Having a conservatory installed ground works guys started digging foundations trench, as they got close to back wall of house the ground was found to be wet, they dug deeper and found flowing water up against the house foundations. Water board and council have carried out numerous checks to find source without success, we have been recommended to install drainage to take water away from house. The water flow is approx 400-500 mm down, I have created a “sump” to contain the water and have a pump to remove it, looking for advice firstly on how to capture the water flow and then how /where to direct it. In second picture the sump is almost empty, water flows in from both sides just above the water level, worse on the left of picture, in picture 3 the sump has filled to a point where it does not fill any more, once sump emptied again water flows into sump again.
Water around house foundations
- Thread starter DE1
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If it has been checked and leaking drains or water main have been discounted then it can only be groundwater.
What is the sub-soil? The trench is too messy to tell from the photos and too shallow to say with any confidence if it is down into the natural undisturbed sub-soil but at that shallow depth it does look to be quite a high proportion of gravel. If that is the case it is not uncommon to have groundwater running through the gravel beds and as long as there is no fine sand shouldn't cause a problem. If you can drain the sump and quickly backfill it with lean mix concrete you should be able to concrete the rest of the foundation normally.
What is the sub-soil? The trench is too messy to tell from the photos and too shallow to say with any confidence if it is down into the natural undisturbed sub-soil but at that shallow depth it does look to be quite a high proportion of gravel. If that is the case it is not uncommon to have groundwater running through the gravel beds and as long as there is no fine sand shouldn't cause a problem. If you can drain the sump and quickly backfill it with lean mix concrete you should be able to concrete the rest of the foundation normally.
Thanks Wessex 101, the ground is clay I believe, the gravel you see seems to have come from higher up and fallen into trench, not certain of this though. Got a guy coming Monday to look at possibility of putting a drain / soak away into the lawn. Will see what he suggests.
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