To trench or not to trench?

[mypetearthling]

Hello to all,

We have an old detached house, with a large garden to the side and back.
The problem is that the level of the garden is above the floor level of the house, and this is causing water to seep through the wall on that side.
It has been suggested to us that the best way to remedy this is to dig along side the offending wall and fill in with gravel to allow water to drain away/evaporate.

If this were the best way would we only need to go down as far as the floor level of the house, or would we need to go down further?

Would we need to seal the side of the house with something (bitumen?) before filling the trench with gravel?

To compound the problem one of the outside walls has a cement render on it, rather than the traditional lime and horse hair render, however this only goes down as far as the current outside ground level. We believe that our DPC is slate, I'm not sure if this will affect anything!

Many Thanks in advance


K

 

[big-all]

your ground must be 6" below the dpc filling it with stones will reduce but not stop the dampness and that assumes it free draining with no standing water

 

[noseall]

As BA has stated you need to clear away all material to 150mm below dpc.

Simply adding a gravel trench will not always work particularly if this elevation of the building is not exposed to much sunlight or is hemmed in in any way by fences or walls etc.

The ideal scenario is say a 1.2m wide path that is 150mm below dpc and is draining away from the building.

The render should terminate at dpc level.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You could try the trench and some bitumen or similar though, worth sticking on a protective board before filling the trench with stones though and make sure the bitumen goes down beneath the dpc level, its not a guaranteed solution by any means but it could well be enough and would be cheaper than going the whole hog and sticking a path round the perimeter although only if it worked, if it didn't you'd then need to look at a proper gap scenario as noitall suggested and then overall it would cost more! Decisions decisions!

 

[mypetearthling]

Thanks to all for the swift replies,
It doesn't seem that there is any standing water in this area, but the soil piled up against the outside of the building is stopping rainwater etc evaporating away...
This side of the building is not near walls or trees as such, and does get quite a lot of sun but the garden is now about 18" higher than the floor level inside with an upwards slope. ( I will try to get some pics)
I have no idea how high the DPC goes, so there could be a gap between the top of that and the bottom of the render.

The house is getting on for 400 years old and I know that older properties are designed to 'breathe' so I wasn't sure if the bitumen would make the problem on the inside worse (it's an exposed stone wall with a chimney, chronic efflorescence!)

All ideas that don't involve moving to a modern, fully insulated, double glazed, damp proofed house are welcome!!!

K

 

[theoldun]

Nose has hit nail on head, but to save a few shillings, we would dig it back at angle of repose say 35 to 45 degree angle from two course below dpc, throw tad of top soil over top and packet of wild flower meadow seed. Home for the butterflys
oldun

 

[noseall]

Nose has hit nail on head, but to save a few shillings, we would dig it back at angle of repose say 35 to 45 degree angle from two course below dpc, throw tad of top soil over top and packet of wild flower meadow seed. Home for the butterflys
oldun

I'm digging that natural approach Old timer.......geddit.......digging it.....?

I'll get me coat..........

 

[theoldun]

[quote="noseall"

I'll get me coat..........

When you have your nanny goat on, find hole in hedge and carry on down the road.
oldun