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It's not a french drain if there isn't a way for the water to run off i.e. a pipe at the bottom of the gravel to collect water. What you might have is a moat.
Kurai-
Yes I am painfully aware of that. My approach was to dig down in the hope that the moat will be further away from the current damp. Not sure there's much logic in that given the leeching properties of the materials in question.
There's a chance I'll redo the front garden bit as it's not very pretty if I can cobble some money together and if so, aim to create an actual French drain to take water away, towards the street.
The previous owner was growing flowers in it FFS
Quincy
Advice/suggestions?
Realised that there’s so quite significant damp in the corner of the lounge. It actually spans across the front, although this is the worst part. It’s behind a sofa so only just noticing.
It’s a Solid external wall and the house is just over 100 years old.
Outside is this french drain thing. It has gravel for the top 5ish inches and then it’s dense, clay-like soil beneath. Would it help to dig away more of this soil and put in more gravel?
You can see the top of a course of bricks in the photos, which I guess the house is built upon.
Any advice, hugely appreciated as I don’t want the damp issue to worsen!
Cheers!
Edit - I dug down ca. 18” and it’s clay all the way down. If removing some of this soil and replacing with gravel is the right approach, how far down do I go before the house falls down?