When we bought the house, we knew there was a damp issue in the bay-window area, caused by the fact the paving in the front of the house was made too high and too close to the house. So when we started the renovations we asked the builder to deepen the gully in front of the house and put in some drains.
This was his approach....
So this weekend we took it all out, fixed the drainage pipes, dug out the gully to the appropriate depth, and put in pebbles. 1 whole day work, but very happy with the result!
So slowly our to-do list gets a bit shorter. It is as our neighbour told us: "the pleasures of owning your own home".