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Original poster

Patio breaching DPC

34 replies

WhereStarsGoBlue · 06/06/2019 14:26

It looks like the patio outside our back door has bridged the DPC and is letting water under the floor. I don't even know where to start with this, is it an insanely expensive fix and who is the person to contact, a builder?

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Thread gallery
8
googlegoals · 06/06/2019 14:42

You need a landscaper, to remove your patio and redo it to a lower le rl, ensuring it has sufficient run off to take any rain water away from your house.

googlegoals · 06/06/2019 14:42

*lower level

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 06/06/2019 14:59

It is going to cost a fortune isn't it? We have no money. We've not longer lived here.

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Thrupennybrit · 06/06/2019 15:06

Can you cut away the bit touching your house wall and put gravel into the gap but only to below the DCM, maybe even a French drain.

CoolShoeshine · 06/06/2019 16:06

Did you get a survey before you bought the house? If so you might have cause to complain and request money to have it rectified if it wasn’t mentioned in your report.

sunshinesupermum · 06/06/2019 16:09

I'd do as Coolshine suggests. this happened to us but we didn't need to take the whole patio up!

longearedbat · 06/06/2019 16:25

This is really something that should have been flagged up in a survey. It's usually just a matter of making a gravel gap, as a pp says, but it depends how high the patio is. Are you sure this is what it is though? It could be to do with the slope being wrong. Either way, it's a blooming nuisance for you.

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 06/06/2019 17:30

No - like idiots we didn't because I'd gotten a steel survey (it's non standard construction) and had misread it as a full survey. It wasn't and I couldn't afford another one.

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Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 06/06/2019 17:31

I'm not 100% sure, which tradesperson would I ask?

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AwkwardPaws27 · 06/06/2019 17:50

I'd just get the patio taken up for now - is it concrete or slabs? If it's not very thick you can break it up yourself with a sledgehammer (YouTube videos are very helpful!) - you could even just break up the bit around the edge of the house for now. If thicker you might need to hire a jackhammer thing. If you stick an ad on your local Facebook group you'll probably find someone willing to break it up for a few hundred. Laying a new one will cost more, but it sounds like the priority is to get the current one up before it causes more damage.

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 06/06/2019 18:32

Who would I get out to assess whether this is the issue?

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AwkwardPaws27 · 06/06/2019 18:43

@PigletJohn can you advise on this? would a breached DPC let in water under the floors, or would it be just rising damp in the walls?
Cheers!

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 07/06/2019 01:23

Would appreciate your input too @pigletjohn Halo

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PigletJohn · 07/06/2019 21:25

What is causing you to suspect water is coming in from the patio? Is it concrete or paving slabs?

Do you think the patio was built with the house, or later?

Post some photos please.

Pour a bucket of water on the patio and see if it runs towards the house (i.e. is sloping that way)

Show any airbricks.

Look at the drains and downwater pipes and gutters. Might they be leaking or spilling water towards the house?

Do you have gullies? Are they plastic or clay?

how old is the house?

Are the ground floors concrete or wood?

Are there damp patches on the wall?

Is there damp near the kitchen and bathroom? Is there damp anywhere else?

look at the outside stopcock or water meter, and the indoor stopcock under the sink. Is there damp near either of them, or near the (probably straight) line between them?

Look at the drains, and at any manhole covers. Is there damp near or between them?

Ask neighbours with similar houses if they had this problem; what they think caused it; what (if anything) they did about it.

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 07/06/2019 22:19

We have checked under the sink, pulled out washing machine and dishwasher etc. The dining room floor is damaged and when we push our foot down water comes out. Here's what the patio is like.

No damp anywhere else. House is steel frame ex council house from 1950s. Believe the floors are concrete.

Patio breaching DPC
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PigletJohn · 07/06/2019 22:24

"The dining room floor is damaged and when we push our foot down water comes out"

That suggests you have a water leak in your house.

Is the dining room near to the kitchen? Does it have a radiator?

Why do you suspect it is something to do with the patio?

Does you boiler have a pressure gauge?

You need to pull up that wet floor. is it laminate?

MiniMum97 · 07/06/2019 22:29

My patio is breaching the damp proof course all along the back of house. We were getting mould all under the kitchen cupboards that run along the back of the house and it was sleeping along a wall that juts into the house from the back and causing the metal heading under the plaster to go rusty and paint to bubble.

We pulled the patio away from the house and it's immediately stopped the damp (well not quite immediately but you know what I mean!).

We weren't getting tons of water in though like you seem to be saying perhaps your patio is not also angled down away from the house and rain is pouring towards the house instead.

I'm not an expert but to my knowledge a breach of the doc usually causes damp walls and mould not loads of water like you described.

The fact the patio was breaching the dpc was identified in our survey if your survey didn't you may have some recourse there.

If it makes you feel any better our patio is massive and really high. Probably 4 times the size of yours and much higher. We've got rid of the bit next to the walls and at some point my DH is going to try to concrete break the rest out and put in decking.
As I expect paying someone to do it will cost a fortune. For your small patio I bet it won't be too bad. Get a few quotes.

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 07/06/2019 23:00

PigletJohn, the boiler pressure hasn't dropped. We got a plumber out thinking it was a leak but he couldn't identify one. There is a radiator in the dining room, it's not leaking. It's near the kitchen, yes. We thought it was the dishwasher leak but it's still wet and seems to get worse when it has been raining heavily so thought patio.

Do need to pull up the laminate, then issue is that the flooring is no longer available in this country.

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PigletJohn · 07/06/2019 23:05

laminate flooring is ruined by being wet, so you are going to have to pull it up sooner or later. Once you have pulled it up you may be able to see where the water is coming from.

Please try the bucket of water.

Water might also be penetrating round the window/doors

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 11/06/2019 17:21

Floors up! Looks like it's coming from near the wall??

Patio breaching DPC
Patio breaching DPC
Patio breaching DPC
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Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 11/06/2019 17:26

Near kitchen

Patio breaching DPC
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PigletJohn · 11/06/2019 17:30

I see a radiator nearby. Pull up the laminate next to it and see if there is water round the pipes.

Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 11/06/2019 17:54

No, there was no water around the pipes - was actually drier. Around near the room entrance was pretty bad.

Patio breaching DPC
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Original poster
WhereStarsGoBlue · 11/06/2019 20:56

Skirting board looks like it's coming away too near the DPC

Patio breaching DPC
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johnd2 · 12/06/2019 08:34

Sounds like it could be a door issue, does water that hits the door build up in a frame recess somewhere and overflow into the house?
Try getting a hose on a gentle setting and point at the window in the door and look inside