The Brew Cabin

I am new to drainage and have a query. I have a spot of land that slopes down to 2 stables. One stable is lower than the other as the land also slopes to the side. Down the slope is a walkway surfaced with planings. To the left and right of the walkway is earth.

A yard infront of the stable doors is concrete. Looking at the stable doors to the left is a gulley which looks like it peters out and then drains onto a lane which is another yard below below where the stables are.

The problem I get is flooding in the lower stable. I believe water some down the planings, hits the concrete spills up and into the stable. Very little turns left into the gulley.

What crossed my mind was digging a drain across the walkway about a yard short of the concrete that leads into the slight gulley. But when I read all the pages in the drainage section I began to worry that I did not have an "official" soakaway and would just add to the water flooding down the lane.

I am stumped as I thought it would be relatively easy job.

Thanks

Chris

Hi again, Chris,

I'm not sure quite what qualifies as an "official" soakaway. If it's on your land and it works, then there's no problem with officialdom.

However, if water is already welling up from the ground, this suggests the ground itself isn't suitable for a soakaway, or, at least, it isn't suitable in that particular spot.

The gully you mention - am I right in thinking that it drains onto land that isn't yours? If so, is there some agreement or consent for the gully to operate? Or does it actually drain onto a public highway, the lane you mention? It may be that your simplest option would be to intsall a cheap linear drain, the sort you can get from B&Q for a tenner per metre) as an interceptor at the edge of the concrete hardstanding, and connect that to the gully pipework, and allow gravity to do the rest.

Thanks Tony and Happy New Year

Well I sat in the stable during the deluge yesterday to suss out what was happening and it was an eye opener. The path I mentioned come from round a corner behind a barn (crucially uphill). Surprisingly it was acting like a water motorway and collecting water from all over the place, zooming round the corner, down the slope, hitting the concrete slabs and then into the lower stable !

I dug the gulley a bit deeper to make sure its start was below the level of the path and sure enough it filled within minutes and gradually started to soak away.

So I think you are right - linear drain into the gully. Also I will add a single layer of bricks across the door of the stable to catch any rain on the concrete slab as is done on many of our other stables.

I'll let you know if it does the trick.

Thanks again

Chris