Water under parquet floor

[Garyivy]

Thanks JohnD, I appreciate the time you’re taking here.

That photo is right now, I’d not noticed the internal walls on the first picture if im honest but from the outside the wall itself looks damp and there was previously a green house there.


Picture before any work was done

The drain pipe you can see has been taken below ground into the drain as it was previously overflowing a lot and the water (rain water too) would just sit on top of the patio.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Is the old drain glazed... might be cracked/leaking/blocked or have you replaced it with plastic? Might explain the abundance of water when it rains.

Patio is also too high in my opinion, could do with coming down a couple of bricks depth.

I'm liking the brick lintels.

 

[Garyivy]

Thanks for the lintel compliment! When problems like this happen it’s sometimes easy to overlook the good the house has!

Patio will be lowered 100%

I’ve only replaced the lower (below the hopper) pipe which goes straight into the drain.
When you say is the old drain glazed, do you mean underground damage?

 

[Mr Chibs]

Yes, the 'hopper' and the pipework that is connected to this. I've frequently found cracks in old drainage, and had to replace lots of it.

The waste pipes from your sinks shouldn't really be fed into this drain, as you currently have, they should go into the foul drain.

Your rainwater drain may be a soak away, these can get silted-up over the years and be slow at dispersing water, if it backs-up you can have problems with standing water.

Some of the drainage experts on here will give you more info, I'm sure.

Good luck with it.

 

[Garyivy]

Thank you, genuinely appreciate all of your input.

 

[Koolpc]

If it were me, i would dig up the patio. Check drains. Lower the patio as above. Make sure no rain flows or pools by the house wall.

A drastic measure would be to lift the flooring indoors and see whats going on.

 

[Garyivy]

I think I'll do this first option anyway, as it needs doing and the patio will likely be replaced sooner rather than later anyway. French drains underneath too.

I'll likely have to lift some of the indoor flooring to at least dry it out even if the cause isn't the concrete sub-floor. Frustrating as I thought it was all done and I could move on to one of the other million and one jobs to do.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Thought it was all done... I thought that years ago working on mine... hahaha,

12 months... You've only just started.

 

[JohnD]

The gulley is pretty sure to be cracked and leaking. The concrete poultice is typical of futile attempts to repair broken clay drains.

The paving is too high and may be above DPC.

Can you see the DPC?

The lowest bricks are a darker colour, as if they are wet.

You might find a hidden manhole when you remove the paving.

 

[robinbanks]

PVC frames are designed to let water out, because there is no way to effectively stop it getting in

Frames are typically face drained or base drained; the lowest point inside the profile collects water so a hole is drilled in the front or the bottom of the profile to let it out again. It is quite typical for frames on sills to have a base drain that bleeds into the sill and then the sill be drilled at the underside of the front to let the water out. It's also quite typical for installers to forget to drill drain holes where they should be, or drill them in the wrong place, or make a hole accidentally by winding a screw in and back out and in a different place.

If drain holes haven't been drilled, the frame or sill can fill up to a pint where the water leaks from somewhere it probably shouldn't, such as an end cap or joint that is room facing

If I was getting water around a frame, I would check that the drainage route exists and is flowing to the correct place

 

[Garyivy]

The gulley is pretty sure to be cracked and leaking. The concrete poultice is typical of futile attempts to repair broken clay drains.

The paving is too high and may be above DPC.

Can you see the DPC?

The lowest bricks are a darker colour, as if they are wet.

You might find a hidden manhole when you remove the paving.

Thanks JohnD,

The concrete was put on top a few months back just to ensure the pipe water collected and didn't spill over, although I've not checked any further.

Paving is definitely too high and runs toward the house, but having it run away may make things harder as the line at the house would have to be higher.

I can vaguely see what may be a DPC - almost a black layer between some bricks that, underneath the door, isn't there anymore.

I'm assuming finding a manhole wouldn't be a good thing?

 

[Garyivy]

Thought it was all done... I thought that years ago working on mine... hahaha,

12 months... You've only just started.

ha, a very long 12 months and far too much money already!

 

[Garyivy]

PVC frames are designed to let water out, because there is no way to effectively stop it getting in

Frames are typically face drained or base drained; the lowest point inside the profile collects water so a hole is drilled in the front or the bottom of the profile to let it out again. It is quite typical for frames on sills to have a base drain that bleeds into the sill and then the sill be drilled at the underside of the front to let the water out. It's also quite typical for installed to forget to drill drain holes where they should be, or drill them in the wrong place, or make a hole accidentally by winding a screw in and back out and in a different place.

If drain holes haven't been drilled, the frame or sill can fill up to a pint where the water leaks from somewhere it probably shouldn't, such as an end cap or joint that is room facing

If I was getting water around a frame, I would check that the drainage route exists and is flowing to the correct place

Thanks RobinBanks, I'll have a search for what the drains should look like. It was built by a specialist and recommended company so I'd like to think they know what they're doing. The only obvious thing that stands out is a drip run under the frame itself. There isn't any water visible around the frame itself, even above the dpc roll that sits directly below the frame, the top of this is free from moisture.

The problem also seemed to be there before the doors were replaced. In my mind new doors, plastic DPC underneath the doors, repointed outside and stopping water pooling directly next to the house would have solved the issue. Maybe I've not let it dry out before repairing any locked water in.

 

[Garyivy]

So, after some investigative work it looks like the water is coming in around the DPM that you can see below the sill. The picture below shows the trickle in after a night of rain.

The water is coming in both below the DPM and above it, below the french doors.

The fix to this in my mind is to cut back the DPM so its hardly visible and use exterior silicone around it to prevent any future ingress.

Any pros or cons to this?

 

[JohnD]

I can't see how the water's getting in round that door.

Could it be running round the frame?