On to the next step of Mortgage retention issues.. Survey indicated the paths were too high in relation to the DPC and air bricks were obscured - further inspection it looke(d)/(s) like a new path has been put on top of the original.

The air bricks are double brick high and they were half covered by concrete slabs so only 1 bricks worth was visible.

My thought was it wont be pretty but for now if i could get away with removing the current flags and go back to the old concrete one. Yesterday we removed some flags and had a look..

Firstly, the dpc - does this sound right, it appears to run round the house at a height that would put it in line half way up to the air brick - ie half the air brick above, half below, then appears to run down one brick at the air brick, under it then back up again.....??

Next, if this is the dpc, it puts it one brick above the original concrete path - is this high enough both to stop any future potential damp and to satisfy the surveyor coming back for the mortgage retention - i noted there was no damp found in the house with a meter on the original survey.

Looking at all the other houses in the road, there is a mix where the air brick is at floor level (as mine are now the flag removed) and some with half covered up as mine were..

bizarely the house opposite had a new driveway installed on Friday replacing the entire lawn, one of those brick ones, their air bricks are now half covered...




Lastly, the flags were not fully up against the house there was about 1" of concrete to make them straight, this has been in place for about 30 years and came away 'fairly' easily but for a few bricks brought some brick away with it, is this likely to cause any issues apart from visual?

Thanks
Chis

150 above ground level for dpc - standard...
I'll take a guess that a company who stands to save or make money from that will quote it..

as for over the road... hope the put some method of getting rid of rainwater on there own property cos thats new legislation, to stop flooding..

and bringing a path to a level where any surface water can drain into the fabric of the building is obviously a bad idea... the way round that might have been to install a concrete gulley surround around the airbrick with drainage in the bottom...

a french drain installed where any paving meets the house would also help....

cant tell you whether any of the above methods besides lowering the level to 150 below damp would be acceptable to the mortgage company Im afraid, youd have to ask them, or maybe a building inspector..

spalled bricks may or may not cause a problem, if theres any cracking, and they allow water in, then you may encounter the 'freeze/thaw' process in winter where water gets in, freezes, expands and blows more of the brick away...
if its just shelling, its still just a brick, just a scabby looking one...

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