soakaway mistake? what to do?

[112-1093880687]

My 1830s house carries rainwater from two roofs, and when I bought it, one drainpipe was issuing straight out onto a garden wall. Obviously not a good idea. The front garden area where the drain ends is positioned about a metre up from the street, since the front garden is raised up from the roadside. I asked a builder what to do about the drainage and he said to put in a soakaway in the front garden, which he did, but it is positioned almost immediately next to the house. Now I understand that soakaways must be positioned at least 5m away from the house. The builder is no longer trading. How can I remedy the situation? Anyone?

(Edited by philip at 8:13 pm on Aug. 26, 2004)

[84-1093879891]

Maybe it's a blessing that this builder is no longer trading!

All you can do is construct a new soakway in another position and make sure it is at least 5m from the building (I prefer 10 metres), and then re-lay the drainage linking the collection points to the soakway.

In short: start again! :(

[112-1093880687]

Thanks - you have confirmed what I suspected - that it should be remedied. The trouble is that the front garden is a small "town house" type and we don't have a space 5m away from the house in the front garden... somehow I need to get the water going away from the house, but 5m would be in the road!

[84-1093879891]

Are there no SW drains at all?

If not, you really ought to consider using one of the Cellular systems and get it buried as far away from, and lower than the house foundation level, if at all possible.