The standard fall for a pathway away from a house is 1:60, or 10mm, for every 600mm wide the pathway is. This is to allow enough to fall away from the house slab or fall onto drainage to reduce the risk of slab edge absorbtion and the subsequent rising dampness or fretting that can occur. Rising moisture (capillary action) can draw up the water-soluble salts from the surrounding soil or base material under the paving. This effervescence can cause brick flaking or fretting of both the brickwork and mortar. As the damp proofing viscourse often protects the wall brickwork from this issue, the rising damp and salting will be drawn up through the side of the house slab surface as often the slab side of the house does not have adequate protection. The rising salts can lift the floor tiling near the internal walls, often causing cracking, and is noticeable by the salting appearing through the floor tiling grout. Often, the tile lifting is first noticed near sliding doors due to the ease of viewability in natural sunlight and the lack of furniture against the walls hiding the drumming tile areas.
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