Land drainage or soakaway?

[DomG]

Hi all

What a great website - I should be working but am increasingly obsessed with my flooding garden as the rain pours down here in Cardiff.

We have a lawn (approx 250m2) that appears to be about 9 inches of draining soil on top of something called red marl (red clay?) by the previous owners about 6yr ago. After the winter we've had it looks more like a flooded moss patch + clover for good measure. Not nice.

I'm resigned to re-laying the lawn and I've had a couple of turfing companies around for advice. Both have suggested land drains joined up to an outflow of our sewage system (which drains into a stream). It would require about 100m of dendritic drainage apparently.

Both have come back quotes of about £3800 + VAT. Can anyone help me with the following?:

- Will the rain water find its way into the pipes despite the clay soil? Am I just wasting time and money?
- Is it permissible to drain garden water into a (private) sewage system that drains into a stream?
- Does this sound expensive? Reading a post of Tony's that suggested about £10 per metre, this is coming out at nearer £40.
- Am I asking the wrong profession?
- Are there any other cheaper alternatives - having just moved cash isn't in great supply...

The other alternative one suggested was a soakaway in the middle of the lawn. Noting Tony's main post about soakaway's on clay soil doesn't give me much hope however....

Thanks in advance for any tips!

Cheers

[lutonlagerlout]

firstly your sewage does not drain into a stream,you rainwater may but not the sewage
secondly a lot of tonys estimations are out of date
if they use a trench cutter to lay the pipes in there should be minimal disruption but you are looking at £350 a day for a man and 1 of these beauties.
would it not be easier and cheaper as long as the water does not come towards the house to design a garden with damp or water loving plants?
salix etc?
remember nothing in life is perfect,it costs inter milan a fortune to replace their turf every 2 weeks in the playing season ( due to low light)
water loving plants here and another quote never like to see 2 quotes so close together
LLL

[lutonlagerlout]

oh and you probably are in the wrong profession
i wish i was a car mechanic,dentist,house painter,skip firm owner,ready mix company owner,solicitor............
you get my drift
LLL

[DomG]

Thanks for the reply - unfortunately the lawn does slope back towards the house, which makes me a little nervous given that it's old and has no DPC...

I take your point about profession - just wanted to check I shouldn't be asking someone like a drainage company rather than a turfing company to give reliable advice. I'm a complete numpty when it comes to this. Only ever lived in modern houses with small gardens before. This is coming as a bit of a rude shock - at least I'll know what to look out for next time :;):

Thanks again - time for a beer

[DomG]

Oh - and apparently this sewage thing is a bit like a mini-treatment plant (called a Klargester). The outfall goes to the stream - apparently it's clear enough to drink (not willing to test personally). That was why I thought I could tap into it.

[flowjoe]

Connecting onto the outlet of the tank will be OK, but not the inlet.

Yes you should be talking to a drainage contractor or land drainage specialist, but i would hope most turf gangs know a bit about land drainage.

Price wise its hard to say from here, usually somewhere between £27 to £35 per metre, dependant on site access for a machine, importing stone etc.... and bloody tipping charges

I normally advise that customers go with the minimum amount of land drainage required, it is easily added too at a later date once the main runs are in. However if you are re-designing your garden i appreciate you will want a one hit solution.

If the lawn runs toward the property you will require some land drainage, the remainder of the lawn may benefit from importing a coarse sand or even chalk to mix with the existing top soil.

Go to the links pages on the main site, i think tony contributes to a gardening site where there are better brains than mine giving advise on free draining soils.

[DomG]

Thanks for that - I think I'll dig a few exploratory holes as described on this site and see if the marl is right across the lawn. Maybe I can get away with a soakaway. If not, time to start saving....
Cheers