Aco drain woes
Discussion
Dear collective gurus, we moved into our house approx 1 year ago and have experienced some render cracking (hairline from window edges, other areas - not really a big deal).
However I knew something was amiss when the front door was stiff to open - cut a long story short but we have an aco run at the front of the house near to the front door (driveway slopes towards it) and this in turn just goes to soakaway at the end of the aco run. I lifted the aco covers with great difficulty and ran a hosepipe from the far end down - there are gaps in between the aco and water is pouring down between them. I believe this is causing huge cracks to now appear at the door and has warped the frame (potentially). The previous owners did the work themselves and have obviously cocked this up (along with a bunch of other 'have a go' hero jobs around the house) but what can I do now to rectify? Can no longer reinstall the aco lids as the drain channels feel so tight now they wont go back in. Water has clearly swollen the ground around them(?)
Im thinking break up the sloping edge of concrete and aco (discard the lot) and install proper DPC and concrete aco with galv lids. Replace the broken up concrete (the sloping edge towards the aco away from the house) with something like this https://www.toolstation.com/bostik-cementone-rapid...
Can anyone else give me any advice as to whether this is the right course of action and what can I do about the door and render......?
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images.pistonheads.com/203038/202608195985995[/url]
However I knew something was amiss when the front door was stiff to open - cut a long story short but we have an aco run at the front of the house near to the front door (driveway slopes towards it) and this in turn just goes to soakaway at the end of the aco run. I lifted the aco covers with great difficulty and ran a hosepipe from the far end down - there are gaps in between the aco and water is pouring down between them. I believe this is causing huge cracks to now appear at the door and has warped the frame (potentially). The previous owners did the work themselves and have obviously cocked this up (along with a bunch of other 'have a go' hero jobs around the house) but what can I do now to rectify? Can no longer reinstall the aco lids as the drain channels feel so tight now they wont go back in. Water has clearly swollen the ground around them(?)
Im thinking break up the sloping edge of concrete and aco (discard the lot) and install proper DPC and concrete aco with galv lids. Replace the broken up concrete (the sloping edge towards the aco away from the house) with something like this https://www.toolstation.com/bostik-cementone-rapid...
Can anyone else give me any advice as to whether this is the right course of action and what can I do about the door and render......?
[url]
images.pistonheads.com/203038/202608195985995[/url]
You sure it isn't ground *shrinkage* causing your issues? It has been a bit dry.
Those ACO units should be fine, and not leak too much. If in doubt use some PU Sealant to close the joints.
Doubt the ground could ever swell enough to cause issues getting the covers back, the blocks will be all it sees for most of the edge especially at the top. Seems more likely to be thermal expansion of the blocks tightening it all.
Those ACO units should be fine, and not leak too much. If in doubt use some PU Sealant to close the joints.
Doubt the ground could ever swell enough to cause issues getting the covers back, the blocks will be all it sees for most of the edge especially at the top. Seems more likely to be thermal expansion of the blocks tightening it all.
Should also have mentioned that inside the house (where the windows are in the attached pic) there is visible damp underneath the window sill (but weirdly only this one window - the sloping concrete outside this window is always looking saturated/darker than the rest of the strip).
I expect this has been the water ingress underneath and then coupled with the extreme heat in the last few weeks has buckled/warped it.....and thus all the render at the front is hairline cracking.
Either way thank you as ever gents for the feedback - if any one else has suffered this kind of anomaly then feel free to give your account!
I expect this has been the water ingress underneath and then coupled with the extreme heat in the last few weeks has buckled/warped it.....and thus all the render at the front is hairline cracking.
Either way thank you as ever gents for the feedback - if any one else has suffered this kind of anomaly then feel free to give your account!
Looks like the door sill and masonry below it have moved vs the rest of the wall, which should take a little more than a leaky drain channel.
Also to me at least it looks like the window sills weren't specced/installed taking into account the thickness of the render, so I'd bet runoff onto the wall is an issue. That shouldn't cause the cracks but could cause damp.
Leaky drains also shouldn't cause damp walls,that's what the DPC is for. Unless the paving is high & splashing and the render also causing issues - you dont normally run it all the way down???
Plus a proper foundation shouldn't really care either!
Also to me at least it looks like the window sills weren't specced/installed taking into account the thickness of the render, so I'd bet runoff onto the wall is an issue. That shouldn't cause the cracks but could cause damp.
Leaky drains also shouldn't cause damp walls,that's what the DPC is for. Unless the paving is high & splashing and the render also causing issues - you dont normally run it all the way down???
Plus a proper foundation shouldn't really care either!
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