Flooding by the neighbors (readers' submission)
A few days ago I wrote about the flooding we had after a heavy rain from our future neighbour's land. We were angry and got into a fight with them because they claimed that this water could not have come from them. This despite the fact that we clearly saw that the white mud that came with this water came from their newly raised piece of land.
We had the impression that they had no intention of doing anything about it. Now that it is slowly getting dry again, our (my) anger has cooled, I went to look at the matter in peace. It turns out that although his piece of land was elevated by almost five feet, I was able to measure with the help of a stick that it was actually only two feet higher than ours.
I also heard from some people that it had rained a lot that day and that many places were under water. Our flood was therefore not only due to the neighbours. However, the fact remained that the water from their piece of land was the last straw and our terrace was flooded. After the rain, the level continued to rise.
Now between his wall and our wall there is a space of ten centimeters wide, for a length of 40 meters. The builders of his wall have hermetically sealed the front and back between the two walls. So water coming from his land collected between those two walls and seeped into our territory.
I myself have come up with two solutions: I fill the space between the walls with cement or concrete up to the height of his land, so about 50 cm (would it be necessary or would ordinary earth be sufficient?). The second solution is that there should be an opening at the end of the walls so that the water can drain there.
Yesterday he was at the gate with his girlfriend. I wasn't really pleased to see him, but I decided to talk to him anyway. At first he claimed that the water could not have come from him, but I was able to convince him that it did.
He said he didn't want to argue with us or future neighbors. He was on his way to the Amphur with his wife to see what could be done and he also wanted to install a drainage system so that we would not be bothered in the future. Unfortunately my wife is not so quick to reason. She wasn't home when he came and is still angry with them, especially his wife (a Thai) who my wife said had been totally disrespectful on the phone).
I was told not to fill the space between the walls myself (it's his territory after all), but I asked him if it was okay if I filled it with rubble and whatever. That was okay according to him. So with a drainage system, raising the gap and maybe also an opening at the end of the wall, this problem could be solved.
I still think I'd rather not have neighbours, but if they do, then not with a fight. Especially in the countryside it is better that people can help each other.
Submitted by Jack S.
Jack,
good to hear that your neighbor turns out to be a reasonable person, with whom you can talk.
Personally, I wouldn't leave any actions too much to the Thai women.
Whoever pays decides.
The same goes for the neighbour.
Good luck and all in all, still wish you a pleasant stay.
Jack! Correctly resolved.
When I read this I sometimes think why!
I understand that it can be annoying to have neighbors, but that is only possible if you can buy so much land that you will not be inconvenienced.
And even then you can get neighbours.
And for everyone, if you buy land that is below street level, it is wise to raise it.
I hope you become good neighbours
We have built a thick concrete wall around our property, 60 cm above street level, so if we ever get wet feet, the whole hamlet will probably be drowned. 555
Filling it with rubble doesn't seem right to me. This also becomes saturated with water and the situation remains.
Especially with big downpours. Strange that your neighbor does not accept cement, but "rubble and stuff".
Is there soil between the walls? That becomes a cultivation for all sorts of plants and whatnot, though the light is limited for growth, but weeds wouldn't be weeds if it got in there anyway. and grows. Fighting with poison? That then ends up in your groundwater, which is also not very beneficial for you.
Assume you are using ground water
Filling with waterproof cement would be more effective. Less chance of weed growth and water is retained. However, if it is not removed to another location, it can cause flooding in any case.
You could also place half a pipe or a gutter of 10 cm in between with a slope. OR you can make a perforated pipe yourself. Pipe with self-drilled holes and place it in between at a slope.
Handy to have the possibility to pull this pipe for possible inspection and cleaning.
Of course you can also install the whole on your own ground near the wall, making everything more accessible for yourself.
Of course you have, don't know if Thailand has this, drainage pipe. Perforated tube with anti-clogging filter around it. However, it must of course be placed at a slope AND to a lower discharge point, where it will not cause you any problems. .
You say yourself that it had rained excessively and that that contributed to your problems. The neighboring situation may have contributed, but it could therefore happen more often with heavier rain showers in the future.
Making a drainage from your soil to a lower point elsewhere is therefore desirable.
Perhaps to convince a neighbor that the problem can also apply to his land and to jointly draw up and fund a drainage plan.
.
Dear Jack,
Once the soil is overgrown and the roots have attached themselves, you will hardly be bothered by it anymore. The rainwater will be retained for longer and then disappear into the soil. Everything takes its time.
Regards Dirk-Jan
I don't fully understand the situation of the wall, but if I understand correctly there are 2 walls, 1 from you and 1 from the neighbors.
Surely you could have drained that water to the street with an opening in your wall and a PVC pipe?
It is also possible that the water flows under the wall.
Then it just flows underground from his land to yours, just like two communicating vessels.
The fact that there are two walls, 10cm apart, indicates, in my humble opinion, that there used to be 'shit on the ball' between the two owners. If not, there would have been 1 dividing wall between the two plots.
And yes, swearing at each other gets you NOWHERE.
No. When that man first came here at the beginning of this year, he asked if he could use our wall. Of course I said you could. I didn't want anything for it either. He was also allowed to plaster the wall for me so that it looked a bit nicer on his side.
The wall had been raised by myself by half a meter and was two meters higher than the ground on our side.
But he decided otherwise and without me knowing it, a wall came up that rose another two feet above ours. Which of course formed a whole for him, but deprived us of the whole view of the mountains of Saam Roi Yot.
So no, problems didn't start until I saw how much dirt they threw on their territory. All in all, almost a meter and a half raised. Now that land is more than two feet above ours.
The walls he had built were not masonry, but one with concrete slabs, which were stacked on top of each other between piles and which let water through, because such slabs do not seal hermetically.
I have already mentioned that he came to have a look and, despite initial denial that the water came from his land, had to admit that it did.
But we don't wait for the neighbors to come up with a solution. We know an entrepreneur who has worked on our house before and he knew exactly the same solution that I already had in mind.
Moreover, it also turned out (I had not mentioned that before) that the flooding of our terrace was also partly our (my) fault.
We had two collecting tanks dug and a pipe carries the excess rainwater from the front yard to those tanks. Only I hadn't thought about the fact that those tanks might be full and no more water could be added.
When I had those tanks dug, the intention was to put a pump in those tanks that would automatically pump the water to a part of the garden where it could flow off. I never bought that pump.
When I opened the tanks this week I removed the pump from my pond and put it in and lo and behold: I have already pumped those tanks empty four times with that pump and the water in the front garden and terrace slowly disappeared.
So I bought a new pump that starts pumping from a certain water level. For two days, water has been constantly running into the tanks from the drain pipe. Yesterday we had rain and the water didn't even reach our terrace anymore, because it immediately ran into the tank. Well, it wasn't heavy rain, but it was enough to normally flood our driveway.
Nevertheless, the extra water from the neighbors contributed to our nuisance.
I'm a little embarrassed, because I actually got too excited and it turned out that this wouldn't really have been necessary if I had finished things. But if we hadn't had the flood, I probably wouldn't have mentioned it to the neighbors and we'd be pumping out more than we needed to.
We just had someone come and say that the gap doesn't have to be completely filled with cement. First sand to level the whole with a slope to the back. Then a cement pavement is placed on top of that layer of sand, which can then divert excess water. Because the ground between the wall is very irregular, parts of it remain full of water at the moment and that then runs towards us.
At the back, where the company that built that wall had closed everything with concrete, we are going to make a hole so that the water can drain there. Neighbor knows that and has no problem with it.
So all in all:
The neighbor will provide drainage.
I'll have the partition wall filled.
And at the same time ensure that the water can run off to the rear.
I also need to improve some drainage in our garden.
Everything together should provide a solution.
By the way, the neighbor had no problem with me using cement. There were people who said that one could not simply fill in the gap without leave. The neighbor gave me that permission.
What Dirk Jan said also crossed my mind. In a time when everything is overgrown, it will be not too bad with that water.
It was just an annoying situation that I can't just blame the neighbor now. It was part heavy rain, part water coming from his land, and part negligence on our part.
That is my current conclusion.
In any case, we are out and improvement will come.