Garage/yardworks

[Mandofred]

Need some advice before a lot of work gets done. Moved into this house back in August and immediately dug out the side of the garage since it was a bit damp on the inside of the garage. I've dug down most of 2 feet or so just to get to the damp proofing and it's dried most of the inside, just a few bits that still have the gravel built up the wall. It's built about the same on the end of the garage. The other two sides are fine since the ground slopes that way so they are open. We are going to turn the back stairs sideways so they run towards where the pic was taken and probably add at least one step (shallower steps) since these are bit big for my slowly aging body. This will open up the walk-through area.
1. My first urge was to just say the hell with it, clean the brick up and put several coats of slurry for waterproofing and just refill the gap. I'd likely be dead before any problem crops up. It's been overfilled for at least 40 years now I think.
2. Then, my wife had an idea (she hates the gravel) of just having somebody come in and take out most of that 2 feet of gravel and basically put in a deck walking area from the gate back to just past the house corner. Easier to clean and walk on and it would take most of the rocks away from the garage (and I'd still probably slurry whatever might still be buried). I could also have heavy tarp/plastic put under the decking to drain water off to the front of the garage.
3. I'm trying to avoid a big construction job of putting in some kind of wall....even something like railroad-ties. There is going to be a lot more work done on the sides of the house and in back.....but this bit is the hard part.

Any ideas?

 

[rulefan]

Is your property to the left or right of the picture?

How many brick courses are below the dpc?

 

[RichA]

Sorry - the damp proof course was buried? How deep?
MrsM's idea has merit. The whole point of a damp proof is that it's above the ground.

 

[Tashyboy]

Is there any reason the surveyor never picked up on this, as you say it could be a good sized job to sort that out and it should have been a bargaining chip re house price.

 

[kp17]

DPC or tarp down against the brickwork and infill with a concrete mix would be cheapest solution

 

[Mandofred]

No survey, with hind site we should have since there are a few other things that have cropped up.

I'm kind of looking for the cheapest way of fixing this issue. We knew we were going to spend a lot of money making the repairs to the house.....and as usual, it's more than we thought. I figure someone just went nuts when these houses were put in back in the mid 80's and did a bunch of things that made their lives happier but were stupid. That garage is one of the reasons I wanted to buy the place, it's a double-double garage. They added another double garage to the back of the original. NICE. Car goes in with plenty of room for shelving, exercise equipment etc. Plenty of other work in the garden coming....pulling up a large flagged patio (that needs work anyway) and just putting in grass.....it's Harrogate, not hardly going to sit out throwing parties outside.

The DPC sheet, possibly as well as the slurry waterproofing coating I am hoping is the cheapest solution. Lowering the gravel a foot or so would reduce the amount of gravel against the garage to about a foot but then thinking about putting in decking to level that area to where it is now....which is what we think the original people did. Originally my wife thinks there were steps down when coming through the gate and then more steps to get back up to the back door.....they probably just didn't want to deal with the steps so filled it in.

The house was a rental that was minimally looked after for at least 20 years......we knew we were going to have to throw a bunch of money at it to get it fixed up......it is what it is. We still like the place and the inside is getting there....plenty more to do.

 

[Mandofred]

Is your property to the left or right of the picture?

How many brick courses are below the dpc?

Both. Garage on the left of the picture with the ditch dug next to it, house on the right.

 

[rulefan]

Both. Garage on the left of the picture with the ditch dug next to it, house on the right.

So the floor of the house is a couple of feet higher thand the floor of the garage?
Where are the dpcs of both relative to the respective door cills?
Does the garage dpc show on the photo?

 

[Mandofred]

So the floor of the house is a couple of feet higher thand the floor of the garage?
Where are the dpcs of both relative to the respective door cills?
Does the garage dpc show on the photo?

The damp proofing layer is right at the bottom of the trench, I've gone maybe one brick below that. The stupid thing is, the ground rises slowly as you go towards the rear and for some reason when they added the second double section onto the garage they put the damp proofing 2 bricks lower....madness. The doors are WELL above the damp proofing. At this time I am just leaning towards Slurrying the walls maybe put a damp proof sheet over that and just refill most of the gravel. I think to keep the walkway level-ish we may remove at least 6-12 inches of the gravel and just put in decking material to maintain the same level. There will always be a drop of 2 steps into the garage.

The floor inside of the house is at the top of the stairs....we are going to try to turn the steps sideways and run it towards the front of the house and add at least one step to make them shallower and easier to use.

 

[rulefan]

Sounds reasonable

 

[kp17]

Is garage single skin brickwork thickness?

Sika is best coating/tanking to brush onto the internal face where it’s damp. Can get a big tub from screwfix. It’s a bit thicker than bostik and other brands. Some others give off some smell too but sika stuff is pretty good.

 

[Mandofred]

Is garage single skin brickwork thickness?

Sika is best coating/tanking to brush onto the internal face where it’s damp. Can get a big tub from screwfix. It’s a bit thicker than bostik and other brands. Some others give off some smell too but sika stuff is pretty good.

Yeah, just a regular single layer. I'm trying to avoid coating the inside, at least to me it seemed to be better to stop the water from getting into the bricks in the first place. Just watching the zillions of YouTubes...most on this subject coat the inside of garage/basement type buildings. I was under the impression if the bricks are kept constantly wet at some point there is a higher chance of damage. The area outside of the 2 sides of the garage aren't really super damp.....the property slopes slightly and the house stops water from running down on that side of the garage but like everything else, 8 months of the year it's going to be damp because it's the UK. I'd also have to scrap off the white paint I've put on the inside of the garage, no idea how hard that would be to get off. With hind site, should have waited before I painted the inside but I did that as soon as we moved in and after I dug out the side of the garage.

Do you have any idea if the Sika is better than slurry?....or is it the same thing? I thought about Blackjack as well, but slurry seemed to have a much longer life span.

 

[RichA]

I'm guessing slurry has a different meaning in the States to its usual use in the UK.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Could you run a channel / gully along the side of the house, running into a drain? Perhaps in addition to what you are doing.

We did this on the side of our house as the water used to collect and pool there.

 

[rulie]

Treat the outside with a waterproofing/water resistant material. Install a French drain to take water away from the area - looks like you have lots of gravel available, install perforated drainage piping below ground level, sloped properly to an exit, and cover with the gravel.

 

[Mandofred]

Treat the outside with a waterproofing/water resistant material. Install a French drain to take water away from the area - looks like you have lots of gravel available, install perforated drainage piping below ground level, sloped properly to an exit, and cover with the gravel.

That's kind of where I'm heading at the moment. Don't really think the French drain will be needed, I think the water that is there flows away decently....it's just that there is a couple feet of gravel leaning up against the bricks which of course just stays damp most of the year. Over the years a fair bit of dirt has sifted into the gravel slightly hindering drainage, but when I put it back in I was going to wash it clean and I'll probably need a load of more gravel anyway for some other jobs that will be done.

I'm kind of off the slurry idea now......but I've been going back and forth on that.

If was going to finish this tomorrow I'd....
1. Dig down another brick deeper, the sides have slide down a bit over the last couple of months.
2. Probably just put in a layer of waterproof material so that it's lower than the inside floor.
3. Fill the gravel back in, but not as high as it is now.
4. Likely take out at least 6 inches (maybe a foot) of the gravel over that whole area and have that whole area covered with composite decking. Easy to keep clean. Maybe even a heavy tarp under the decking sloped towards the front of the garage....that should keep water away decently.
5. The area that is built up on the end of the garage will be partially solved since we will be removing the flags there and getting rid of the material they put under that which will lower that area a foot or so.....then have grass put in

 

[Mandofred]

Could you run a channel / gully along the side of the house, running into a drain? Perhaps in addition to what you are doing.

We did this on the side of our house as the water used to collect and pool there.

The water drains off this area pretty well. That whole area between the garage and the house is several feet of gravel.....no pooling at all. The problem is just the gravel holding damp constantly against the garage wall.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

Perhaps it's me, but theres no mention of the water staining down the wall which I imagine is from guttering?
This surely needs sorting as that will be a source of water into the brickwork.

 

[Mandofred]

I'm guessing slurry has a different meaning in the States to its usual use in the UK.

No idea.....never heard of slurry for buildings until recently. Slurry back home would be cow crap that they spread on the fields.

 

[rulie]

That's kind of where I'm heading at the moment. Don't really think the French drain will be needed, I think the water that is there flows away decently....it's just that there is a couple feet of gravel leaning up against the bricks which of course just stays damp most of the year. Over the years a fair bit of dirt has sifted into the gravel slightly hindering drainage, but when I put it back in I was going to wash it clean and I'll probably need a load of more gravel anyway for some other jobs that will be done.

I'm kind of off the slurry idea now......but I've been going back and forth on that.

If was going to finish this tomorrow I'd....
1. Dig down another brick deeper, the sides have slide down a bit over the last couple of months.
2. Probably just put in a layer of waterproof material so that it's lower than the inside floor.
3. Fill the gravel back in, but not as high as it is now.
4. Likely take out at least 6 inches (maybe a foot) of the gravel over that whole area and have that whole area covered with composite decking. Easy to keep clean. Maybe even a heavy tarp under the decking sloped towards the front of the garage....that should keep water away decently.
5. The area that is built up on the end of the garage will be partially solved since we will be removing the flags there and getting rid of the material they put under that which will lower that area a foot or so.....then have grass put in

If you're digging down a bit more anyway, why not install a perforated pipe to take any water away from the area? It would seem like an easy insurance step considering what you have planned to do.