The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:10 pm**

Hello,
I'm laying a 6m x 6m gravel drive to the front half of my front garden. The garden slopes slightly towards the public path and the public path (3m x 6m) slopes down (about 50cm) to the front of my proposed drive. I've so far dug off to 150mm but want to sort the drainage before laying the hardcore. From an exploratory dig I see that I may be able to access the rainwater drain at the front side of my house (approx 12m from the front of the proposed drive). This drain goes into an underground pipe approx 250mm below the level of the drive. Given this scenario can anyone advise what is the most suitable (and cost efficient!) way to install a gully for the drainage. What type of gully is suitable and where should I position it? Logic and common sense tells me I could just use a single trapped yard gully or 1m linear gully (with p-trap) to the front side (where the public path slopes down) of the proposed drive, as this is an area where the car will not go over. But being a novice with drainage I'm not sure I'm taking the correct approach here? Should I be using an attenuation cell or SUDS system (keeping in mind I want to keep cost low but without cutting corner!)?
Any suggestions appreciated.
John.

Posted: **Sat Jul 21, 2007 5:13 pm**

Really difficult to say without being familiar with the site, but the gully or linear channel has to go in the lowest spot, wherever that may be.

SuDS would be best, assuming you have suitable ground, but again, as I'm not familiar with the site, it's impossible to say what would be most appropriate.

Posted: **Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:51 am**

I have dug down to 3.5ft when concreting in my 8ft drive posts, after about 1ft of soft soil I hit white clay which then requires scapping out with grafter spade. This was the same when digging the 2 ft holes for my concrete fence spurs. Here are some site photos:
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dr_jtmoran/album?.dir=/5ecbre2

When you say 'the lowest spot', would that be the lowest spot relative to the compacted hardcore or the surface gravel?
Do I need to slope the compacted hardcore or slope the gravel towards the drain?
Also, can you recommend any good value gullys that would be suitable for a gravel drive such as this?
Cheers,
John.

Posted: **Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:16 pm**

that clay you hit john, is a very impervious one called gault clay,
personally i cannot really see the need for a drain looking at your location,i know the local council probably want one ,but it looks straightforward enough
BTW my father in law is called "john moran " too
regards LLL

Posted: **Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:04 pm**

Thanks for your input. I thought that might be the case for a gravel drive but wasn't sure how much it depended on the sub-surface.
Cheers,
John.

The Brew Cabin

Drainage and gully for gravel drive