Soakaway - alternative suds cells

[Chippy]

Hi Had my soakaway dug and passed by local building inspector. Just seen the soakaway cells you can now get but they seem costly.

Now I just wondered how safe / practical it would be to use plastic pallets or stacked beer crates instead, all wrapped in membrane and backfilled etc?

It is only a thought I hasten to add but what do you think. It is in my back garden and half will be under a path eventually with the other half grassed over.

If it is deemed a reckless persuit where can I get the cells at a good price. I looked at the concrete ring sections and that seemed to work out pretty expensive too.

Any help and suggestions gartefully received

Cheers

Neil

[Dave_L]

Can you not just fill the soakaway with 50-75mm drainage stone?

[TheRobster]

The major issue with using objects such as plastic pellets/stacked beer crates is that they were never designed for the type of loading (weight) that they will be subjected to if you use them in a soakaway. Depending on the forces involved (both vertical and horizontal) you could find that the pellets/crates deform...which will most likely be seen at surface level as ground subsidance.

That's not to say it won't work. I once built a soakaway using old car tyres in my parents back garden and it's still operational after about 5 years, so you never know. It wouldn't have got approval from a building inspector though...

[lutonlagerlout]

we use clean hardcore with the BI blessing,that generally costs nothing,wouldnt use wood as it will degrade and collapse over time unless its oak
cheers tony