The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:57 pm**

Hi all,

I am planning to lay a patio in my garden but there is an uphill slope, the house being the lowest point and the end of my garden the highest.

I am planning on digging the area to level and laying the patio with a fall of 1:60 so the water can run away of the house as precognised. However, there is going to be a difference of level of about 8'' between the further point of the patio and the ground (lawn).

So my question is: what could I do to avoid water to collect and stagne at this point?

I have attached two pics of some drawings I have made. The first one is the sight of the patio from above and the second pic is the side view of the patio with the ground coming downhill toxwards it with this difference of height of about 8''.

Could you please share your expertise and advise me on what would be the best options?

Bearing in mind, I would like to combine efficiency and esthetic if possible.

To view the pictures, you need to copy the below URLs and paste them into your browser:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/cnxqv

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/nv6v5

thanks

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:10 pm**

you'll need to profile that transition to the lawn or set your edgers higher to retain the grass

teh easiest option with your curves would be to lay a french catch drain along the back edge of the edgers and feed it into the drains or soak away

other than that its aco drains on the straights etc but not as elegant.

see the main site drainage page

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2012 9:24 pm**

Thanks for your quick reply giles.

Therefore if I understood well (Iam french btw), I have to profile the continuation into the lawn which is quite straight forward.

However I struggle a bit to understand about the french drain that you suggest. could you explain me with more details what I have to do to avoid the water stagning at the lowest point of the patio?

thanks

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:22 pm**

personally i would slope the patio towards the house at 1:60
making sure i follow the 150mm below dpc rule
this would reduce digging and at the junction with the house use a linear drain to a suitable soakaway or drain
more aesthetically pleasing as well
cheers LLL

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2012 7:05 am**

I agree with Luton, your making a lot of work there sir, just run it into a channel drain at the House side. Sometimes you have no choice, but as long as your below DPM as Luton said, and you have sufficient drainage it will be fine. Is there a reason you can't run it back to the house?

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:24 am**

Thanks mick and luton

I havent thought about this option, it would save me a lot of digging indeed. I actually have two small drains grids located at the back side of the house, one being used for the gutters.

its a brand new house and at the moment, there is only one row of basic concrete paving slabs making a path with 6'' of stone between the house walls and this path. I dont know whether it is a french drain or just stones.

Could i then remove the stone and lay the patio against the house with a channel drain inbetween and connected to the existing draining system?

Please see the link of the existing draining installation below. The actual patio diagram is obviously only a plan but the first row of slabs are already layed.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/rgpnr

thanks for your expertise guys

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2012 5:36 pm**

FC could you possibly resize your pics to around 800 by 600
them pics are making my eyes bleed waiting for the DL
yes you can connect into the existing rainwater system
especially as in a new house it is likely to work
cheers LLL

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2012 6:11 pm**

thanks lutton

i have another question now.

the other option would be to lay the patio with a fall of 1:60 towards the garden but dig a 8'' french drain all around the patio or a straight one sideways of the garden???

regarding the actual french drain, considering the garden has only a slight uphill slope, could i just dig a foot or so and fill it with stones and not bother with a plastic lining and a conduit feeding the drain?

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/pyytx

thanks

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2012 8:58 pm**

zut alors!!
I want my bandwidth back
37 meg downlaod and it takes 2 minutes with those football pitch pictures you are uploading
always bets to save any image as a JPEG and resize to 800 by 600
I reckon you are photographing the patio on a 1 to 1 scale :;):
french drains do not work long term
we call them fail drains
linear channels work a treat
you could lay the patio flat with linear drains all round
LLL

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2012 11:05 pm**

sounds like my garden. i had to removed another 130mm of topsoil to get the levels right, before adding sand as a base for fake grass.

My patio slopes 1:60ish AWAY from the house, and my and underlying ground slopes TOWARDS the house. that allows any excess water coming off the patio the freedom of a 9m2 area of type 1 to disapate before i have an issue. sloping the paving towards the house would have meant i was relying solely on my french drain( i call it that, its just a channel full of gravel)

it PEED with rain for an hour today, proper downpour. No standing water, and no visable water in my channel, even after i dug down 6 inches.

The Brew Cabin

Laying a patio on an uphill slop