My house is built on the side of a hill on top of a rock formation and the front wall of my bedroom sits on a shale outcrop that runs at right angles to the wall, with parts of the reef protruding through the wall on the inside. These particular rock formations are part of a crater structure caused by one of the largest and oldest known meteorite strikes on the planet, called the Vredefort catastrophe - I am literally living on part of the crater rim, which appeals to my sense of my life.
When I first moved in, I noticed that when it rained heavily, water started flowing through the wall at the junction of wall and floor. On one occasion, I was up half the night bailing water off the floor with the dustpan and a bucket. I removed around 20 litres of water and when I mentioned this to others, the response was "Get goldfish!". I started calling it The Water Feature and I was unamused as it was impossible to say whether the water flow was caused by groundwater as the water table rose as a result of the rainfall - a serious problem - or whether it was simply water flowing up against the wall and leaking through at the bottom.
The only way to find out what was causing the flow was to prevent rainwater flowing up against the wall and see if that solved the problem. If it didn't, it would mean that I had a rising groundwater situation, which would not be fixable. A rock garden had been made on the shale reef against the wall so I had to remove the plants and soil and a layer of rocks and concrete until the bedrock was exposed and throw a layer of concrete with a waterproof additive up against the wall that would create a channel for water to flow straight into the drain instead of pooling in the rocks.
Once a clean trench was made, I had to seal the wall
Then it was time to throw concrete and create a slight slope away from the wall and wait and see what happened the next time it rained.
The floor remained dry after the next heavy rains and I was immensely relieved: I could continue using the bedroom and there was no need to make an indoor koi pond!
Next episode: half-baked greywater solutions
No one has the right to suffer from rain.
When it rains, we usually have a nostalgic atmosphere and we should only take hot chocolate with cookies.
I want the situation to improve.
Regards, @nikv.
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Thank you, it is much better now, no more leaking floor
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every time i start reading i cant but help laugh, not at your predicament but your humor despite how bad it is.
what you have done looks great.
I use to do this type of drainage work all the time being a structural landscaper by profession.
I would have dug down if possible to the footing and sealed the wall of the house with membrane and than put drainge gravel and pipe in to take away water. Sub surface water. And then did exactly as you did on top to divert surface water.
looks difficult digging down any way.
Bring on tomorrows story.
Your replay to my story was funny, short and sweet and you nailed it.
you are a very capable woman, thats great.
you might have to use sealant again on top of concrete in the future
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Thank you, I will bear that in mind.
If I couldn't laugh at the sheer absurdity of the whole thing, I'd probably go nuts
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hahaha indoor koi pond sounds cool though.
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I would have preferred the extra bedroom ;)
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hehehe could have both; bed room with a koi pond feature!!!
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The room is a bit small for that
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That's really cool that you're living on a crater rim caused by the largest and oldest meteorite strike on the planet, how amazing. Glad you got your drainage problems sorted. Where we live we have high humidity and rainfall so we get problems with mould (my whole family is allergic to it.) We purchased a dehumidifier, mould literally can't live in conditions that are less than 40% humidity, and the amount of water this machine takes out of the atmosphere is amazing. Might be something to think about if you have anymore issues.
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I will, although it is actually pretty dry most of the time, we are at very high altitude
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I'm glad you got i fixed! :). It's not funny when things like that happen!
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Damn straight!
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thank you you are writing all people I am tell him
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A good solution to prevent a difficult situation in the face of problems. You are very clever
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Good drainage is very crucial to having a strong foundation. I learned the hard way on my house.
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So true!
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