Flood wall advice?

[robwizard]

So basically the back half of the skatepark I work at flooded today which sucks. Most of the wooden floor needs to be replaced but it's cool as we were going to do it soon anyway..

My concern is the flood happening again. I found out where the majority of the water is coming in, there is a fire exit in one corner and as we have a big canal bank behind us water was running down the bank, collecting, and then gushing in through the door. (Not canal water, the canal is about fifteen foot back from the bank edge..)

Some of the water went above the damp course and came in through the wall

MY GRAND PLAN!!! Having no knowledge of building or floods..

1. Dig out the back of the fire exit, lay a concrete slab right outside the back door.

2. Build a block wall about 2 blocks high.

3. Cover it on some sort of waterproof rendering, do the same for a few meters down the wall so as to help the damp course?

4. Be dead pleased with myself that everything worked perfect and the park is nice and dry..

Advice? Suggestions?

Cheers

 

[the snooper]

you will have to seek building regs advice on this as fire exits should remain un-obstructed so it may not be as simple as you think

 

[madkayaker]

There is Temporary barriers that clip into a frame for around doors might be worth looking at as building a fixed barrier in frount of the fire door is not allowed!

 

[stormin]

Doesnt the building have some form of drain around the perimeter to carry the ground water away?

May be worth investigating if this drain is blocked, or install a new one.

Water will take the path of least resistance, if there is no drain it'll get through the walls.

 

[robwizard]

Hmmm.. the building is very old and the bank is full of branches and leaves and stuff so I guess there must be a drain somewhere underneath all that. Thinking about it I seem to recall there being a sort of shallow trough in the outside part of the foundation so I guess it could be that.

If I can successfully divert it that would be awesome... but if I cannot then these temporary barriers might be the bet solution. The part of the wall where the water goes above the damp course, is there anything I can do to help that? Rendering or cover it with concrete or something?

Thanks for the help guy, much appreciated. The whole business relies on it not being wet haha

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Won't the business insurance cover at least some of the work?

 

[robwizard]

No.. we are pretty much on our own in every respect.. We have dug out some of the bank and the water has spread out and is now mostly below the damp course all along the wall. We put a submersible pump in some of the deep bits and that is now helping to drain them.. I think that when the rain stops we should get a mini digger or something out and put a proper trench all along the back and fill it with gravel or something? Is their anything we can paint onto the wall to aid in waterproofing it?

Cheers

 

[madkayaker]

Be aware that most work on backside and water course falls under the control of the environment agency and they can be a real pain to work with. See these people and others for ideas as to what works http://www.floodsense.co.uk/

 

[robwizard]

Thanks for all help guys!

From on the spot advice it looks like we basically need to clear all the **** from between the canal bank and the building, loads of old rotten wood, fiberglass insulation, bricks ends, mud and bracken, Then make a nice clean trough and fill it with stones or even put in a pvc channel. The foundation for the building sticks out about a foot from the building so putting another line of blocks up against the existing ones and rendering it should raise the level so it can't flood over..

Does this sound sensible? I can see how this would work.. We dug out some of the ditch to allow the water to move around and it helped quite a bit.

Cheers

 

[the snooper]

a lot of schools now have to have flood defences for insurane purposes and consist of poured concrete below floor level so far up the walls with a heavy solid steel gate with thick rubber seals and the gate is lockable in both positions

similar to the pic below

 

[robwizard]

That looks pretty cool!

 

[mike os]

proper flood protection is expensive, and the simplest & best solution is to get rid of the water before it becomes a problem.

if you already have a drain or culvert then making sure it is clean and in good order will go a long way, if it is existing afaik you do not need permission to maintain , but you may do to alter or "improve"

 

[robwizard]

Yeah tomorrows mission is going to be continuing to clear the ditch.. cheers