Are my drains blocked (with pictures)?

[LisaVanderpump1]

My flat is suffering with some damp, and I'm trying to rule out potential issues before getting a damp surveyor round. So I've started looking at my drains and noticed that all the ones around the outside of my flat look like this with standing water in them.

Daft question, but should they look like this ie. with standing water in them, or is that the sign of a blockage? There isn't any smell, and they looked like this even when it was as dry as the desert, so I don't think the recent rain is to blame.

I think they do have water in -ours do- like this pic. We had a crack in one of ours that caused damp so DH had to dig it up and replace a part. I had, before he dug it up to check, used our ladle to scoop all the water out to check if anything was down there causing a blockage 🤣 nothing was blocking it, the damp has gone but when I look down it now (a couple of years on) it does still have water in.

www.jdpipes.co.uk/knowledge/underground-sewer/what-are-gullies-and-where-do-you-need-them.html

There is an illustration if you click to open the photo, not sure why it’s not visible in the main attachment.

Also if you haven't already got grids / covers over them , get them asap - rats

Paging Pigletjohn!
Before you get a damp surveyor round, Pigletjohn might pop along with some advice.
If you show him some photos of your damp issues, he might be able to offer some words of advice (and words of warning about "damp experts").

Yes drains do have water in them, otherwise you would get a really bad smell coming up. You could put some drain cleaner down, and make sure they have grills on them..

Yes, they're supposed to have water in them.for the same reason your toilet and the U-bend under the sink have water in them - to stop gases from the sewers coming up through the drain. If there wasn't water in there then that's when you should expect them to smell!

You can tell if they’re blocked by pouring water down them and see if the water level rises and doesn’t drop or takes a long time. But yes, as PP, they should have some water in them.

From the title I wondered if you had been flooding Monet's and Picasso's down the loo and now it doesn't drain properly!

But back on topic, the gulley looks fine, but the ground level is slightly raised from the level of should be, and the damp proof course has been rendered over and painted which will bridge it.
You would ideally lower the ground level to original, hack off the render below damp proof course level, and render down to a drip bead just above dpc level so any rain is deflected away.

Not the Monets - just the Rembrandts and Warhols! But thanks all - good to know that this is normal.

So the wall that you can see behind the gulley is actually a wall between me and my neighbour, but my actual wall isn't really in a better state, as the ground level against my wall is very high. If anyone has any advice about how this could be cut away/lowered, all thoughts are gratefully received (and I know this is @PigletJohn specialist subject!). I'm pulling my hair out with it!

How old is the house? Are you in a town or city, or near a factory, dock or major railway facility?

I ask because from 1939-45 a period of unpleasantness resulted in most clay gullies being cracked, and leaking ever since.

Can you see the DPC? How far above the surface is it? As John mentions, later paving frequently bridges them and causes damp.

P.s.

Do not allow anybody who sells silicone injections onto your property

P.p.s.

I can see green life around the gullies. Do you see it anywhere else?

Have you ever found wild tomato plants growing?

Thanks @PigletJohn . Building is Victorian, with an extension added to the rear c. 2004, and I'm in south east London. No factories, docks or major railway facilities near by.

I can't see a DPC anywhere except on the rear extension, as everywhere else is rendered. Unsure if the render is original or if it has been added at a later stage. So it sounds like if there is a DPC on the original building, the render and/or the high ground levels are breaching it. I can see some air bricks dotted around above ground level, but I think it's fair to say that there probably should be air bricks ventilating under the suspended floor (which I have throughout) that have been covered by the render or the raised ground levels.

After being quoted £25k (and no, there isn't a decimal point missing there) by a "damp specialist" to "fix" my damp/humidity issues 🤔, I decided to start doing some research of my own, and yours and others advice has really opened up my eyes to the scam of injectable DPC's. So fear not, those pillocks will not be darkening my door again or shoving anything into my walls!

Not sure if they're wild tomato plants, but some greenery has been growing where you can see it here and I think out of a gulley at the front of the building. The area in the picture also has some green discolouration to the concrete where weedy stuff sometimes grows out too.

Sorry - this is a very long response! Just trying to answer your q's as well as I can 😀

Greenery growing near gullies suggests leaks, which are common if not universal around old houses.

Tomato seeds are undamaged during their journey through the human digestive system, and emerge ready to germinate. They grow well in conditions that include persistent damp and decaying organic matter.

London was definitely a target during the Blitz, and subsequently bombarded with cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. Shock waves in the ground cracked many clay gullies and underground pipes.

Thanks - interesting to hear about tomato plants! I've just compared the greenery that's growing out of the gulley at the front with my not wild tomato plant in the back garden, and they look very similar, so I suspect that's what that is. Sounds like the next best course of action would be some sort of drain survey to identify any leaks/cracks/blockages/damage?