Well this weekend I borrowed a petrol disc cutter and cut the concrete path along 3 sides of the house. Its been bugging me since we bought the place. It's about 4 or 5 inches thick. It turns out it's at the same height or higher than the slate layer between the nice big blue lias foundation bricks and the normal house brick. So every time it rained the water would run off the concrete into the brick and render and show damp on the inside. Also it had a cement layer against the brick which had mud all between. There were worms in the mortar! So I've now got a small shallow trench thats lower thsn the surrounding path around to hopefully help keep the rain out. Time will tell. One side is accessible to the public so will need a grate or something so that will have to wait for now.
- Thread starter Easrow
- Start date
Well, that's a start. The danger is that you have just created a concrete edged moat, which will fill up with water when it rains, and leave you with exactly the problem you had before. It is essential that there are a number of easy routes for water to drain out of this lowered area.
The soil is very well draining and any water that was in there just soaks straight away, even after washing the paths down with a hose. I'll have to keep an eye on it if it's been raining for a long period and make sure the water table doesn't come up. There are drains against the house so I can always tap into them if there's a problem.
Zebra
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- St Albans, Hertfordshire
Well done. I have a similar thing, a trench along one wall where the ground is higher. It doesn't fill up with water, because only the water which actually falls in it from the sky ends up there. You wouldn't want the whole garden draining into it or anything like that, of course.
May I make a recommendation for the grating? I found a supplier of fibre-glass grating, which actually looks much better than it sounds. From a distance, squinting, you might even mistake it for cast iron. You have to build something in the trench to support it, and this can be a headscratcher, but it keeps the leaves out and is strong enough for foot traffic.
Have a look at this thread:
http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14035&p=195975&hilit=grating#p195975
and this one:
http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15379&p=212036&hilit=grating#p212036
Edit: oh, I see you've already been referred to one of these threads elsewhere!
May I make a recommendation for the grating? I found a supplier of fibre-glass grating, which actually looks much better than it sounds. From a distance, squinting, you might even mistake it for cast iron. You have to build something in the trench to support it, and this can be a headscratcher, but it keeps the leaves out and is strong enough for foot traffic.
Have a look at this thread:
http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14035&p=195975&hilit=grating#p195975
and this one:
http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15379&p=212036&hilit=grating#p212036
Edit: oh, I see you've already been referred to one of these threads elsewhere!