Wall of woes....

[88v8]

The french drain runs at what i would call the base of the building, so in reality it is roughly 3feet underground. No water ever comes out of it into the drain which runs at the side of the house....just bits of muck sometimes. So i think it isn't doing too much.

It might be working if it was well made and has been well maintained; pipe bedded in pea shingle, wrapped in filter membrane, graded stone fill, no soil on top, mesh on the end to keep rats from nesting in there. If it's just a pipe chucked in the ground and the surface has leaves and soil in there, as you say probably not doing much.
If you run the hose on it, does water come out?

Ivor

 

[malcolm]

My French drain http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14273#p198444 didn't work. It looked to be in reasonable condition (apart from a blocked pipe to be fair) but was filled with gravel to way above interior floor level. Digging gravel away revealed damp walls. I reckon they are sensible for draining surface water but not for reducing damp if the gravel is above interior floor levels.

 

[discobarry]

Well it certainly has a lot of soil above it, so i'm decided on digging out with a bit of advise from here and the heritage builder.

Upon closer inspection i can see what else they have done, they have put a plastic sheet against the house all the way down to the base of the building....surely this will allow some condensation/moisture to sit against the wall all the time?

 

[88v8]

Plastic sheet... Useless. Damp will indeed get behind it.

Ground level needs to be below internal floor. Otherwise one is just kidding oneself.
And the ditch/retaining wall should not be too narrow or stale air will sit there and the sun will never warm the wall.

Strange that so many houses were built into banks, must have been apparent long long ago that it was a bad idea.

Ivor

 

[discobarry]

Evening,

I thought i would update you all on our plans. We plan to dig back about 3feet to the edging of the cobblestone driveway to give us lots of access for maintenance and pointing work now and in the future.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[88v8]

We plan to dig back about 3 feet to the edging of the cobblestone driveway to give us lots of access for maintenance and pointing work now and in the future. Thoughts?

Ah, yes, I see the drive in your pic. Well, why not... if you can get down to internal floor level, good. A bit below, better. So long as one doesn't go below the foundations. Presume you might need to support the edge of the drive, but that's another matter.

Does that give a clear runaway for any water that falls betwixt house and drive?

Ivor

 

[discobarry]

Yes and we will put a half-drain type thing in....a retaining wall will obviously be built. I'll post pics once it is done.