tvrulesme

Yes thank you. the yellow string line will be DPC so ground level 150mm below that. The concrete pavers on the left will eventually come out to drop the ground levels but are currently stopping too much collapse so will keep in place until after the pour. Concrete fill depth I have is ~500mm which will bring me just below the drain. Easier than putting the drain through the concrete and putting flexible joints on either side IMO

Thank you. Yes it's a drain but its temporary and will need relaying with the correct grade once concrete has been laid. Concrete will be poured to below the drain and lintel over the pipe in the blockwork

I'm building an extension (basically corridor) between my house and a detached garage I plan on converting. The trenches at 600mm wide leave just a small strip in the middle. Aside from the cost of concrete, is there any reason for this to be 2 trenches or could I just excavate the lot to the levels specified by BCO and fill the whole thing with concrete? Blue lines mark the inside of the trench

Just found this from the decorator a while back so looks like it's a historical issue....

Not a bad line of thinking. There was no sign of damp injection being done. As far as I could tell, the bottom half was all bog standard plaster rather than sand/cement. Based on this I'm guessing that if I manage to solve any penetrating damp that may be occuring from the exterior, this would eventually dry out and I can just forget about it?

Thanks Marc. Solid masonry. As far as I can see there is no cavity. The damp comes from the right in these pictures away from the light switch and when at it's worst extends across to the light switch but is definately not coming from the light switch side. Just from a safety point of view, the switch is kinetic so there are no live cables in the light switch box

I have an internal wall with damp along the middle and I just can't figure out what is causing it. The wall is at right angles to this exterior wall where the dotted yellow line is. I'm 100% sure there are no pipes behind or within this wall. It had some thick plasticy wallpaper covering which has since been removed and has been replastered and decorated. I've checked in the loft and there is no sign of roof leaks and the top of the wall is dry. The opposite side of this wall is bone dry Things I have tried and the reasoning: Ground levels outside were too high and have now been excavated to well below DPC (If ground levels were too high I would expect the bottom of the wall to be damp, not this middle section) Removal of thick plasticy exterior masonry paint. This has been done over the last week or so in preperation for repainting the exterior (using hydrophobic yet breathable Emperor Masonry Paint). My thoughts are that water may have been penetrating the old masonry paint and getting stuck behind Gutters cleaned and checked for alignment ~2 months ago Is there anything else you think I should try or to investigate people can think of? This is an old building so tanking or "modern" techniques like injection are frowned upon by the conservation officer. They also seem to be concentrated on DPC issues which I don't think is the issue given the position of the damp

Thanks for the reply. I did look at this but the inside diameter is 100mm and I had concerns about reducing this further and wondered if Building Control would have a hissy fit. I understand the resin liners reduce the diameter only by a few mm so what I would lose in diameter, I would gain from a smoother interior. At least that's the theory

Thanks Liam, the picture is a bit decieving as it was taken by me sticking my phone camera to the end of the pipe (yuk). The run is actually pretty straight. 0DBF145C-2C84-43EA-9E2E-026A8B72C42D.MOV

I have a clay pipe which goes directly under an extention in the house. No issues with it, flows fine, it's a short length of just 3.1m and I can see clear daylight when I lift the manhole cover at the other side and get a rodding pole with 100mm plunger all the way down the length with very little effort. It's currently very accessible with just a clay to PVC adapter temporarily in place. We will soon be building an extention which will make this pipe far less accessible though clearly will have the required rodding points. As 95% of the water from the house goes through this one pipe (comined foul and rain) I was thinking about getting it lined as a precaution just for belt and braces and to smooth out the old clay joints but the quotes I have had are ridiculously high as they all have a minimum of 6 meters and want to do CCTV survey in advance etc etc. So being a cheapskate, I'm thinking about doing it myself or just leaving it alone and trusting that it's been there for 100 years so another 50 or so isn't going to do any harm. I have found a local company that hires out DN70-100 Straight Packers for £50 a week and sells 1m pipe lining kits for ~£45 per meter. I already own an air compressor. Is it absolute madness to consider this DIY option, and has anyone out there done this successfully or unsuccessfully before?

Yeah that makes perfect sense. Thank you. I do fortunately know exactly where all drainage and services go but garage foundations are an unknown so this will at least give me a view on that

I'm building a small extention which will be a link between the main house and a detached garage. The garage sits ~45cm higher than the house so the foundations have been designed to be stepped. When it comes to building, does it make sense to cut the trench directly out of the concrete patio in the picture below and dig down or to completely clear the site and then dig the foundations? My thinking is that by removing less patio it will have less chance of collapsing but would be grateful of opinions. Blue lines below show the path of the inside walls of the extension

Brilliant answer. Thanks so much.

Which effectively means it does not need to breathe?

I have an old fireplace which has had the chimney removed by the previous owners. The chimney finishes at the loft floor but has been left completely open leaving a large void connecting the loft area and the room below. Currently there is just a large hole from the loft floor down to the fireplace in the room below which is a magnet for draughts and dust. Everything I read suggests you must let an unused chimney breathe but I'm wondering if this just applies to chimneys which still have the pots going through the roof and if I can safely seal off the bottom or top of this fireplace to prevent draughts? Keen to keep the fireplace in the room as a "feature" if possible