Flooding issue garage driveway

[AdzB]

Hi All, I am looking for some ideas / tips of addressing a flooding issue on my first house.

 

My garage floods after heavy rainfall, with the water seeping through the brick (below the DPM). The garage is below the roadway, so half the wall has ground the other side.

 

The previous owners covered a previous gravel patch with paving to make an additional space. There is a small channel which is between the garage wall and driveway (no idea if issue arose as a result of this). This channel doesn't go anywhere just lined with cement it appears.

 

 Could you guys recommend any steps I can take to try and solve this issue. I've been advised to put tanking slurry on the inside but I feel this just masks the problem.  I have attached some images and an amazing sketch ? trying to show the arrangement from a side elevation. The inside of the garage on the right of the wall. Driveway and channel to the left. 

 

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers 

[Mr Punter]

If you had a French drain against the outside of the wall and a route for the water to go it would improve things.  You would need to remove the course of charcoal paviours and dig down to the garage floor level.  While there you could apply some external tanking.  You would need a pipe so that the water could be directed to a drainage point where the bins are?

 

Does it properly flood or is it just the bit of seepage?

[Carrerahill]

What a mess of a situation - not good what has been done.

 

So many things you could do here from correct and proper solutions to sort of bodges that might work.

 

In an ideal world you would dig up the drive for about a 500-600mm section, waterproof the walls, and then rebuild the drive with gravel infill and a channel drain.

 

Next sort of OK option would be to pull up the solider course of paving, dig down and fit a channel drain and divert the water into a drain somewhere.

 

I suppose bodges could be done too - not sure what, I don't like bodges and cannot think of a good one.

 

 

Edited July 15, 2021 by Carrerahill

[AdzB]

5 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

If you had a French drain against the outside of the wall and a route for the water to go it would improve things.  You would need to remove the course of charcoal paviours and dig down to the garage floor level.  While there you could apply some external tanking.  You would need a pipe so that the water could be directed to a drainage point where the bins are?

 

Does it properly flood or is it just the bit of seepage?

Thanks for taking time to read and reply. Unfortunately it floods quite bad to the point I need to put wellies on sometimes.

Thanks for your advice. Not an easy and simple fix then by the sounds of it. There is a drainage channel which runs along the front of the garage which water could be diverted to.

Would tanking slurry on the inside wall serve as a temporary fix to stop the garage flooding? Or at least slow it down ? 

 

[markc]

Tanking slurry would help but it just keeps the water inside the brick/blockwork.

I was going to suggest filling in the gap and adding a flashing over to the pavers but looking closer at the photos i reckon the pavers all drain towards your garage. no simple fix im affraid

[AdzB]

14 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

What a mess of a situation - not good what has been done.

 

So many things you could do here from correct and proper solutions to sort of bodges that might work.

 

In an ideal world you would dig up the drive for about a 500-600mm section, waterproof the walls, and then rebuild the drive with gravel infill and a channel drain.

 

Next sort of OK option would be to pull up the solider course of paving, dig down and fit a channel drain and divert the water into a drain somewhere.

 

I suppose bodges could be done too - not sure what, I don't like bodges and cannot think of a good one.

 

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and Reply. It certainly gives me something to think about and doesn't sound like an easy fix as I'd hoped. I'll have to get it sorted as the garage is pretty useless for storage at the moment. The door is already too narrow to comfortably fit a car into lol. So not much use at all at the moment. 

 

Thanks again

4 minutes ago, markc said:

Tanking slurry would help but it just keeps the water inside the brick/blockwork.

I was going to suggest filling in the gap and adding a flashing over to the pavers but looking closer at the photos i reckon the pavers all drain towards your garage. no simple fix im affraid

That's the fix I had initially thought of. But yes I agree I think it would instead seep between the pavers and still get into the garage wall. 

This job will certainly give me something to do this summer.

 

Thanks for your reply. 

[Mr Punter]

As a more simple but slightly bodged solution, fit a drainage channel in the gap with a downpipe going through upper bit of the wall with the decking on it and dropping down by the bins.  Make sure it is set slightly lower (5-10mm) than the driveway paving and seal the paving and channel with decent mastic.

 

If the gap is not wide enough you may need to cut down the paviours or rotate them.

[Roundtuit]

There's no easy fix, but if you're not going to be trying to get a car in there, you could explore the possibility of installing a perimeter drain inside the garage, running into your existing drain channel, then dry-line the inside.  A similar solution is used for basements in old houses I believe (with a pumped sump).  Might be easier than digging the driveway up.

[saveasteading]

Where does the water go from inside the garage? I mean is it flowing in and out, or just in and stabilises?

[Dave Jones]

two pronged approach needed. 

 

1. try and move the water that wants to make its way into your garage around it and away, liner drains etc.

 

2. You need a vertical cavity tray all the way round to the height of the wall next door, so any water penetrating the outside skin cannot get any further. As its block and render it wouldnt be a massive job to sort.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Dave Jones

[AdzB]

On 15/07/2021 at 16:35, saveasteading said:

Where does the water go from inside the garage? I mean is it flowing in and out, or just in and stabilises?

Just sits on the floor until it evaporates, so the floor is prett much constantly wet in winter. 

[AdzB]

Thanks all for your ideas and solutions. Really appreciate it.  You've given me plenty to think about and plenty of options. 

[saveasteading]

21 minutes ago, AdzB said:

Just sits on the floor until it evaporates, so the floor is prett much constantly wet in winter. 

The reason i asked was to see if it is pouring or dribbling in. Seems the latter.

 

assuming you are not going to do a rebuild., how about a pragmatic improvement.

1. drain against outside wall , as above, and make sure it goes away somewhere else.

2. seal the wall on the inside , best you can, accepting it will mostly pop off again. dry wall, bitumen paint joints, then whole wall.

3. screed floor to fall to a side or corner, and leave channel in it. Cut out a sump to catch the water.

4. pump out occasionally or automatically

[saveasteading]

Depending on levels, if you screeded inside to slope to the door, would it run outside and away?