Damp bungalow wall

[WhisperingGrass]

This is the side of my bungalow, the bungalow is on a hill. The bungalow wall is very damp and indoors the wall feels cold and there is a lot of bubbling paint that is coming off. This is the only wall in the bungalow that is damp. Judging by the following photos would you say the concrete path is too high and I would need to have a trench dug out from that concrete path next to the wall and fill it with gravel? That path continues though the wooden gate seen in the first photo to the front of the bungalow.

I've searched around for the dpc but can't see anything. It's a 1930s built bungalow. The back half of the bungalow is an extension (so not sure if that's single brick) and the original part (the front half) is cavity wall.

I've also had slugs coming in to the kitchen and bathroom at night time. So was thinking a gravel trench might put a stop to that.

Once I get this sorted I will also change all the soffits, fascias and gutters as they are not in a good condition and the gutters are leaking quite badly. Also, the pebbledashing is in quite condition on the extension part (done 20 years ago) but is not good on the original part of the bungalow. I'd probably just get repairs/replacement to the original part and hope it will match up with extension pebbledashing.

From the first picture, it looks like the concrete runs down to your wall. And the discoloration on the concrete suggest it pools there? Was the drain blocked?
Is that a door in front of the drain?
Also is that manhole cover by the gate for sewage?

Dpc will be at the level of the bottom of the pebble dash. Current regs say 150mm to prevent rain splash so the path is a little high but standard was 100mm for decades before.
The path looks like it sloping towards the wall near the gate?

The pipe work doesn't look brilliant and the gully it goes into also looks suspect and the vent pipe needs inspecting. Anything going in or out of the wall surface (pipes, fixing etc) needs to be sealed so water can't track in.

What's with the plastic bag in/on the wall?

The problem is more likely to come from higher up. Badly leaking gutters put vast amounts water running down the wall which will head inwards given any opportunity and the wall has been sealed with pebbledash and paint so there's no way the wall can dry from the outside once it's damp.

If it still has old bitumen roofing felt (it gets brittle with age) it may have failed at the bottom allowing water to get to the top of the wall but gutters would be my first suspect.

C4tastrophe I'm not sure if the discolouration on the concrete is from pooling water or if it's just ingrained dirt. Although I have seen water pooling at the bottom of the wall after rain and it sometimes just sits there for ages.

I'm not aware of the drain having been blocked but I do know it has overflowed occasionally when the washing machine empties, not all the time but sometimes.

The door is a upvc door that is the side door of the kitchen, it rarely gets used.

Surplus2requirements Can you tell me what you mean by 'vent pipe'? Do you think the pipework and gully need replacing or moving to a new location?

The plastic bag on the wall I put on a few weeks before the cold snap. It's the outdoor tap. It's actually 2 padded tap covers (one on top of the other) and then I wrapped bubble wrap and some other type of plastic packaging over it to stop it freezing up.

Because that concrete path is not in good condition I'm wondering if I should just get a paving company or groundwork company in and get them to lay a new path at the correct height and maybe if they do drainage as well they might be able to sort out any drain issues. Then I would get pebbledashing replaced/repaired before getting new gutters in. Would I be doing that work in the correct order?

Sorry if any of my replies seem a bit vague but it was my parents' bungalow and I've recently inherited it and intend to live here for the foreseeable future. Although I lived with them over the last 14 years as their carer they refused to get any maintenance done so I'm now trying to sort out years of neglect.

The black pipe by the gate, it vents the run of soil pipe so flushing the toilet does syphon water out all the u bends.

All the pipe works might be fine but needs inspecting for leaks.

I'd suggest, soffits/facias/guttering (temp fit downpipes) then wall repairs and do the path last so there's no risk of damage to it.

Surplus2requirements Thanks.