Soak away pit?

[Moominmamma]

Hi

We have a victorian semi built c.1885. There is a down pipe from the gutters at the front of the house that isn't connected to any drain - when it rains the water just flows onto the ground. This is causing some damp issues as the adjacent wall is quite wet. The front facade is built if Cotswold or bath stone and this has been damaged by constant soaking with water.

I'm not a DIYer nor a property expert but I wonder whether we need to install some kind of soak away pit, or perhaps a French drain. Would we need an expert for this or could a general builder do the job? Would it be worth speaking to the council re possible connection to the nearest drain? Our drains are at the back of the house - there's nothing at the front to connect it to.

 

[mattice]

Welcome Mooninmamma.

You need a soakaway. Here's a nice source of information http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain08.html. It's a moderate DIY job, a drainage contractor or general builder otherwise.

 

[stuart45]

A soakaway needs to be at least 5M away from the house, but might not work in certain clay soils. You need to do a percolation test to assess the size it needs to be.

 

[Flyfisher]

A French drain is not what you need. It would quickly become a 'moat' if the roof run-off is channelled into it and would quite likely make any damp problems worse than they are now. As stuart45 rightly points out, you should be aiming to move the water as far away from your house as possible.

 

[Moominmamma]

5m would take it into the middle of the road, or into next doors living room. The only way would be to run a pipe all the way to the back if the house but then we might as well try to join it up with the drain.

 

[worms]

A French drain is not what you need. It would quickly become a 'moat' if the roof run-off is channelled into it and would quite likely make any damp problems worse than they are now. As stuart45 rightly points out, you should be aiming to move the water as far away from your house as possible.

Surely it depends on the level of the French drain relative to any dpc (if present), the volume of water, the distance out from the house and whether the French drain extends far enough to either channel the water away or act as a linear soakaway. It could be that a DIY French drain is an acceptable solution or it might not, but I don't think we could completely rule it out.