DR Hopper

You may be able to dig a drainage trench between the house and the road that will divert the water to a lower area away from the house.

There is a silicone product that gets added as a liquid by bottles placed in holes drilled in the wall that eventually permeates the wall and makes a permanent damp course.....do not ask me what its called. It takes a month or two to "seep" in.....I remember seeing the ads in the UK....

Hello Andy Germany

Unsure whether this was what you meant: http://www.pureadhesion.co.uk/category/34/sealers?gclid=CJLSltr8r5UCFQ8QagodQincjw

It is important to use a product which repels water and water vapour, but allows the stone to breathe.

Kind Regards....

I think not, but it is a long time ago.

The method used was to drill a row of holes just above floor (road?) level. then a bottle of the special fluid is upended into each hole. The hole fills, and the liquid seeps into the wall. As the liquid is used, the bottle replaces the loss automatically as it is left sitting in the hole.....the fluid replaces water and repels further water. It forms a new damp course.

It takes a long time to seep in - months....

I agree with ace a valley is needed to drain away the water. If the road is really the close you could also dig some deep holes about 4 foot in diameter then fill them with rock. Cover the rock with some tar paper. Of you plan ahead call or find some roofer removing a flat roof and get a bunch of the old roofing they cut it out in 3 of 4 ft squares usually. Covering the rock filled holes with this will allow you to put dirt over the holes and keep a lot of dirt from filling in around the rock. But the holes will take in water during heavey rains and prevent the extra water from laying against your house.

You can also use some of the 4 ft dia plastic drain pipe as a liner for the holes.

Hi Dr Hooper

Before you even tackle them legally you need to check some facts.

For example you may have to check the roof for leaks. In my area (masonry walls) a leak in the roof above the wall will soon have the wall damp enough for mould.

Legally I would start with your Title Deed, it may contain provisions enforcing duties on the authorities.

It is always handy to have copies of relevant law. Authorities can usually be persuaded to rectify problems without a legal battle when faced with facts.

You should also look for a hidden defect clause in your law. If the seller patched and painted the wall to disguise a mould problem and kept the information a secret you may have a claim on the seller.

He never said if he was renting or owned it.

I figured he owns it because who would put up with trucks driving right next to the house and moldy walls everyone eles would move.

Thanks Gents for your advice. My situation is in Scotland.

Im confident that the roof is not the source of the damp ingress. And yes I do own the property. Apart for the proximity to the road its a beautiful place to live.

I spoke to the engineer at the govenment office today and am pushing to have them excavate a trench along the wall. The engineer said they would possibly do this with a view to putting in a valley drain. I suggested that whilst they were excavating for this they dug further down to below the level of my internal floor so that a damproof membrain could be placed against the wall before back filling with, perhaps, course aggregate. This would reduce the interface of the miosture heavy soils and subbase penetrating directly into the wall.

He told me that he would not dig near the walls of the house for liability reasons, however I said if they dug as close as they felt comforable with I could hand dig the rest?

What do you think?

David

Sounds good to me.......make sure that water is guided to run away from your building, no matter how much rain comes down.

Hello DR Hopper

Accept their offer, and get the job done while you have fine weather.

They evidently accept their road works have caused the problem.

If the work done is not satisfactory, you are then able to encourage them to complete it to your satisfaction.

I can understand why they would not operate their digger close to your foundations, because in case of subsequent subsidence, wall/foundation damage, you may claim their work caused the damage.

Advise progress.

Kind Regards....

A valley drain and sloped paement away from your structure would be helpful, you do not want a valley drain near your structure as these direct the road surface drainage and collect it next to your structure. Next to your structure you want a trenched subsurface interceptor drain at foundation level backed with plastic liner on the structure side of the trench. This would intercept and direct subsurface water away from contact with your structure, as this is the purpose of an interceptor drain. An interceptor drain is easy, a screened PVC drain pipe, Gravel, encapsulated in geotextile filter fabric placed in the bottom of the trench. The trench should slope towards a drain outfall point like a municipal stormdrain system or outlet on a hillside. Paving the surface with AC and installing a valley gutter down the center of the road, with the road sloped to the center gutter, would help stop much of the infiltration into the subgrade materials. Alot of drainage however, depends on having sufficient slope available to drain the water away rapidly. It is easy to create slope in interceptor drains, much harder to create longitudinal slope (without substantially impacting others or the road function) in a pre-existing roadway near an intersection with other roadways.

Prior to purchasing the property, there should have been a technical report produced by a qualified surveyor highlighting the features of the property to the satisfaction of both the purchaser and the party providing mortgage funds. The prospecive purchaser pays for this assessment, in the UK. What does that report say? At the very least, it should have noted the dampness issue! There may be grounds for further discussion with the Surveyor on this topic.

I am glad it is turning out fine.

Getting the runoff of a road correct often goes wrong.

Where I grew up the area is very flat sandy soil. What they did there was to build the road, wait for the first good rain and put culverts in where the water was damming.