How to prevent water from coming into underhouse storage?

[bonino]

Hi! I’ve recently noticed that I have water coming in to my underhouse storage from an exterior wall. Is there a quick fix solution I can apply to prevent water from coming in? Maybe something that is waterproof or water repellent that I can use to fix the gaps in the pavers?

I believe the water gets through the gap highlighted in the photo, between the pavers and the wall. The storage is behind that wall.

Thanks!

 

[MitchellMc]

Hi @bonino,

Water can often penetrate through the joints between pavers, so even if you seal the joint at the rear, it may not fully stop the water coming into your underhouse storage. The more reliable way to address this is to investigate the wall itself. Typically, that would involve removing the last course of bricks against the wall to see what’s happening underneath. Once you’ve done that, you’d likely need to excavate some of the bedding material for the pavers as deep as possible. Then you can apply a waterproofing product directly to the wall to seal it. After that, you’d replace the bedding material, re-lay the pavers, and you could add a bead of sealant, such as Sikaflex 11FC, along the rear joint. Simply sealing the joint between the wall and the pavers may help a little, but it’s unlikely to fully stop moisture because there are multiple points where water can enter. The key is waterproofing the wall itself rather than relying on the joint. 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[R4addZ]

Hi @bonino 

This isn't always an easy thing to fix. Imagine your under floor storeage a a bucket. the builders would have put a membrane and DPC in when building the house but above that water overflows the top of the bucket and the only fix is to raise the top lip of the bucket! Now that isn't always easy because if you raise the top in one area, it will build up and flow around the ends of where you raised it. The only true way to fix this is with two options. one is to raise the damp proofing all round the house or two is lower the water table where necessary. This involves digging down and installing a leech drain along the area in question and piping that away to either a drain (depends on regulations) or a soakwell down hill of the issue.

It also wouldn't hurt if you go for the drain, if you also follow @MitchellMc 's suggestions.