Wet mud coming in through mains water hole in screed

[plumb89]

I was recently called out to look at various jobs in a ground floor apartment. A survey had flagged up damp in some walls and the tennat complained of bugs coming in via the kitchen plinth.
What i observed was wet mud around where the blue mains mdpe pipework came into the property, through the screed base.
My question is what can be done to prevent this ingress? ive dealt with rising damp but rising soil and bugs is a new one....?
All the main damp issues seem to stem from this location.

 

[bernardgreen]

I would suspect a leak in the mains pipework in the ground that is creating liquid mud which is being forced through the screed base.

 

[Notch7]

Sounds like the high water table and a soil type subject to heave is a possibility

could be the lack of a DPM

or as above: could be a water leak….given the high number of water leaks caused by that cold spell, Id start by ruling that out first.

 

[plumb89]

Thanks for the replies, the quality of these photos isnt great but here is the source. I have never heard of heave before but some reading has made me think this could be the case. It is not like vast amounts of soil have pushed up, but the dark patch around the blue mdpe pipe is wet soil when touched with the hand.

 

[^woody^]

It's not heave, that's a different thing.

Soil being forced up by pressure is a mains leak, not water table.

As this is a flat, the pipe is likely the responsibility of the landlord not the supplier.

 

[Exedon]

Another vote for mains leak seen it before.
We for many years subcontracted to a specialist insurance contractor. You really did see the bad and ugly of building work.
Leaks like that I've seen have been simply a leaking fitting , a nick in mdpe where it's rubbed against something sharp, or where tube has been folded and weakened by clumsy instalation

 

[plumb89]

It's not heave, that's a different thing.

Soil being forced up by pressure is a mains leak, not water table.

As this is a flat, the pipe is likely the responsibility of the landlord not the supplier.

With this in mind would you reccomend the best course of action be to tell the customer to contact their insurnace company or building management company? Anything below the solid structure is out of my remit.

 

[^woody^]

With this in mind would you reccomend the best course of action be to tell the customer to contact their insurnace company or building management company? Anything below the solid structure is out of my remit.

Landlord/ management agent. And compensation for any damage/ costs from them too, not the residents own insurance.