Water from drive running down side of house

BennyC

BennyC

BennyC

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The drive of my new build has a slight camber towards the house and water does pool slightly at the front in one particular place.

If I wash the car then water runs along the side of the house and just before reaching the end it all pours down the gap between some concrete edging (containing the tarmac) and the house bricks themselves.

I had the builders fit a drainage channel which has been directed to one of the guttering downpipes on the front of the house however where they have cut in to the existing tarmac there is a slight void between that and the metal grid of the drainage channel.

It has been raining and the bricks do look to have soaked up some of the water in some places but this could be from splashes of raindrops. The bricks definitely aren't soaking up water above the damp course/air bricks at all.

I was going to get them to come and adjust the drainage channel slightly so that it's lower than the tarmac on the drive and also fill in the void which would just cause water to run down the side (rather than in the channel itself).

Should I be concerned for the foundations of my house and insisting this job is done properly? or is it not entirely necessary and likely to have no long term effects such as subsidence etc?

My main worry was when washing the car, I resorted to using the road for the meantime, as there would be a fair bit of water (read, almost all) disappearing down there. I think it will be fine with any rain as most will just soak in to the drive etc.

Picture for clarity:

kXeo


Thanks in advance,

BennyC
 
Nightglow said:
Usually you design a driveway to slope away from the house.

You will end up with internal damp problems eventually.
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Thanks for replying, do you mind if I ask where your knowledge is from/how credible a source you are?

This is how it looked before and shows some of the slight pooling:

kXlq
 
BennyC said:
Thanks for replying, do you mind if I ask where your knowledge is from/how credible a source you are?

This is how it looked before and shows some of the slight pooling:
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30+ years in building trades.

I would have put a fall away from the house of 30-40mm over 10'-12' wide drive, run it in to a french drain or channels.
 
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Nightglow said:
30+ years in building trades.

I would have put a fall away from the house of 30-40mm over 10'-12' wide drive, run it in to a french drain or channels.
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As would I!

I'll speak to the ground works foreman next week. Have a feeling it might be a bit of struggle but they could re-do the drive when they stick the next load of tarmac down and 'dish' it slightly rather than give it a fall as my neighbours house is quite close to the other side of the drive.
 
Looks like to the front of the house you have a flower bed, what difference is this retaining water and undermining foundations?

If it were me I'd make sure the Aco was sealed against the bituminous macadam, I expect you could ask them to seal it in as they should have set the Aco first then laid up to it but as they cut into it I'd say it wasn't sealed either side.

They should have cut back by 300mm ish then bedded the Aco on lean mix then laid the macadam up to the Aco, this will lock the Aco into the drive and stop it working loose. If they haven't laid it on lean mix and locked it in it could come up eventually.
 
A new build and you had to ask them to retro-fit a drainage channel, to a drive that already slopes towards the house? That's shocking.
 
maccapacca said:
Looks like to the front of the house you have a flower bed, what difference is this retaining water and undermining foundations?
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Beds/turf were put in my the builders below the DPC, if it makes a difference?

If it were me I'd make sure the Aco was sealed against the bituminous macadam, I expect you could ask them to seal it in as they should have set the Aco first then laid up to it but as they cut into it I'd say it wasn't sealed either side.
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Most of that's gone over my head apart from it not being set in anything as if tug hard enough on the grate it'll move/come up.

They should have cut back by 300mm ish then bedded the Aco on lean mix then laid the macadam up to the Aco, this will lock the Aco into the drive and stop it working loose. If they haven't laid it on lean mix and locked it in it could come up eventually.
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The drive was tarmac'd when I moved in late 2011 so fairly certain this hasn't been sealed in. I think they've basically just cut in to it and laid the channel in which obviously isn't sufficient. As I thought. It's not been correctly 'plumbed' in to the downspout either as the channel just stops over where the downpipe continues into the ground.
 
As maccapacca said, usually the Aco drains are fitted before you install the top layer of the driveway, that way you get a good seal to the drain.
also the Aco drains should be just a little lower than the finished surface, we usually leave them about 10mm lower.

There should not be a gap between the tarmac and the drain, as basically any water flowing to the drain, will just flow into the gap, therefore rendering the drains useless.
Its not too bad if there is a subbase like type 1 mot underneath as this will soak up a certain amount of water, but its not suitable for the long term.

If the tarmac is sloped toward the house, and then along the border between the driveway and house the driveway is level (that is not sloping towards front or rear of house) then really u should have Aco drains installed along the whole border of house, ie. front to back, as the water is flowing to the house and then has no where to drain as its level, so u get standing water.

Also the metal grates are designed to lift out, as you cab clean them out, but on no account should the whole drain lift up.
And be carefull as the metal grates often have a sharp edge to them.
 
j.col said:
As maccapacca said, usually the Aco drains are fitted before you install the top layer of the driveway, that way you get a good seal to the drain.
also the Aco drains should be just a little lower than the finished surface, we usually leave them about 10mm lower.

There should not be a gap between the tarmac and the drain, as basically any water flowing to the drain, will just flow into the gap, therefore rendering the drains useless.
Its not too bad if there is a subbase like type 1 mot underneath as this will soak up a certain amount of water, but its not suitable for the long term.

If the tarmac is sloped toward the house, and then along the border between the driveway and house the driveway is level (that is not sloping towards front or rear of house) then really u should have Aco drains installed along the whole border of house, ie. front to back, as the water is flowing to the house and then has no where to drain as its level, so u get standing water.

Also the metal grates are designed to lift out, as you cab clean them out, but on no account should the whole drain lift up.
And be carefull as the metal grates often have a sharp edge to them.
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Thank you.

I'll speak to them Monday and have them continue the drain further back, plumbed in properly to the downspout and also sit it slightly lower & tarmac up to it.
 
As was said in the OP a little lowering of the channel and a sealant between the tarmac and the channel will sort it all out. As it was done after the tarmac was laid and it's not going to be driven over I'd say the builders chose the best option by just cutting a slot and dropping it in (other than not sealing it).
 
BF-Bert said:
As was said in the OP a little lowering of the channel and a sealant between the tarmac and the channel will sort it all out. As it was done after the tarmac was laid and it's not going to be driven over I'd say the builders chose the best option by just cutting a slot and dropping it in (other than not sealing it).
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I think this should be sufficient as well as extending it further back and also putting a proper end cap on where it finishes as they've currently just butted a cut off up against the end :rolleyes:
 
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