Carberry wrote:Have to be a lot colder for running water to freeze.
Have to be a lot colder for running water to freeze.
Yep! That's why the rivers keep flowing even when the rest of the country has ground to a halt.
In "The Little Ice Age" of the 15th-19th C, the rivers would regularly freeze, apparently, and that's the origin of those cutesy winter images of skaters and ice fairs. Brueghel paintings are very evocative of that period. I'm not sure how bloody cold it needs to be for a river to freeze, but I'm guessing it's colder than any of the recent winters.
(Sorry for the apparent edit to your post, Carberry - pressed the wrong button but the content has not actually been edited)
you have to remember the arches over the thames were very small in those days ,plus the river was the rubbish tip for all who lived near it
so it would have been flowing much,much slower than today
having said that ,there was a mini ice age probably caused by an asteroid impact or big volcano that sent a lot of ash into the air and blocked the sun
LLL
I think the best solution is to run the linear drain in to the main drains, unofficially its not allowed but what choice do you have? Even if you add a water well and pump you still need to get rid of the water to somewhere, and if that water is ground water that isnt escaping anywhere else then a soakaway will probably be pointless so you are going round in circles. Run it in to a chamber and let it go in to the existing system.
Im ready for telling off but sometimes you cant avoid bending the rules especially in this day and age when everyone wants a nice little claim up.
Does no one else feel like its a lot of water for groundwater? I know we had that heavy rain recently but im suspicious especially as theres probably a main water supply under that driveway, i would want to check the meter myself.
It is a lot of water but it doesn't surprise me very much. I live on clay over chalk and we sometimes get lots of water in the garden. In our case the plot slopes away from the road and ends in what I think may once have been a winterbourne at the bottom of our garden. It isn't quite surface water in our case but it seeps along in the topsoil making things very soggy indeed in some parts.
Talk to the neighbours to see if this happened before the paving was installed and if it has happened before. They will also know if you have a surface water drain in the street. We do (in addition to the sewer) - it takes the roof water. Maybe the water could be drained there.
Alternatively I wonder if the paving works damaged the drain (in our case it's at the front of the house about 3ft in front of the garage).
local patios and driveways wrote:I think the best solution is to run the linear drain in to the main drains....
....but the water is emerging at the lower end of a downward sloping driveway, so the odds on there being a suitable connection point with an invert level to accommodate a new inflow is pretty remote.
OP: where's the closest surface water manhole or IC? How far from the bottom of the drive and would there be fall from the end of the drive back into that access point?
Perhaps not in to an existing ic but maybe still easier to install a new ic somewhere suitable if the drains run to the road. Probably the same work as a pump etc but still cheaper
The nearest road drain (is that what you are referring to? No, I don't have a clue!) is directly opposite the end of the drive, on the other side of the road. It is lower then my side of the road but the road slopes both away from the drive but also on a left to right slope, which is why, at the mo the water is running down the road as opposed to down the drain.
The driveway was laid in 2005 and I have contacted the company who put it down and they are looking into what if any drainage was incorporated. All neighbours assure me that this has never ever happened before.
The back garden is very clay and puddles everywhere, lawn is soggy, front lawn is just moss.
I got the water board back and they can't hear any leaks and collected water is showing very slight indication of possible chlorine so they have planned to investigate underground in the next few weeks.
It must have finally frozen which is a blessing!
So it probably runs under the drive and out to the cover in the road so without taking up the driveway you cant add a new ic and as tony says if your on a slope the fall is probably too great to run the water back up the hill via a pipe.
If i were you i would have a look at your water meter, check everything is off in the house and see if the dial on said meter moves at all over say a 20 min period. That should be long enough to indicate a leak.
That's good news the water board is going to take another look, I think maybe you should try and wait to see what they report back to you.
Like you say if its been down since 2005 and the neighbours have not seen this water before then that obviously points to something being wrong.
Please can you take a picture up the drive from the bottom of yours and from across the road also try and show the drain at the top of your drive and also the lay of the land slope wise.
I think it's a safe prediction that no drainage was installed by the contractor, at least not at the threshold. In 2005, the comedy driveway legislation had not even been thought of, and although it was technically wrong to allow surface water to drain onto a public highway, it was never enforced and we all did it. Every builder/developer did it with new homes and even the council themselves did it when installing driveways on council-owned properties.
If the only effective fix turns out to be the installation of a threshold interceptor drain, then the good news is that whatever system is installed, it can be connected to the existing drainage without contravening the comedy legislation, which, in yet another example of its total ineptness, does not prohibit the connection of new drainage to the existing when that drainage serves an existing, pre-2008 driveway to the front of a property. The only prohibition (without PP) is for drainage of a new or reconstructed driveway; there's no mention of additional drainage to an existing structure.
You can't do anything about the manhole on the other side of the road; any solution has to be carried out entirely on your own property. If you do have to consider installing draiunage, the first thing to do is have a look into the chamber at the top of the driveway. You need to know two things:
1 - how deep is it to the bottom of the channel pipe (this is known as invert level)?
2 - does the outlet point down the driveway towards the main road?
Well finally the water board have detected a leak, under the driveway. They are calling again tomorrow to try to determine whereabouts but i presume they now have to dig up the PC driveway? I don't suppose it's possible to repair holes and it will mean a whole new driveway? I'm pleased that they have found the source but dread to think what it will cost
Glad to hear they've discovered the problem.
You may be able to persuade them to put a new supply pipe in from the stop cock in the street to the house. They use a tool called a mole to put the new pipe underground without disturbing the surface except at the stop cock and where the pipe enters the house. Before I had my drive paved I arranged for the water company to put in a new supply pipe as I was worried the old one would fail after the drive had been installed. The mole easily took the pipe under the old drive. I paid to have ours done - but we didn't have an existing leak.
That's good the source has finally been detected, again make sure you are in when they come to fix it and ask the guys or girls what they intend to do before they start, ply them with tea and coffee and a nice smile and I'm sure it will all go ok.
Also it may be worth contacting your house insurance company as you may or may not be covered