Experts' advice urgently needed on the type of sand near the foundation

When the gutter overflows, the rainwater kinda inundated the sand/soil near the foundation, we were forced to immediately to make a trench to divert the water. However after the rainfall, the sand/soil cloesest to the house is still very wet, please see the photos attached.

we are thinking to replace these soil with some kind of sand? for better evaporation

What sand we should buy from bunnings?

Thanks so much for the advice. Desperately need any thoughts

 

Where is the house?

Forget the sand. It is bad for houses to have water draining underneath (doesn’t matter if it’s earth or sand).

You need to fix the gutter issue. Is the gutter or the downpipe blocked? Do you need an extra downpipe?

 

North Brisbane

It is scheduled to have it fixed next week, but there will be a rainfall coming this Saturday, so now we are seeking good material to replace the wet soil first!!

Do you think rock is a good choice? To put them next to our foundation to avoid dampness, what kind of gravel we should buy?

Thanks a lot for any advice

 

Why do you want to replace the wet soil? That will dry out eventually and isn’t actually the problem.

A few days of wet soil is fine - no need to worry.

However, in the long term there needs to be a slight slope from the house wall so water drains away.

I would fix the gutter first then decide what you’d like. Do you need to do anything when the gutter is fixed? Do you actually want a path? Pebbles get covered in leaves and dirt.

 

How could we get a sturdy and nice slope near the foundation?

Before we dug a trench, we found that the loose soil is pitched towards our home, we wonder if we could buy "dirt" and add them on top to create a slope?

Article on we found: https://www.basementsystems.com/com...waterproofing-and-drainage-dos-and-donts.html

It says:
"If your foundation soil is pitched towards your home, it’s recommended that you add dirt to the area until the slope moves away from the house (this is known as “grading”). This soil should be dense- preferably clay soil."

So we should buy some dirt? Or "clay soil"?

 

3 things:

Just wait until the gutters are fixed.

Best to use Australian reference sources. That one looks american. Try this - page 5 https://www.qbcc.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/A Simple how to Guide to Preventing Structural Damange to your Home.pdf. But be aware it is referring to clay soil and your soil may not be clay. But talks about creating a slope away from the house so possibly helpful for you.

When was your house built?

 

An awning or pergola for the length of the house.

 

1992

First of all, really thankful for your tips...

As we decided not to await the service and went to clean the gutter ourselves before the rainstorm came again, and the overflow problem got alleviated immediately!

About the QBCC guide, one point it mentions :
"If placing lawn areas against the house,
ensure that filling built up against the
wall is graded away and will not allow
ponding of water to occur. The filling
should be impervious clay soil and not
sandy loam."

As we are not sure if the soil close to our house foundation, we are thinking to replace it with brand new soil, and "impervious clay soil" will be ideal according to the guideline.

Do you know where we could buy "impervious clay soil"?

 

Hi Scott, that came into our minds too, but we are newbies in house projects, is there anything we would need to be aware of when finding a licensed contractor to install an awning?

It seems crucial for the awning to have two important features :
Retractable, that allows us to retract the awning in sunny days allowing more sunlight to the soil near the house foundation

WInd resistant, it must be able to withstand wind because we are installing it not for leisure, we install it as an additional safeguard against heavy rainwater. Hoping the rainwater can be further away from the foundation.

What else do we need to be careful of?

Thanks Scott

 

No, no no
forget about replacing one kind of material at the base of your house with any other kind. You might want to learn about putting a drain along the back and sides of the house to take any flowing water away from the sides of the house. DO NOT put any more dirt or sand or pebbles up against the brickwork until you know where the weep holes are. DO NOT cover the weep holes under any circumstances.




Secondly, I dont think a retractable awning is good idea unless your family wants to spend a LOT of $$$$.

We can only help you if we know the slope of the land and directions north, south, east and west, and what drainage and retaining already exists. Would you be willing to message me the address or at least far more photographs.

The soil in Qld is very hard and compacted from several years of drought. As we go into the tropical wet season, there will be changes to the land.

 

Is there a drain under the tap in pic 2 ?
If not that could be a problem.

 

It sounds like you problem is fixed.

In future, check that the down pipes are clear as well as the gutter on a regular basis.

I just had a box gutter overflow and the gutter was clear but the downpipe was blocked further down by the bend, where it was hard to see. You can tell by how quickly water drains.

Stop thinking about replacing the soil. Let it dry out first. Then just smooth out what you have so it has a very slight slope away from the house. But don’t build it up any further against the bricks.

Also, please take a front on photo so we can see if the soil is over the weep holes (bad) or not (good).

What do you want to do with the area long term? Grass, concrete path, pavers....?

And why does it have the muddy ruts? Has someone been using machinery - or was it just the water?

 

And before you get concerned, not all brick houses have weep holes (small vertical slots) - mine is on stumps and has air vents to the subfloor but no weep holes - and the foundations are fine.

 

Hi Angel, thank you for all the tips.....

Please see the attached image, so far we are facing two problems:

1. there is a few branch of a leafy tree (from the neighbor's land) over our bedroom, dropping a heap of leaves and seeds on the roof and gutter, resulting frequent blockage of gutter

2. The eave of the house is not lengthy enough

==========
For problem 1), we are thinking to install a gutter guard: Gutter Guard - Never Clean Your Gutter Again - Price With Installation

Is it a good method to avoid potential blockage of the downspout and also enable easy cleaning of the gutter, since all the debris is above the filter, and not within the gutter.


For problem 2) , its quite frustrating to have a short eave not lengthy enough. Even if the gutter works fine, heavy rainfall can soak the soil near our bedroom.

We are thinking of ways to avoid frequent soil dampness sooooo close to our bedroom. As you mentioned, cost is a consideration. But if we install a awning of only around 1.2 m width to protect our bedroom, the cost won't be colossal?

Alternatively we could turn the soil close to bedroom to concrete?

we already have had part of area close to our house converted into concrete, which seems doing much better job in diverting the water away from the house than soil

 

Thank you Joynz , we are making progress but still facing a few challenges, but we wont give up..!

About the gutter:
We failed in fighting the rainwater again, yesterday we cleaned our gutter for the first time , but not aware of the debris and leaves left on the roof. So when today we have a really heavy rainfall, our gutter got flushed with leaves and blocked again

Lesson learnt in a hard way, tomorrow we will work on that.

I think we could buy a gutter guard? Some kind of net/filter on top of the gutter. Is it a great solution?

About future plan --
We are thinking : Either prolong the eave by installing an awning, or lay a concrete path on the area

Both measures are intended to achieve one thing: even if gutter works well, we still want to divert raindrops away from our bedroom. Instead of having damp and wet soil close to our foundation during wet seasons

Which one would you prefer?

Actually the affected area is just outside our bedroom, the size is not too big. We havent asked for quotes yet, but hopefully we suppose it wont be too expensive

Thanks again

 

Henry-ip - The width of your eaves is not important for this issue.

The problem is your gutters and down pipes and keeping them clear. You need to sort this out.

It is not the purpose of the eaves to stop water falling on your land - that’s what the gutters & downpipes are for.

 

During heavy rainstorm the rainwater are hitting the ground from an nonlinear angle, not vertically, so the gutter might not be able to do their jobs?

To minimize the risk of water damage to foundation, how do we tackle these crazy rainstorm?

One suggestion by the QBCC guideline is sealed path, do you think is it a smart measure?

 

My dear The Y-man,

The soil dry out really slowly under the eave, this is really bad as prolonged dampness can cause water damage to the foundation then that will be a disaster

now we are contacting concretor in hope of cost effective ways to seal the area with impervious brick / tile panels, just like the red area

Any thoughts or ideas are most welcome, it is our first house