Complex fall problem - How to get water away on a large patio

[oscar]

This is my first post to the forum of a great site that has helped me lots already. I need some advice and guidance of how to make the correct fall to take water away from my new patio that I am working on. I have looked at other posts but can’t make a solution that suits my circumstances. The house is joined to the garage and the garden is completely walled.

I am laying a patio of approx 60sqmtrs. The patio will run from the back of my house to the back wall of my garden for approx 9.5mtrs. Part of it will also run across the back of my garage that runs alongside my house into the back garden so I end up with an L shaped patio the width is 9 mtrs. On the outside corner of the garage that will be on the inside corner of the L is a drain with a downpipe for the water from the garage roof.

If I try to make a fall to take the water from the house to the back wall it needs to drop by 6 inches but then there is nowhere for the water to go from there. If I try to make the fall from the corner of the wall behind the garage I need another fall of 6 inches but then it takes the patio below the existing level of drain on the corner, the existing path (that will also be paved with the same paving) that runs along the back of the house and the remaining garden.

The patio will be paved with Travertine of various sizes(Opus Romano) to form part of a Mediterranean type garden (yes I know I live in Bucks, I don’t want to live on the Med!)

I read a previous post about the perils of trying to make multiple falls in different directions so I want to avoid that too. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Tony McC]

Without seeing a plan, I can't be sure, but from what you've posted, I think you're going to need to install a gully/channes/soakaway to collect the run-off and deal with it in an appropriate manner.

There's nowt particularly perilous about multi-directional falls, but they can be tricky to establish without creating lips between adjacent paving elements.

As for the travertine: why? You sound like a reasonably sane kind of fellah, so why choose slippy, skiddy, greeny-with-algae, pock-marked, glaringly-bright travertine?

[oscar]

Thanks for the quick response. I know travertine is not your thing but one day you may grow to like it. I'll send you a photo in one year to see if it is green or not! (if I can find out how to attach photos.) We didn't like any other paving we looked at and we took six months to choose. I think we saw every type and colour of paving in the UK and travelled the UK to look. Anyway I have just shy of 100 sq mtrs in my garden waiting for me to finish the site preparation. It takes all sorts!
I have put a diagram together - it's not to scale! I don't know how to attach a document to the post unfortunately.
Regards

[Tony McC]

It'll be a cold day in hell before I grow to like Travertine! It should stay where it comes from - landfill sites in Turkey!

There's a guide to uploading photies here or just send it to me and I'll bung it on my server.