between the stone, damaging the pointing. Should I just repoint the below surface joints and replace the damaged tiles as they were? Or does anyhring additional need doing which would be of benefit?
4 - As with the other side of the porch the gutter down pipe goes to a soak away which is full of soil. Should this be empty of soil, so just a short clay pipe with some rubble/broken brick in the bottom?

I think that's all for the moment... But there will be more!

 

[paulc]

On the subject of soakaways. Just digging a pit and bunging a pile of rubble will work for a few years. But it won't take long for it to fill with soil and roots bunging up the pipework again. Recently dug out and replaced the soakaway for my garage. I used a couple of storm crates wrapped in a geotextile and buried them a good two feet down. The hole was back filled with gravel, and the crates capped with 2" thick reinforced concrete slabs. Probably a bit over the top, but as they are under my drive now, I don't want them collapsing.
The downpipe goes in to an interceptor gully so that any crud is trapped and easily cleaned out should the need ever arise. Fitted one to a downpipe at the rear of my property several years ago, and was well impressed with it. So now fitting them to the other downpipes when time allows.

If you are digging holes and trenches, I would recommend storm crates and the interceptor gully. You probably won't need to bury the crates as deep as I did, but I would still sggest capping them with concrete slabs.

 

[Cubist]

Some years back I installed new french drains at various points around the house and the principal outbuildings. Mostly I used 100mm flexible pipe designed for the purpose and, in areas that would see foot or vehicle traffic, 100mm upvc drain-pipe with a few small holes drilled into what would be the top face. I protected all of these with a covering of permeable garden fabric before infilling the ditches with gravel.

Fully expecting that at some point they would become blocked, at strategic points I installed access portals where I could insert a high pressure hose that could be pushed through to clear such blockages. A little while later I purchased an attachment for my pressure washer that is designed to clear gutters and drains. This uses the pressurised water as a traction system to move the business end through the gutter/drain to reach a blockage and then to blast and flush it to the final exit point. Thus far none of the french drains have needed such attention but, not wanting to see yet another acquisition languish unused in my shed, I successfully used it to help 'cut' a short tunnel under a garden path in which I wanted to ultimately lay a power supply cable.

 

[The Old Chapel]

I'll do some research today on laying drain pipes on each side then, since I've started digging I may as well dig some more and sort the drainage out. Looking earlier I think I can have them exit out the low garden wall the the pavement which will the run off to the road. We're on a hill and the natural slope means water runs away from the front of the property.
Another job on the list!

Seems to be bit of a can of worms this house, one jobs turns into 2... Or 3 or more. Stressed me out initially but I'm getting my head around it now and how this is just how old property project escalate.

 

[Cubist]

You will find that the jobs inflation rate is not linear - rather, its logarithmic!

Best to just relax and enjoy the ride; entropy is a PITA and absolutley unavoidable.

 

[The Old Chapel]

Oh and back to my original post:
Should I replace the damaged roof tiles that are placed against the stone wall?
How far down should I go with them?
Should anything like a membrane be placed to help protect the wall externally below ground level?

Repointing the damaged joints:
Should I hook out the soft/damaged pointing and wire brush the joints before repointing?

 

[Monty]

We had a row of slates along the base of our front wall. I removed them entirely a couple of years ago, because I removed one and noticed that the small gap between the wall and the slate was filled by roots many of which had penetrated the joints in the stone wall and it was damp there, far more so than outside of the slate. I didn't replace them with anything, and have had no problems since with damp.

 

[The Old Chapel]

Just looking at this again, it would be much neater looking to dig and lay a drain pipe, could another option be to connect across to the downpipe from the main roof? Would be quite untidy looking though?

 

[malcolm]

Is your exterior ground level lower than the internal floor level? If not that's number 1 on the list for avoiding damp issues and a good thing to sort if you are thinking about digging holes anyway. If it's already good I see no need for the slates (which won't work anyway). Membranes will be a bad idea too.

I would replace the blocked pipe with a new underground pipe going to wherever you can loose the water somewhere away from the house. Most of my rainwater goes into the foul drains (historical system) but I have also added a soakaway made from the crates. Either way the drainage pipe should not be full of soil. You don't need permissions for any of that.

For the stone wall you don't need planning if the previous owner started anything on that permission before the permission expired. I'm sure you will be able to find some evidence that the something was started in some way.

Repointing (in lime even underground) is a good plan.

 

[The Old Chapel]

Is your exterior ground level lower than the internal floor level? If not that's number 1 on the list for avoiding damp issues and a good thing to sort if you are thinking about digging holes anyway. If it's already good I see no need for the slates (which won't work anyway). Membranes will be a bad idea too.

I would replace the blocked pipe with a new underground pipe going to wherever you can loose the water somewhere away from the house. Most of my rainwater goes into the foul drains (historical system) but I have also added a soakaway made from the crates. Either way the drainage pipe should not be full of soil. You don't need permissions for any of that.

For the stone wall you don't need planning if the previous owner started anything on that permission before the permission expired. I'm sure you will be able to find some evidence that the something was started in some way.

Repointing (in lime even underground) is a good plan.

Thanks @malcolm
Porch floor is at the outside ground level, the main building floor is just above. I've seen a report done after the property was converted stating that no damp course has been added, there is batten and board internally as noted on a post conversion inspection which was carried out. The front beds either side of the porch behind the wall are raised, so I've no issues with taking the soil level down a bit is that's likely to help?

110mm drainage pipe, etc, on order so that's next weeks job however this week there is a tree stump to remove where the pipe will be laid.... fun.

Unfortunately nothing was started, it all the same low brick wall was when they got planning permission and they submitted photos too. Their plans were to replace and raise the wall and move the position of the entry door to the side of the porch, we're only interested in changing the wall to stone.