Damp behind kitchen units, will another plinth vent help?

[Gary111]

I have an old stone cottage I could smell damp behind the kitchen units, I'm wondering if I should add another plinth vent to improve ventilation behind there?

Or should I try to seal it off more so I can't smell it?
Eg remove the existing plinth vent?

 

[JohnD]

Have you looked for the leak?

 

[Gary111]

Yes, I'm not sure if this is the problem It's an old cottage, there's just one downpipe for all 4 houses, which comes down behind my kitchen.

It just runs out behind the house, I vaguely remember asking on here some time ago and I should add a gutter to move it further away from the house?

 

[foxhole]

That arrangement will cause no end of damp problems fix it and your damp will probably cease.

 

[Gary111]

That arrangement will cause no end of damp problems fix it and your damp will probably cease.

Thanks, how would I solve it?
I'm.not sure how to attach anything to the cast iron pipe, so all I can think of is to use a longer gutter and point it away from the house.

Is that the answer?

 

[foxhole]

All cast iron removed and plastic down pipe directly into drain.

 

[Gary111]

I don't think the rainwater is supposed to go in the drain as it goes to a septic tank?

 

[ree]

Hi Gary111,
Your pic & text present multi possible problems? They will be very expensive to fix.

 

[foxhole]

I don't think the rainwater is supposed to go in the drain as it goes to a septic tank?

You pic shows the down pipe feeding into the drain , crudely.

 

[Nige F]

Thanks, how would I solve it?
I'm.not sure how to attach anything to the cast iron pipe, so all I can think of is to use a longer gutter and point it away from the house.

Is that the answer?

Can you turn the shoe at the bottom of the pipe so it runs into the gutter - a longer gutter would be good to get water away from the house

 

[JohnD]

Stand back and take another photo, the whole house going all the way up to the roof and gutter, and all the way down to the ground and drains.

It's quite likely that when the house was built, the downpipe used to run to a drain, probably to a soakaway but possibly a ditch.

Looking at the doorstep, the original external ground level has been raised, and the concrete is too high. It may well now be above the DPC. The concrete looks like it has been repaired and patched.

 

[Gary111]

From reading up on septic tanks rainwater should not be going into the drain.
Therefore I must need to divert it away somehow?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Yes, I'm not sure if this is the problem It's an old cottage, there's just one downpipe for all 4 houses, which comes down behind my kitchen.

It just runs out behind the house, I vaguely remember asking on here some time ago and I should add a gutter to move it further away from the house?


View attachment 353962

Where do you live 1850's?

Andy

 

[RandomGrinch]

You pic shows the down pipe feeding into the drain , crudely.

I may be wrong, but it looks to me as if the down pipe feeds crudely into a gutter, that ends in a concrete? channel and (theoretically) discharges elsewhere, past the drain

As @Nige F says...

Can you turn the shoe at the bottom of the pipe so it runs into the gutter - a longer gutter would be good to get water away from the house

 

[foxhole]

I may be wrong, but it looks to me as if the down pipe feeds crudely into a gutter, that ends in a concrete? channel and (theoretically) discharges elsewhere, past the drain

As @Nige F says...

Drain at end of gutter in photo .