Springs and wells.

[AndieL]

Hello! I'm new to the forum. Looking forward to getting to know fellow members.

I'd just like to thank Simon for assisting with the activation of my account as my current location (Middle East!) threw up a few red flags during the registration process! I'm very pleased to be here.

My partner and I are hoping to be the new guardians of a beautiful Grade 2 listed property. We fell in love with it when browsing online estate agents' websites in the summer, arranged a viewing on the day we flew back to the UK in October and if all goes well we intend this to be our home for the rest of our lives. My partner has experience of renovating period properties and I'm not afraid of hard work...two pluses!

Whilst sitting here waiting for the purchasing process to either succeed (fingers crossed) or fail (very sad face) I thought I'd ask for your thoughts and/or experiences regarding buying/living in a property that seems to have a spring or similar running under a stone paved patio next to the front entrance to the house and a possible well next to the rear of the house, situated by the kitchen wall.

I know this all seems rather vague with reference to exact details but we are rather far from the property at present and I didmt think to take exact details on our last visit!

A few more details - parts of the cottage date from mid 17th century. There didn't appear to be any sign of damp (smells or mouldy deposits) in any part of the downstairs of the property. The cottage is in a conservation area, is a mixture of cob, stone and brick and is thatched.

What should we be aware of? What questions should we be asking? We've spoken to the EA and the house is classed as having a 0.1% chance of flooding. Our surveyor is carrying out a very comprehensive survey next week. We've also requested detailed insurance related information.

Looking forward to reading your knowledgeable responses!

 

[LadyArowana]

Welcome, sounds like an interesting project. Just bumping this up the listing, with luck someone who has some useful advice will be along soon.

 

[Flyfisher]

Welcome to the forum, it sounds like interesting times ahead for you.

I wonder what a 0.1% chance of flooding actually means? 1 in 1000 I suppose, but 1000 whats? Years, days, minutes? And whatever the risk, it could still happen tomorrow and then not again for another 1000 whats. Sorry, just thinking out loud - not very helpful.

As you have a running spring so close to the house, I'd be wondering about the type of ground the house is built upon. I'd not automatically expect any damp problems from having the spring so close (plenty of houses are surrounded my water-filled moats), but I'd imagine some ground conditions to be more susceptible to the erosion that others, so settlement cracks and other similar damage should be carefully looked for. Presumably the surveyor will be told about these specific concerns and can investigate them specifically, or does this sort of thing need a different specialist?

 

[kreyszig]

Welcome!
You may know this already but the flood risk report given by the Land Registry does not include the likelihood of being flooded by a river! It tells you whether you are in a flood plain or not, that's pretty much it.
The Environment Agency does include rivers and the sea - so it is probably worth checking where that 0.1% number came from. Given it's come from an EA, I'd suspect a dark recess of their anatomy...

 

[angrybird]

There are 2 streams running under my "nest" fed by springs further up the mountain, one under the hall and one under the attached Blacksmiths.house is built on bedrock with quarry tile/stone flags laid on earth.There is a bit of damp in the Blacksmiths (but no heating) so I expect it to be a little damp, there are no cracks etc.There is a large slab of concrete on the Blacksmiths floor and Mr Angry is itching to get the SDS drill on it! I'm sure he thinks he's going to find North Wales version of Peckham springs :lol:
The way I look at it is the house has stood here for two hundred years plus and is still standing.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Agree. We have a well in the kitchen and as we aren't on mains it's our drinking and washing water. If it flooded it would be disastrous but I don't think it could, unless the typical rainfall altered very drastically - but even then - as we are on a hilltop it would just run down.
I'm very much of the camp that thinks if it's still standing after a few hundred years, stop worrying. Wishing you the best of luck with the purchase - it sounds very exciting!

 

[AndieL]

Good morning from the UAE!

Thank you all for the responses to my very garbled first post! I really appreciate that so many people have taken the time to post on my very first post to the forum!

It's difficult being stuck here so far away from the cottage we hope to buy - I've floor plans on my laptop and a folder filled with detailed images taken on our visits to view the property, but time and distance plays mind games! I will be very relieved when we head back next week to have another good look around and rummage inside the property. During recent spates of bad weather, we've roped in parents to carry out weather-based recces on our behalf and asked them to check the rear garden, patio, level of the brook etc, take photos and email them to us.

I read your earlier posts, angrybird, and it helped immensely - especially as I was having a bit of a 'what are we doing?' moment! Both my partner and myself have lived in older properties in the past and we are going along with the opinion that if it's been standing here in this spot since the 17th century, it can't be too bad!

I should have added to my previous post that there is a small spring-fed brook running in front of the cottage -and all of the other properties in the road, including several newly built properties - and a solid concrete lined channel (for want of a better description!) runs around to the back of the house, approximately 18 inches - 2' lower than what would appear to be 'floor level' inside the house. I have known the village all my life as I lived less than 20 miles away during childhood and less than 10 miles away for most of my adult life. I used the road running past the cottage on a regular basis and I can't recall the road through the village ever being under flood water.

Thanks again for all your responses. I look forward to participating more in forum activity for the foreseeable future!