Bit of a drainage problem in the back garden of our new bungalow (well, new to us, it was built in 1974). The rear garden is a slope of grass about 6ft above ground level (at it's farthest away point) sloping down to about 4ft. There's then a wall (also 4 ft high) which segregates the grass from the patio area.
Unfortunately, we've noticed that the water drains from the south-west of the patio in basically a north-east direction (obviously, following the perimeter of the house itself) to gather under our kitchen window. The soil around this area seems really hard and really damp. To the extent that the puddle that forms under the kitchen does not drain away (well, probably very very very slowly!)
I'm concerned about a couple of things, water getting in to the house via the vents that are dotted around (you can see one to the left of the puddle). Also, I have linked to pics of the terracotta coloured 'drains' that are on the rear wall of the house before the kitchen (there's 2 of them). I am no expert (I can install a Windows server for you no worries, but DIY is fairly arduous for me :;): ), but those drains being raised above the patio about 0.75inch approx appears to mean that the water from the south-west never actually goes down there? (in fact, any running water, e.g. if I jetwash the patio, just skirts around the terracotta drains) While I'm at it, the grey vertical drains/vents(?) ARE at the same level of the patio, so does this mean that water will be sitting underneath the foundations going nowhere?
Anyway, the primary concern (sorry to ramble) is the puddle under the kitchen and how to shift it. You can see in one photo that there is a wrought iron gate post. This is just around the corner from the puddle, and is concreted in. I presume that this being there never allows the puddle to drain adequately.
In general, the patio does not seem to have been brilliantly put in, and that area under the kitchen does appear to be a bit of an afterthought.
Would be grateful of any advice on the gathering puddle of water, and also if the aforementioned terracotta thingummies are really drains (and if so, should they not be flush with the patio?)
Photos below..
Many thanks for your time!
