Before anyone shouts, "Yes I know it will infringe building regs,
water co regs,
sewage co regs etc. etc." So I don't want to know if it's illegal.
I'm sure it is. Don't waste effort in telling me so.

What I want to know is:

Can you relieve rising damp in walls or falls by drilling out bricks
in adjacent
inspection holes.

Specifically, there's a 4' x 3' inspection hole only a few feet from
the house.
I have been told that I can lower the water table under my house by
drilling
horizontally through the side walls of the chamber into the
surrounding earth.

The effect is far from instant but over time water will leach very
slowly into the
sewer and so reduce the water table with the effect that some/all of
the problems
may go away.

SO: Answers not accusations about breaking the laws & regs, I know
it's wrong but
..... will it work?

PS: My advice has come from a "C Eng., MICE" working in Gl;Glasgow
for Scottish Ware

EP

Couple of typos

falls = walls

It's Scottish Water and Glasgow.

(There used to be a preview facility on this site that sorted this
kind of stuff out)

Anyway, it's about whether it will work NOT whether it should be done.

My informant says it's very common.... and he's looking into the
sewers every day!
EP

wrote:
Before anyone shouts, "Yes I know it will infringe building regs,
water co regs,
sewage co regs etc. etc." So I don't want to know if it's illegal.
I'm sure it is. Don't waste effort in telling me so.

What I want to know is:

Can you relieve rising damp in walls or falls by drilling out bricks
in adjacent
inspection holes.

Specifically, there's a 4' x 3' inspection hole only a few feet from
the house.
I have been told that I can lower the water table under my house by
drilling
horizontally through the side walls of the chamber into the
surrounding earth.

The effect is far from instant but over time water will leach very
slowly into the
sewer and so reduce the water table with the effect that some/all of
the problems
may go away.

SO: Answers not accusations about breaking the laws & regs, I know
it's wrong but
.... will it work?

PS: My advice has come from a "C Eng., MICE" working in Gl;Glasgow
for Scottish Ware

EP

I'm afraid he's pulling your p!$$er mate - there's not a snowball's chance
in hell of something like this working..it may take a few drops of water
away, but it won't make the slightest bit of difference to the water
table...you need to aquaint yourself with land drainage systems, IE
soakaways, their sizes and how they cope with huge volumes of water, also
land drains and how they work, then ask yourself, will a few holes in a
brick manhole really make any difference? - it's akin to poking a needle
into a pork pie and expecting the filling to drain away.

Thanks "Phil L",

I'll pass on your opinion.

However, my informant is sure that given time and we're talking
months, you can drain the water table below a house in this way.
Moreover, his experience in fixing Glasgow's sewers suggests that
draining ground water to the sewer is very common even when new
separated systems have been built.

But I'm not slagging-off what you've said, what you've said looks like
a reasonable point. I look forward to more answers.

EP

wrote:
Thanks "Phil L",

I'll pass on your opinion.

However, my informant is sure that given time and we're talking
months, you can drain the water table below a house in this way.
Moreover, his experience in fixing Glasgow's sewers suggests that
draining ground water to the sewer is very common even when new
separated systems have been built.

But I'm not slagging-off what you've said, what you've said looks like
a reasonable point. I look forward to more answers.

EP

The water table isn't 'below a house', it's below everything, IE all the
houses, shops, offices, roads and everything else, it can't be drained away
via a few small holes

On 30 Jan, 23:30, "Phil L" wrote:
wrote:

Thanks "Phil L",

I'll pass on your opinion.

However, my informant is sure that given time and we're talking
months, you can drain the water table below a house in this way.
Moreover, his experience in fixing Glasgow's sewers suggests that
draining ground water to the sewer is very common even when new
separated systems have been built.

But I'm not slagging-off what you've said, what you've said looks like
a reasonable point. I look forward to more answers.

EP

The water table isn't 'below a house', it's below everything, IE all the
houses, shops, offices, roads and everything else, it can't be drained away
via a few small holes

and the problem is unlikely to be rising damp anyway. The majority of
rising damp diagnoses are false positives.


NT

Phil L wrote:
wrote:
Thanks "Phil L",

I'll pass on your opinion.

However, my informant is sure that given time and we're talking
months, you can drain the water table below a house in this way.
Moreover, his experience in fixing Glasgow's sewers suggests that
draining ground water to the sewer is very common even when new
separated systems have been built.

But I'm not slagging-off what you've said, what you've said looks like
a reasonable point. I look forward to more answers.

EP

The water table isn't 'below a house', it's below everything, IE all the
houses, shops, offices, roads and everything else, it can't be drained away
via a few small holes


Oh, thats a very simplistic statement..the LOCAL water table can be -
very much so, or we wouldn't use land drains.

And of course on the Fens, we pump the water upwards into the
rivers..thereby lowering the water table of the whole of east anglia to
somewhat below sea level..

wrote:
Thanks "Phil L",

I'll pass on your opinion.

However, my informant is sure that given time and we're talking
months, you can drain the water table below a house in this way.
Moreover, his experience in fixing Glasgow's sewers suggests that
draining ground water to the sewer is very common even when new
separated systems have been built.


A lot depends on the soil layout.


And where the water is actually coming from.

i.e. if you have for example soil thats is relativly free draining
overlaying something impermeable that slopes..then rain up the hill will
come down as an underground flow and feed the water table from below as
it were, in which case a hole into a sewer will work reasonably well..

The key is how permeable the soil is..

Roundn here on heavy clay, we do drain land with perforated or porous
clay pipes, and boy it really makes a difference..the farmer has perf
pipes a meter down. and once every three years he moles diagonally
across those..at 500mm depth..

His fields stay relatively un waterlogged, whereas the compacted paths
beside them are awash. I have seen the water coming out of those pipes
too..a bloody torrent sometimes.

If the soil is a clay, one perf pipe is no good..you need to feed
it..and that means a while network of pipes.

If its fairly shingly or sandy, or chalk, you stand a better chance as
the lateral flow will be pretty good. But even so the hole in the sewer
needs to be connected to a long perforated or porous pipe really.




But I'm not slagging-off what you've said, what you've said looks like
a reasonable point. I look forward to more answers.

EP

wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks "Phil L",

I'll pass on your opinion.

However, my informant is sure that given time and we're talking
months, you can drain the water table below a house in this way.
Moreover, his experience in fixing Glasgow's sewers suggests that
draining ground water to the sewer is very common even when new
separated systems have been built.

But I'm not slagging-off what you've said, what you've said looks like
a reasonable point. I look forward to more answers.


I suspect he is confusing "ground water" with rain water run-off. The later
normally goes into "soak aways" these days but, in older houses, it was
often piped to the sewers.

As regards the original idea, I really think it is a none starter. The
quantity of water you'd need to shift to drop the local water table is huge,
we aren't taking gallons but 1000s of gallons. If some did "leech" away,
next time it rained the local ground would become sodden again and the
process would repeat.

Also, the primary protection against rising damp is the damp proof course.
That is above ground and above the water table anyway. If that is bridged,
water from the damp ground will "rise" but if the water table was so high
that the "surface" was touching the bridged damp proof couse, the house
would be in a puddle (or lake!).

Check the damp proof course isn't bridged but also explore if the REAL
problem is condensation


Brian

"Brian Reay" wrote in message
...
wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks "Phil L",

I'll pass on your opinion.

However, my informant is sure that given time and we're talking
months, you can drain the water table below a house in this way.
Moreover, his experience in fixing Glasgow's sewers suggests that
draining ground water to the sewer is very common even when new
separated systems have been built.

But I'm not slagging-off what you've said, what you've said looks
like
a reasonable point. I look forward to more answers.


I suspect he is confusing "ground water" with rain water run-off.
The later
normally goes into "soak aways" these days but, in older houses, it
was
often piped to the sewers.

As regards the original idea, I really think it is a none starter.
The
quantity of water you'd need to shift to drop the local water table
is huge,
we aren't taking gallons but 1000s of gallons. If some did "leech"
away,
next time it rained the local ground would become sodden again and
the
process would repeat.

Also, the primary protection against rising damp is the damp proof
course.
That is above ground and above the water table anyway. If that is
bridged,
water from the damp ground will "rise" but if the water table was so
high
that the "surface" was touching the bridged damp proof couse, the
house
would be in a puddle (or lake!).

Check the damp proof course isn't bridged but also explore if the
REAL
problem is condensation


Brian



In my experiance most 'rising damp' is in fact penetrating damp from
rain splash. Look at your outside walls when it is raining and you
will see a very significant amount of splash up the bottom of the
walls, particularly where there is a hard suface like a path adjacent
to the wall. The other 'non rising damp' factor is condensation. Water
vapour is heavier than air when cold, and will settle in a low layer.
If your wall is colder then water will condense out and this will tend
to be at a low level as that is where the cool water vapour has
settled. The Building Research Council did a lot of experiments trying
to get water to rise in various types of bricks that were sat in a
bath of water, and iirc they concluded that water rising by capillary
action was fairly insignificant.

AWEM

wrote:
Before anyone shouts, "Yes I know it will infringe building regs,
water co regs,
sewage co regs etc. etc." So I don't want to know if it's illegal.
I'm sure it is. Don't waste effort in telling me so.

What I want to know is:

Can you relieve rising damp in walls or falls by drilling out bricks
in adjacent
inspection holes.

Specifically, there's a 4' x 3' inspection hole only a few feet from
the house.
I have been told that I can lower the water table under my house by
drilling
horizontally through the side walls of the chamber into the
surrounding earth.

The effect is far from instant but over time water will leach very
slowly into the
sewer and so reduce the water table with the effect that some/all of
the problems
may go away.

SO: Answers not accusations about breaking the laws & regs, I know
it's wrong but
.... will it work?


Probably up to a point yes.

I had terrible damp in the old house..the new one is fantastic, because
having found a small lake under he floor of the old one, when I
demolished it (I kid you not) I go very paranoid about it, and we ended
up with a gravel filled trench with a perforated pipe running all round
the house, to a meter deep and a meter or more wide, and teh outflow of
that lot feeds the pond.
I can leave a hose permanently running anywhere around the house, and it
fills the pond..

However juts taping a hole in the side of the sewer won't really do a
great deal unless you are on fairly sandy or permeable soil, in which
case you probably don;t have a local water table problem anyway.

What you need to do in analogy, is to create a moat around the property,
and drain it to somewhere lower. My friends house actually has a sump
and a pump underneath its floor..and a float switch..when it rains, the
pump pumps the water out from under. I suspect this might be a better
way to proceed.

If you have a proper soakaway that could be the target..otherwise just
chuck it into a sewer and pretend it comes from a washing machine.





PS: My advice has come from a "C Eng., MICE" working in Gl;Glasgow
for Scottish Ware

EP