Rainwater drainage at front of Victorian terrace?

[RrogerD]

1850s mid-terrace property. The front rainwater down-pipe with all of the houses, pipe vertically straight into the ground. Mine, turns 90 degs and drains out onto the road but the neighbours, I cannot see where theirs goes to. Could it be that there is an underground channel / pipe servicing all of these down-pipes running along the front of the houses?
The reason I ask is because we have damp in our front wall and the front corner of the adjoining wall in the hall. I'm at a loss as to what could be causing it. If there is an underground pipe which was blocked or broken then this could be it.
Anyone any ideas how these systems work?

 

[Wayners]

Damp proofing in wall ok?
Might have some rising damp.

Will also be lime plaster so paint needs to be breathable.
If you use gypsum plaster or vinyl paint it will trap moisture. Don't think you will have cavity walls at that age. Probably worth paying for survey

 

[RrogerD]

Damp proofing in wall ok?
Might have some rising damp.

Will also be lime plaster so paint needs to be breathable.
If you use gypsum plaster or vinyl paint it will trap moisture. Don't think you will have cavity walls at that age. Probably worth paying for survey

Thanks for your reply.
I was really wondering about how the rainwater drainage worked.

 

[ree]

OP,
Why not post pics showing the outside front elevation at ground level - show where your down pipe runs,
& pics showing the interior areas where you have damp?
Do the neighbour's down pipes go into gullies or straight into the ground?

 

[RrogerD]

OP,
Why not post pics showing the outside front elevation at ground level - show where your down pipe runs,
& pics showing the interior areas where you have damp?
Do the neighbour's down pipes go into gullies or straight into the ground?

The neighbour's ones run straight into the ground. From what I can see, all of them along the street are the same. Not sure which have outlets onto the street, I didn't look that close.
From the attached pics, all of the houses' down-pipes look like this.
The other pic is from the Searches when we purchased the house. I assume that the lines with the arrows are the foul water runs. Not sure what the properties with no drainage runs showing, do.
Cheers

 

[big-all]

my house a mid terrace [1907]the gutters at the front right to left into there drain then at the back left to right so all drains are the responsibility off sesw
are you sure you dont share with the neighbours both back and front ??
the plan you show is rear drains only from what i can see ??

 

[ree]

OP,
Whose house is in the pic? Which is your house in the diagram? Where is the soil stack on your house?

 

[RrogerD]

my house a mid terrace [1907]the gutters at the front right to left into there drain then at the back left to right so all drains are the responsibility off sesw
are you sure you dont share with the neighbours both back and front ??
the plan you show is rear drains only from what i can see ??

This is the query. There does not appear to be any plans showing rainwater drainage, particularly at the front.
The arrowed property is mine, with next door (to the left facing the front), draining into mine at the rear. I assume to be sewer.
I'm assuming that all other properties with drainage runs not shown, will somehow drain into the next run down-stream?
If this is the case then there wouldn't appear to be anyone's drains running past my front door as the same neighbour (left facing front) being end of terrace, has in fact diverted his from going into the ground and kept it surface, see pic.

 

[blup]

The rain water pipes probably drain straight into the ground like an informal soakaway. Yours has probably been directed towards the road because it was suspected of causing the damp. Whether or not it did, the damp is still there, drying out. Something else may have caused/contributed to it, look at tne dpc, is it bridged?

 

[camerart]

Hi R,
I have a similar issue!
The bay window and inside walls were cracking. I was trying to sell my house but the survey pointed out that the front roof rain water pipe wen nowhere. I traced the original ceramic pipe to the footpath. I asked my neighbour and he showed me his drain goes through the footpath into the gutter, but mine was cut in the 70s when they repaired the path.
I fitted a pipe downpipe to the path, so the water goes across it, and asked the council to replace the path tunnel, but years later nothing!
It isn't allowed to send it into the only waste drain, it doesn't have the required 5mtr for a soak away, and it isn't allowed to send across the path. Now what!
The cracking has stopped and the window stabilised.
C

 

[blup]

Its highly unlikely it is/was connected to the foul sewer.

 

[RrogerD]

The rain water pipes probably drain straight into the ground like an informal soakaway. Yours has probably been directed towards the road because it was suspected of causing the damp. Whether or not it did, the damp is still there, drying out. Something else may have caused/contributed to it, look at tne dpc, is it bridged?

Useful info. Thanks.
I'm having the front concrete area between hedge and building re-done. I'll mention what you've said, to the builder and to watch out for not bridging the dpc.
Thanks again.

 

[RrogerD]

Hi R,
I have a similar issue!
The bay window and inside walls were cracking. I was trying to sell my house but the survey pointed out that the front roof rain water pipe wen nowhere. I traced the original ceramic pipe to the footpath. I asked my neighbour and he showed me his drain goes through the footpath into the gutter, but mine was cut in the 70s when they repaired the path.
I fitted a pipe downpipe to the path, so the water goes across it, and asked the council to replace the path tunnel, but years later nothing!
It isn't allowed to send it into the only waste drain, it doesn't have the required 5mtr for a soak away, and it isn't allowed to send across the path. Now what!
The cracking has stopped and the window stabilised.
C

Very interesting!

 

[foxhole]

Are gutters clear and draining correctly , ?often the narrow frontage on terraces is compromised by high ground levels so rain splashes up the walls causing damp .If you have cement to front you could dig out, reduce height and fill with shingle to aid drainage .

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Common practice in the Victorian era was to put rainwater from the rear into a combined sewer, and the front, straight to the road, where it would find its way into the Road Gullies, which then either went into a surface water sewer, or also connected to a combined sewer.

I would hazard a guess you've got some pipework underground that heads towards the road, and also equally possible the dozy Council have buried it at some point in the past when they've laid new kerbs and/or raised the footpath....