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  • To be honest I'd try dry packing under the sill before you go cutting great lumps of concrete out to extend the gravel drain.

    Dry packing is fairly easy and cheap with the added bonus that if there are other issues, which is a possibility, it is easily reversed.

    Basically you'll need to get cement and sharp sand. Mix them together at the ratio of 1 part cement to 3 parts sand. If the sand is damp when you mix them together you probably won't need to add any water. Once mixed together grab a handful and try to form a ball with it, if the ball breaks apart you'll need to add more water, if it loses its shape or slumps you'll need to add more sand and cement. Once the mix is at the desired consistency push it into the gap and then pack it in with a piece of timber that will fit under the sill. You want you basically keep hitting it with the end of the timber to pack it nice and tight this way it will fill up all of the gaps and will therefore be water-tight.

  • OK that seems like a good place to start for the damp patch by the door!
    I'm more concerned about the damp where the red circles are (hope my old skool MS Paint skills impress you!). Is it likely that the source/root cause is the same or another issue?


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  • I'm guessing that at some point the front door was where the entrance to the lounge is and this was not originally a porch. It looks to me as if there is a mix of plaster and cementicious render on the wall. The red arrow is definitely plaster and I can't tell 100%nfrom the photo but it looks like the rest of the wall is render, is this the case.

    I can see a couple of points on that photo that I have marked:

    Red arrow - fucked and needs to come out, I would take it out and let the wall behind it dry you may also be able to spot an ingress point if you do this.

    Blue line - is the concrete under wall here damp? If so you need to trace this back to where the water is coming in. I would guess that it is near the door and then wicking along the bottom of the plaster/render.

    Purple circle - is this the paint failing or the render / plaster beneath it. If it's the latter you may need to take this back to brick as well.

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