Silt inside cavity wall causing damp

[MarkSmith]

Hi,

My cellar (which I'm converting) is a bit damp in one corner. Core-drilling a little exploratory hole reveals that this is due to the cavity being filled with clay-y "silt", presumably washed in there by 80 years of rain. I think without the silt there, the water would be able to drain much better to the bottom of the cavity and to whereever it goes from there.

Does anyone know how I might go about removing the silt?

I could remove a brick, but I'm not sure how to proceed from there. Spoon it out? Is there a better way? Cavity is fairly narrow so although I'd be able to clear a little space around the removed brick with a spoon (or similar), I wouldn't be able to get my hand in very far. Is there a tool for this?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Blagard]

Mark,

After reading another of your threads I see you have an engineer on board for your cellar so will assume all other matters are being taken care of.

If I was trying to clear a cavity of something I thought was silt I would consider jetting it out. One end open to allow water and silt out, the other end a hose pipe or jet washer if needed.

If the silt was not too compacted even a blast from compressed air might shift it. Same principle but a lot dryer

I have assumed you can't get a bit of re-bar in there to rake it out. I'm pretty sure there are no tools made for the job other than what you can improvise. But who knows, see what else others say.

 

[gregers]

if the cavities are full up,then you need to open them up,series of holes about 18" apart and about 9"x9" and manually remove the crud thats built up.using a flat crowbar/ads.

 

[MarkSmith]

Thanks for the replies.

The silt is wet and has a consistency like cottage cheese (but grey and flavourless ). It's only really possible to open it up at one end, and unfortunately not right down at the bottom because of the concrete that's around it, but the idea of flushing it out sounds like it might be worth looking into, Blagard. If I could get some device to pump water+silt out, I could remove a brick near(ish) the bottom, drop a hose in that down to the bottom of the cavity to pump out from, and then spray/pump in water to flush it out, perhaps from another removed brick nearer the top.

Probably just need to find a pump which can do dirty water, and which is OK to run "dry". I have one I used to drain a fish pond, but you mustn't let it pump air...

Thoughts/suggestions welcome

Thanks!

 

[JonB]

Would a wet & dry vac cleaner do the job.