Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jan 23, 2012 9:33 am I'm after some advice regarding soil levels and storm water run off. I have a 2 storey brick house. The house faces North and has a sunken lounge room in the north west corner. The land slopes from the north west corner (high point) to the south east corner (low point). The road is on the high side. We have no curb and guttering on the road, and all stormwater runs into ag lines and pits on our block (i think). My problem is that previous owners appear to have built up the soil level significantly in front of the house (in front of sunken loungeroom, and around the corner (north west corner of house). The soil level covers the weep holes, and because of the slop of the land, storm water runs against the brickwork of the house. When I ripped up carpet in the loungeroom, there was evidence that water had come coming up through the slab in a hairline crack. So my question is, what needs to be done? Do I excavate the soil down to an appropriate level (and what is that?)? Would an ag line be sufficient so it catches the water before it gets to the house? Also, who would fix this sort of problem? Landscaper or plumber? My husband thinks that digging the soil out and sloping the ground away from the house would be too big a job and create a lot of other hassles (like having to install retaining walls in the garden and side access), so he isn't keen. I am of the opinion that it should be done. Any advice is appreciated. Re: Soil level againt house - do i need to fix? 2Jan 23, 2012 8:05 pm sdonkin My husband thinks that digging the soil out and sloping the ground away from the house would be too big a job and create a lot of other hassles (like having to install retaining walls in the garden and side access), so he isn't keen. I am of the opinion that it should be done. I feel for you, I really do. My husband and I have talks like that too. I'm sure there will be people here better qualified to explain what exactly is best to do, but the short answer is you need to have the soil below the weep holes and the damp proof course OR if the room was designed as a semi-basement sort of thing it ought not have any weep holes and it ought to have waterproofing painted over the bricks. But if it isn't a semi-basement (which it sounds like it's not?) then you need to fix the drainage problems otherwise you might get even bigger hassles later on. Re: Soil level againt house - do i need to fix? 3Jan 30, 2012 11:13 am Termites are also an issue when those weep holes are covered by soil. A landscaper is probably who you'd want to do the work, or at lease someone with either an excavator or dingo or something like that. Re: Soil level againt house - do i need to fix? 4Jan 30, 2012 1:42 pm Yes you need to fix. The other issue is slab heaving. This is when water run-off is allowed to pool near the slab. Depending on your soil type, as the soil expands due to mositure and contracts when it dries out, if this happens too close to your slab, it can cause cracking and movement which WILL affect your walls as well. For this reason many builders now advise that any soil is graded away from the house, and prefer owners to lay hard paving such as concrete against the house sloped to take water away. We were handed a four-page document from CSIRO that covered this as well as planting trees, etc.. too close due to impact of roots of some species. As other posters have said, you should never cover weep holes. Hard paving should be a minimum of 75mm below weep holes and any landscaping I think 150mm below. I would also install ag pipes to take any water away from the house. Re: Soil level againt house - do i need to fix? 5Jan 30, 2012 2:21 pm OurLindrum52 Yes you need to fix. For this reason many builders now prefer owners to lay hard paving such as concrete against the house sloped to take water away I agree 100%. When we built our former home the builder demanded we lay 1m concrete paving around our home ASAP or we would void our warranty Arfur Re: Soil level againt house - do i need to fix? 6Feb 01, 2012 9:35 am I also think you need to fix it. The weep holes are there for a reason. A landscaper is probably the right person to ask about fixing it, drainage is one of the main issues they deal with. From memory, my certificate of occupancy says that exposed soil (not under any kind of roof) should be 150mm below the weep holes, which is 2 courses of bricks. Exposed paving should be 75mm under (1 course of bricks) and paving under a roof should be 50mm under. It depends on where your rain comes from too - ours comes from the southwest, so it's the south and west walls that we have to be most careful with. The north and east walls never get direct rain. Metricon Riva 33 - http://herlihy-riva.blogspot.com Site start 15/03/2010 - Handover 23/12/2010 9 months and 8 days (284 calendar days) from site start to handover isn't a garage level with the rest of the house a given? pretty sure they 'came around' long time ago. if you have a flat block, the garage is usually level with the rest… 1 17525 Hey guys, what’s everyone opinion on James Hardie linea direct fix to frame? Would this be the most common method and anybody ever had any problems down the track? 0 5150 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair If the railhead is so poorly fixed it is also likely that the railhead is also non compliant, what about overflows and sealing railhead to the gutters?. 3 5969 |