Posted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 2:01 pm
Hi! Been reading PavingExpert for about 1 year now & have been quite impressed with the amount of knowledge / info on the site. That said & having read the main site & some of the forum posts, I have some questions about soakaway alternatives for our garden.
We are on clay soil but there is no combined or rainwater drainage in the road. The property was built in 1960 & has rainwater downpipes going to a TBD location. We are about to embark on a major renovation project, as the house really hasn't been touched since it was built -- one of the items to fix/change is new gutters, downpipes, etc.
Our garden is in effect on 2 levels; the house sits on the higher of the 2 & there is about a 6 ft drop between the levels. The backgarden is 30m wide and 20m from farthest edge of house to back boundary, so in theory plenty of room for a soakaway. The area to be drained is approx 250 metres squared.
We dug a trial hole this weekend: The main hole is 700mm wide by 1500mm long by 1000mm deep. We then excavated a 300mm square hole 250mm deep at the bottom of the 1000mm deep hole. The soil is a very dry, compacted and extremely hard clay in this 300x300x250 hole. Left it overnight in case water decided to fill it, but still bone dry, so not an issue with the water table.
Put the 25% & 75% pegs in as suggested by BRE Digest 365. Filled the hole with water and began to time how long for the water to seep away. Been waiting for 3 hours and I think it has dropped 1-2mm total -- nowhere close to the 75% mark, let alone the 25%. Since our first trial isn't even completed yet, it makes me think that a soakaway just won't be feasible.
I've looked at Part H of the Building Regs & it says that to dispose of rainwater it needs to go to 1) soakaway, 2) watercourse 3) sewer, in that order of preference. Now, like I said, I think the soakaway will be not feasible based on our trial and there is no watercourse near by. However, there is a 'sometimes stream/ditch' about 100m down the road, it's culverted in places & it floods the road when it rains. The only way of channelling rainwater from our house into that is to either dump it on the road, which is against the Highways Act, or to dig up the road & put in a new rainwater drain & connecting into it. According to the water search we had performed by our solicitors when we bought the property, the only pipe in the road is Foul (no combined or rainwater).
So, based on that info, is there anything else I could try to see if a soakaway would work? Obviously the current rainwater for the house has to go somewhere, and I know it isn't going into our Foul sewer. How would you suggest I approach Building Control with this info? And if the only answer is to practically put the rainwater into the sewer, would you have any advice on how to approach the water company to make them amenable to this? (As an aside, I know for a fact that at least 1 resident in the road has his rainwater going into the sewer, but it was put there by a previous occupier and probably wasn't officially approved by the water company). Would the water company tell me I would have to pay to dig up the road to divert the rainwater into the ditch I mentioned above?
The only other option I thought we might have is to put in some perforated pipe connecting our drains & running them down the garden & 'lighting' them on the boundary. This is a Parish Council owned field at the back of our property which is used by the local residents for playground, walking of pets, etc. However, I don't know if the council would consent to such a practice as it means possibly quite soggy patches at times.
Any advice or other options would be greatly appreciated.
???
We are on clay soil but there is no combined or rainwater drainage in the road. The property was built in 1960 & has rainwater downpipes going to a TBD location. We are about to embark on a major renovation project, as the house really hasn't been touched since it was built -- one of the items to fix/change is new gutters, downpipes, etc.
Our garden is in effect on 2 levels; the house sits on the higher of the 2 & there is about a 6 ft drop between the levels. The backgarden is 30m wide and 20m from farthest edge of house to back boundary, so in theory plenty of room for a soakaway. The area to be drained is approx 250 metres squared.
We dug a trial hole this weekend: The main hole is 700mm wide by 1500mm long by 1000mm deep. We then excavated a 300mm square hole 250mm deep at the bottom of the 1000mm deep hole. The soil is a very dry, compacted and extremely hard clay in this 300x300x250 hole. Left it overnight in case water decided to fill it, but still bone dry, so not an issue with the water table.
Put the 25% & 75% pegs in as suggested by BRE Digest 365. Filled the hole with water and began to time how long for the water to seep away. Been waiting for 3 hours and I think it has dropped 1-2mm total -- nowhere close to the 75% mark, let alone the 25%. Since our first trial isn't even completed yet, it makes me think that a soakaway just won't be feasible.
I've looked at Part H of the Building Regs & it says that to dispose of rainwater it needs to go to 1) soakaway, 2) watercourse 3) sewer, in that order of preference. Now, like I said, I think the soakaway will be not feasible based on our trial and there is no watercourse near by. However, there is a 'sometimes stream/ditch' about 100m down the road, it's culverted in places & it floods the road when it rains. The only way of channelling rainwater from our house into that is to either dump it on the road, which is against the Highways Act, or to dig up the road & put in a new rainwater drain & connecting into it. According to the water search we had performed by our solicitors when we bought the property, the only pipe in the road is Foul (no combined or rainwater).
So, based on that info, is there anything else I could try to see if a soakaway would work? Obviously the current rainwater for the house has to go somewhere, and I know it isn't going into our Foul sewer. How would you suggest I approach Building Control with this info? And if the only answer is to practically put the rainwater into the sewer, would you have any advice on how to approach the water company to make them amenable to this? (As an aside, I know for a fact that at least 1 resident in the road has his rainwater going into the sewer, but it was put there by a previous occupier and probably wasn't officially approved by the water company). Would the water company tell me I would have to pay to dig up the road to divert the rainwater into the ditch I mentioned above?
The only other option I thought we might have is to put in some perforated pipe connecting our drains & running them down the garden & 'lighting' them on the boundary. This is a Parish Council owned field at the back of our property which is used by the local residents for playground, walking of pets, etc. However, I don't know if the council would consent to such a practice as it means possibly quite soggy patches at times.
Any advice or other options would be greatly appreciated.
???
