Firstly, great site!
Now, I have an existing soakaway that receives all of the rain water from the back of the house (roof). This regulaly floods and we have standing water for several days after a heavy rainfall. I have had a couple of builders to look at it and all have said that the soakaway has silted up over the years and recommend digging a new one. I understand that this has to be at least 4 meters from the property? The only reasonable location for a new soakaway seems to consist of a lot of Clay. I have dug down approx 1 meter and so far other than the top 8" or so of top soil I am excavating clay, clay and more clay. I am wondering if this is a good idea to continue?? Is there any way I can "fix" the old soakaway, presuming that at one time it worked ok (we have only been inthe house for 10 months and hence have no real history of it. The old soakaway seems to be under the patio so I'd have to lift the patio paving etc to gain suitable access to it. Should I try this or just continue to dig deeper in the new location? The only other choice I can see is laying a piped drain to the front of the property to tie into the existing storm drain at the front, this would involve digging up the drive etc which I'm not keen to do...
Any advise would be greatly appreciated.....
West sussex soakaways - Clean or dig a new one
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lutonlagerlout
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Tony McC
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Rejuvenating old soakaways is rarely successful. It's quicker, easier and cheaper to build a new one, especially when you can use the modern storm crates as shown here
Site Agent - Pavingexpert