AKICOLJ

[wellinghall]

Saturday's, er, "incident" meant that we had water bubbling up from the ground against the wall of our house for 29 hours or so. Do I need to worry* that it might have damaged the bricks / mortar / anything else?

*Okay, this is me we're talking about; I'm going to worry anyway. Maybe the question should be, how much do I need to worry?

Comments

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

Unless it was absolute torrents, it should be fine. If it kept on bubbling for weeks, I'd worry, or if it was really lots and lots and lots of water. But this is more like 'you raised your house's risk of problems by a few micromorts* and it may have issues in 20 year' rather than 'oh shit oh shit oh shit your house has a 50% chance of falling over'.



*or whatever these are for houses

[hhimring]

As a way of combating the worry, you could perhaps put a dehumidifier in the room on the other side of the wall for a while? (There are various types, of different strengths.) But 29 hours isn't really all that long, comparatively.

[purplecat]

Our opposite neighbour for several years was an architect (EDIT: academic architectural historian type) and our pointing is upside-down so rain water is encouraged to flow into the bricks rather than away from the bricks. In his opinion the main concern from the resulting dampness of the bricks was frost since that would cause the water soaked into the bricks to expand and damage them. In his opinion, given we lived in Manchester, which never gets that cold, this was a minor concern. He certainly thought the damage that would be caused to the brickwork by removing the existing pointing and redoing it properly would far outweigh the damage that might be caused by a frost while the bricks were wet.

Based on this I would be inclined to assume that unless there is a hard frost in the next couple of weeks you should be fine.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure that houses are supposed to be waterproof. British houses particularly so.

I grew up in a house with a stream that ran down the back of the kitchen and underneath it. The kitchen was not what you'd call fabulously well built, and it was a bit chilly in the winter. It's still standing though.

You could bounce up and down on one spot on the kitchen floor and feel the floor give under the concrete!

[rustica.livejournal.com]

I don't think you need to worry, just monitor the area for maybe the next month or so.

inside: visual signs of damp rising e.g. damp patches up the wall. If you're able to have a peek under carpets, I would do so for my own peace of mind. Is there a strange smell, and does it persist? Try closing the doors in those rooms overnight, and seeing how it smells when you first go in. Bear in mind that it might smell a bit anyway for the first day or two while stuff dries out, and also that you maybe don't know how those rooms smelled before, some rooms can be a bit musty. I'd only worry if it was an obviously fungal smell and/or got worse over time rather than better. Also, you're looking for obvious smells, not vague hints.

outside: cracking of bricks, subsidence (basically really obvious stuff).

How old is your house? If it's a new build, I'd pay more attention to stuff. If it's pre-War, I'd say it'll probably last till the end of time!

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your advice, hilarityallen - it seems sensible.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hhimring - I might just do that.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you, louisedennis - that sounds sensible.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks, bunn. I have never (knowingly!) lived anywhere with a stream underneath, but I do remember a commercial dairy with an open stream running through it. The past is like another country; they do health and safety differently there.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks, rustica. Our house is c24 years old, so I will keep an eye on things, while not worrying (?)

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

FWIW, we discovered this time 2 years ago (IIRC) that the out-pipe for our bath had been leaking on to the concrete floor below for years and the concrete was saturated, causing mushrooms to grow in the antique plywood later under our lino and strange crystal formations to develop on the concrete under the kitchen cupboards in the next room. After fixing the problem and a year of letting the house dry out it doesn't seem to have caused any lasting issues. Fingers crossed, etc.

Also probably depends on where your damp proof course is? Below the damp proof course, I assume it's designed to deal with a fair bit of moisture. Above the damp proof course, it's probably less fun but I am guessing an acute exposure is less bad than a chronic one?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this, enismirdal. I think the water was below the DPC.