1930s property with void under the floor, needs filling.

[Mol172]

Long story short, the property has been flooded 3 times within the last 6 months, each time it has been due to outside the property flooding, filling the void under the floor via the air bricks and rising above the floorboards. 

In terms of preventing further internal flooding, in theory removing air bricks and filling the void under the floor should solve the problem, the question is will the property then suffer from rising damp problems? The property already has a course of damp injection however it’s efficiency is debatable. 

[Mr Punter]

You can buy flood resilient air bricks that close up when the water rises.

[tonyshouse]

Water finds its own level, reduce the level outside or raise the level of the floor or house 

[Mol172]

9 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

You can buy flood resilient air bricks that close up when the water rises.

Do you know how effective these are? House insurance will be covering costs so that isn’t an issue I just want the most certain option. 

[PeterW]

Ok the first thing to do is work out if you can stop the water and flooding in the first place. Have you got any sort of flood defence around the property..? If you stop the water getting in in the first place you are in a better position. 
 

You can get flood covers for air bricks, or the automatic ones that @Mr Punter refers to. If you are going to fill below the floor then you need to take the existing wood floors out, fill the void with compacted hardcore, insulation and a DPM then a concrete floor. 
 

That is not cheap, and you can still get flooding as it will rise to the door level and still enter the property. You need to stop the flooding where possible first. 

[Mol172]

1 minute ago, tonyshouse said:

Water finds its own level, reduce the level outside or raise the level of the floor or house 

Often sewerage water though, don’t want this under the property at all as you can probably imagine ?.  It is an issue with local drains/ water company but getting them to accept liability and fix the problem is a whole other story. 

[ProDave]

As others have said, replacing wooden floor with solid floor will not stop the property flooding.

 

It sounds like a job for your house insurance.  Whatever happens it has been flooded and needs proper drying out and reinstating.  If your insurance was involved they would have an interest in trying to find why it flooded in summer, and what can be done to prevent it again.

 

Is there a long history of flooding or is this something new?

[Reiver]

From what I remember from neighbours who had similar problems if it's sewerage water the LA have an absolute and undodgeable responsibility to sort it. If it's just water running off the hill however then you could be on your own.

Edited September 4, 2020 by Reiver

[Mol172]

1 minute ago, PeterW said:

Ok the first thing to do is work out if you can stop the water and flooding in the first place. Have you got any sort of flood defence around the property..? If you stop the water getting in in the first place you are in a better position. 
 

You can get flood covers for air bricks, or the automatic ones that @Mr Punter refers to. If you are going to fill below the floor then you need to take the existing wood floors out, fill the void with compacted hardcore, insulation and a DPM then a concrete floor. 
 

That is not cheap, and you can still get flooding as it will rise to the door level and still enter the property. You need to stop the flooding where possible first. 

It is a combination of surface water, and sewerage water erupting from a drain in the garden whenever the surrounding drains are backed up. The flood attacks the house from 3 angles. House insurance will be covering the cost so that is not an issue, I just want the most certain option to prevent it from happening again. 
we are in an ongoing dispute with the local water company and local council who keep passing the blame from one to another, and neither are willing to do anything to fix the problem, Atleast not in the near future. A big part of the problem is an outdated water pump that Severn Trent still insist won’t be renewed until 2025, isn’t that great. So we are mainly just focused on preventing any further internal flooding, or at least attempt to, and in the mean time hope that the relevant organisations pull their fingers out. 
 

filling the void seems to be our most certain option at the moment, and the insurance are willing to do this. This combined with flood doors would ‘hopefully’ prevent internal flooding? It has concerned us though that the House insurance have mentioned there may be some sort of declaration we have to sign to say that if we develop a damp problem following the void being filled then they are not liable. Making me think it’s almost inevitable that we’d see a damp problem following it? 

[Mol172]

1 minute ago, Reiver said:

From what I remember from neighbours who had similar problems if it's sewerage water the LA have an absolute and undodgeable responsibility to sort it. If it's just water running off the hill however then you could be on your own.

Yes sewerage water erupting from a man whole in the back garden. Local council pass the blame to the local water company and vice versa. Having to start looking for relevant solicitors, one big nightmare. 

[Mol172]

6 minutes ago, ProDave said:

As others have said, replacing wooden floor with solid floor will not stop the property flooding.

 

It sounds like a job for your house insurance.  Whatever happens it has been flooded and needs proper drying out and reinstating.  If your insurance was involved they would have an interest in trying to find why it flooded in summer, and what can be done to prevent it again.

 

Is there a long history of flooding or is this something new?

House insurance are refusing to restore property until the internal flooding has been stopped. They are willing to cover the cost of potential prevention on the property I.e filling the void but even they don’t know if this will solve it. The surveyor they have sent out says he ‘thinks’ it could solve it but he’s not 100% and if we did fill the void, we’d likely get a damp issue. As you may see from other responses Iv posted it is a combination of surface water and a sewerage drain erupting when the drains are backed up, along with the fact the nearby water pump hasn’t been renewed since the 80s despite the village tripling in size, and cannot handle the capacity. Severn Trent water know this but still insist pump will not be renewed until 2025, they’re deniying  liability due to the fact it’s a combination including surface water, which is the local councils department. Gets very messy to explain! 

[ProDave]

I would say it is pointless doing the work until the drain issue has been solved.  This is summer. Drains should not be overflowing in summer.

 

In the mean time I would be collecting all the concrete blocks and other heavy items I could find and place as much weight as I possibly could on that man hole cover in an attempt to at least limit what comes out the next time it backs up.

 

If you do go for the solid floor option, then make sure the contractor does the job properly and installs floor insulation in the process.  Done properly with all the right damp proof membranes I cannot see why it should cause you damp issues. Assuming the new floor will be the same level as the old so will not bridge the damp proof course.

[Reiver]

12 hours ago, Mol172 said:

 As you may see from other responses Iv posted it is a combination of surface water and a sewerage drain erupting when the drains are backed up, along with the fact the nearby water pump hasn’t been renewed since the 80s despite the village tripling in size, and cannot handle the capacity. Severn Trent water know this but still insist pump will not be renewed until 2025, they’re deniying  liability due to the fact it’s a combination including surface water, which is the local councils department. Gets very messy to explain! 

Mmmm, looking at the chain of responsibility, legally it might be solvable. So Severn Trent have a responsibility to stop sewerage erupting. If that is being partly/wholly caused by surface water runoff, then it it Severn Trent who should be going after the council to get it sorted. If they don't then as I see it they are failing in their fiduciary duty (duty of care) to you and the other villagers.