Can i drain into a well? - Drainage

[bellingdon]

Hi,
I think this may be the first of a few posts as I attempt to build a new flag paving patio - I hope you won't mind too much!
I have just removed a temporary "patio" built of old pallets which, after 5 years has finally become a pile of splinters.
The base under the pallets is hard core with sand on top and there is a slope away from the house - haven't checked the gradient yet, but I am hoping that this will turn out to all be OK to lay straight onto?
However moving from a wood to a stone patio will make water more of an issue .... I know there is a soakaway (but not sure exactly where it is or how big it is - it is just a hole filled with hardcore). Having seen other posts, I expect what I actually have is a water hole as I have heavy clay soil. When it rained the pallets furthest away from the house were often under water!
We have a well underneath the ground straddling our house and our neighbours - would it be possible/sensible to try and redirect water into the well? The well is huge and has never overflowed - if it does it is designed to drain futher up our neighbours' garden. At the moment all of our neighbours drains feed the well and I don't think they would mind -although I haven't actually asked yet as I am not sure if this plan is viable. Your input would be much appreciated.
Many thanks

[seanandruby]

if others are draining into the well i cant see why not. on the other hand i am sure that people cannot be denied access to drawing water from any well; think it is an ancient by-law. i have come across a couple digging footings and we filled them in.

[lutonlagerlout]

just be very careful alison i dont know how deep or secure the well is but it can be dangerous working round deep holes.
other than that it should be fine
LLL

[bellingdon]

Thanks guys for your replies and concern about my safety.

Well, if the scheme is viable, next problem is how to go about it.
At the moment the down pipe from the roof is probably leading to the soakaway/waterhole - it is pointing straight down into the ground - would it then run to the soakaway do you think? The water from the conservatory roof however, leads directly onto the patio - this is very near the well and I am hoping would be easyish to redirect.
I wish I knew whether redirecting the conservatory only would sort the problem.
Any further thoughts would be gratefully received!
Thanks

[lutonlagerlout]

a couple of pictures would be handy,how deep is the well?
also is there any chalk around ? we built an extension over a well at tring last year and safety is the key issue
LLL

[bellingdon]

Hi again,

I am hoping to get a chance to investigate the well over the bank holiday weekend - the inspection hatch is on our neighbours side.
Many years ago our neighbours built an extension which was built over the well and was supported accordingly - they did not want to fill in the well. When we had an extension built - we used their supporting wall - and gave them some cash - rather than go to the expensive of supporting another wall over the well. I think the wall follows the party line anyway.
Will try for some pictures and more info soon.
Thanks again

[lutonlagerlout]

the old way seemed to be to dig a well on the boundary of 2 houses,so they could share the water
great idea in victorian times but makes it awkward for people now

chances are the brickwork will only be dry laid with about 1 every ten courses laid on mortar,so if you dug down the side i am sure you could core a 110mm diameter hole into the well,make sure and use a trapped gully so that leaves and deitrius dont go down the well,also make sure your neighbours are au fait with what you intend to do,
regards LLL



Edited By lutonlagerlout on 1239044709

[bellingdon]

Thanks LLL
Have had a chat and a look around the patio with my neighbour. It seems that our roof water already drains into the main drains - so it is only the conservatory water and water from the lawn that causes the problem. The well overflows into our neighbours soakaway - so to be sure I don't flood his garden it might be better to join the conservatory guttering to the main roof downpipe rather that trying to redirect it into the well. He thinks that might be easier too. Also he suggested linear drainage to sort out the water from the lawn. I now have a better idea how to proceed - (thanks for your help Bill) Fingers crossed!
One more quick question - sort of water related.....
If I used Rompox or similar for pointing, this is water permeable - where does the water drain to if the flags are set in a non-permeable mortar bed? Wouldn't this cause the Rompox to expand and pop out in the winter?
Thanks

[Tony McC]

You can't legally drain into a well. It would be regarded as potentially contaminating the groundwater and if the water board were to find out, they could give you a right spanking. This is the reason why soakaways are required to sit at least 500mm above the water table, so that there is at least an element of filtration before surface water is dumped into the groundwater.

You should use another soakaway, one that is at least 5m away from the house and the well.

[bellingdon]

Thanks for the reply Tony & photos now attached LLL - I probably misled you by calling it a well. It is actually a water storage. Many years ago the roof water drained into it and both houses had hand pumps in the kitchen. Now only our neighbours extention roof drains into it. It has a 10ft diameter and is 24 ft deep. One quarter of it is under our conservatory, another quarter under our neighbours conservatory the rest is in our gardens with the brick wall down the middle.
I am posting various photograph of the back of our house and the excavation so far. At the moment the white downpipe from the conservatory just stops and drains onto the patio (no wonder the patio flooded!) The black downpipe currently turns away away from the conservatory to our soakaway (clay soil, rubble filled hole). The well has sufficient storage capacity to redirect both our black and white downpipes into it - as we (and our neighbours) want to use the water for the garden. So.....is there anything that anyone can suggest would be a suitable "thing" that I can build over the well - it will need an inspection hatch at the top (ground level) and to accomodate a connection for both the white square downpipe and the black round pipe. Any suggestions would be gratefully received. Thank you so much everyone for your help.
ALison
P.S. My existing overworked soakaway will then only have to deal with the water from the new linear drainage which we are planning to install between the grass and the patio

The middle picture below shows our access hole on our side of the well cut into the concrete lid which covers the entire top of the well

[lutonlagerlout]

hmmm didnt know about the groundwater thing,i would have thought that fresh rainwater would be clean enough (albeit through a back inlet gully) to go down a well,i stand corrected

as for your patio allison a linear drain with a trapped gully,assuming its not a well and is a brick lined water storage facility

also I note you have matthews bricks in your conservatory, nice to see jim matthews flogging bricks to the locals
they are a lovely brick though
LLL



Edited By lutonlagerlout on 1239763401

[Tony McC]

So: what you're looking for is a cover slab for the chamber. Do you know what size/shape?

[seanandruby]

I am thinking how wide and how deep. The reason being so you can break off the old biscuit and install a new one in situ with inspection cover and frame.

[bellingdon]

Thank you everyone -once again- for your replies. I have been searching this week for something that would do the trick...with no real luck. So, today I am building my very own concrete chimney into which I will feed the downpipes. I have bought a 300mm recessed access chamber lid for the top. So today I am full of optimism that the job will get done.
Will post photo if it works (or not if it doesn't!)

[bellingdon]

Photos as promised. All went well apart from the corner crack - I built up another layer of concrete inside and out to fix that slight setback. Rainwater drainpipes now drain into the well beautifully. Job done - thanks guys! This weekend we have dug and buried two attenuation cells which will drain our patio via a linear drainage system. Without this site we would not have known how to start any of these tasks - here's hoping that laying the patio be easy now the drainage is sorted!