Rainwater down pipe

[bebeboeuf]

I think I have a problem with my rainwater downpour as there's a patch in my house near it that gets wet.

The gutter feeds into the down pipe and the down pipe goes straight down into the block paved patio.

I assumed it then connected to the drainage system, but maybe it doesn't.

The pipe is converted into the ground. Is there any easy way I can check without destroying the pipe?

I'm not at home at the moment to be able to take a photo but will add one later

I found a photo

is it plasatic?

does it leak from any of the joints, or over the edge of the gutter, during rain?

How old is your house?

Does the kitchen sink drain into a gulley outside the house? Post a pic please.

It is plastic,

The house is Victorian.

There is no crack in the down pipe. There used to be a crack in the guttering above where the water used to just pour down the wall and onto the ground below but we replaced that section of guttering about a year ago

The sink waste goes to the soil pipe apparently

if it's Victorian, the the downpipe prpbably goes intp a clay gulley that the builders have laid those paving bricks over. It might be cracked, broken or choked, but you won't be able to see without taking up some bricks.

Try to find out where the damp-course is, because the bricks may have raised the external ground level and bridged it.

Photos of the places where your other pipes go into the ground will give clues on how it was built.

When a downpipe is choked, water comes out of the socket joints in the downpipe (they are not sealed). You can try squirting a hose into the gutter and seeing where the water comes out.

I've got home so tried to take some of the paving bricks up. I've only managed to take a few out and the pipe itself is stuck fast in the concrete.
I haven't been able to reach yet to put a hose down it but will get a ladder out there once I've managed to take more up.

I have no idea what I'm looking for but taking up the few reveals just mid grime hat I can see.

It's the old converted outhouse so some surveyors have said it doesn't have a damp course and others have said that the damp course is concealed by the black plinth.

The level of our patio is lower than our neighbours

It will be interesting to see if the hole fills up with water when you use your hose.

Under the bricks looks like black soil, they would more usually be bedded on sand or mortar. It might be an accumulation of organic material from the gutter. You can scrape it away, you're looking for a brown clay socket or trap.

On our victorian house someone had put a downpipe going into the concrete area outside the back of our house - turned out not to be going anywhere! When it rained water just came straight into the kitchen as all the outside levels were too high and the solid concrete floor of the kitchen had been extended outside then they built extensions on to it in the 1980s. We had all the outside concrete broken up and removed, replaced with gravel so rain now soaks through where it falls and drains away into the ground below. Dont underestimate the stupid things people did in the past - but they can normally be put right.

@bilbodog

It wouldn't surprise me at all. This whole house has been an education of one persons random attempts to bodge anything and everything.

The wall in question that had obviously been causing previous owner issues for years has been 'damp proofed' with so many layers of water proof internal rendering that we potentially gain a few inches of room back now we've stripped back.

Just hope we find out the cause.

Everything's buried at the moment so just going to have to try and rule each one out.

Would the damp patch smell if it was ground water/ waste water or rainwater compared to if it was tap water?

The patch has been revealed for a few weeks now and no smell at all.
It's not grown or reduced in size with the weather.

The downpope seems to go down quite far, I haven't got to the bottom of it.
Digging out the sand just gets to a weed membrane.

There's no sign of any excess moisture down here.

That's interesting.

Drains are usually built by laying the underground part first, ending with a gulley or a socket that the builders can put the downpipe into afterwards.

Perhaps the old socket or gulley was damaged and the concrete patch covers up some kind of replacement joint.

Do you see black plastic pipe under it?

Gutters and downpipes are prone to leaf and sand blockages, so there should be cleaning access at ground level.

Btw if you scrape away some sand next to the house wall, you may be able to see where ground level used to be, and maybe a DPC.

I think you said there was a wet patch on the internal side of the wall, which is common when there is drain damage.

Look out for red worms in the soil, they are harmless but often found near broken drains.