Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:06 pm
Hi
I’ve been looking at many aspects of this site for ages. It is so informative and interesting. This is only my second post.
In heavy rain my garden floods! It was lawn and flower beds, but the water took ages to go away and turned sour and green in places. We have a high wall at the end of the garden and at one time over the wall was an agricultural area with the big house about 100 yards away at the top of the hill. Unfortunately this has been replaced by about 300 houses!
This development, together with the naturally high water level and clay subsoil causes my problem. As we are now “getting on a bit� we decided to go for easy maintenance and also hoped this would alleviate the water problem. I removed part of the lawn to build decking, however the whole area was full of water when it rained heavily. I decided to put in a land drain and did so with 80mm perforated pipe, membrane and gravel. Then I dug a hole approximately 1m x 1m x1m to catch the water for pumping to the storm water drain.
I got hold of two old heavy duty (plastic) gas pipe ends about 1m long by 350mm diameter. I bolted these together and placed in the hole and backfilled with 20mm gravel. The land drain feeds to the first one which I call the silt trap (bucket on string at the bottom), this then feeds the second unit which houses the pump. The first rain showed that it was indeed working, however the rain continued overnight and in the morning the containers had been lifted about 300mm by the water coming in naturally OUTSIDE my containers. So my tanks should be anchored somehow.
I have now removed the tanks and dug out the backfill. The land drain is still working well as there is constant flow into the hole. But also the hole is being filled by natural drainage from the surrounding area.
What I am asking for are comments and suggestions for a permanent collector/pump chamber.
1 - Should I use the “tanks� but anchor them in the hole, and drill holes fairly high to let the surrounding water in also?
2 – Instead of the tanks, should I build a brick unit with a small silt trap?
3 – Can anyone suggest a better method.
Lastly, please forgive the length of my post. I wanted to give a clear description.
Many thanks, Jim
I’ve been looking at many aspects of this site for ages. It is so informative and interesting. This is only my second post.
In heavy rain my garden floods! It was lawn and flower beds, but the water took ages to go away and turned sour and green in places. We have a high wall at the end of the garden and at one time over the wall was an agricultural area with the big house about 100 yards away at the top of the hill. Unfortunately this has been replaced by about 300 houses!
This development, together with the naturally high water level and clay subsoil causes my problem. As we are now “getting on a bit� we decided to go for easy maintenance and also hoped this would alleviate the water problem. I removed part of the lawn to build decking, however the whole area was full of water when it rained heavily. I decided to put in a land drain and did so with 80mm perforated pipe, membrane and gravel. Then I dug a hole approximately 1m x 1m x1m to catch the water for pumping to the storm water drain.
I got hold of two old heavy duty (plastic) gas pipe ends about 1m long by 350mm diameter. I bolted these together and placed in the hole and backfilled with 20mm gravel. The land drain feeds to the first one which I call the silt trap (bucket on string at the bottom), this then feeds the second unit which houses the pump. The first rain showed that it was indeed working, however the rain continued overnight and in the morning the containers had been lifted about 300mm by the water coming in naturally OUTSIDE my containers. So my tanks should be anchored somehow.
I have now removed the tanks and dug out the backfill. The land drain is still working well as there is constant flow into the hole. But also the hole is being filled by natural drainage from the surrounding area.
What I am asking for are comments and suggestions for a permanent collector/pump chamber.
1 - Should I use the “tanks� but anchor them in the hole, and drill holes fairly high to let the surrounding water in also?
2 – Instead of the tanks, should I build a brick unit with a small silt trap?
3 – Can anyone suggest a better method.
Lastly, please forgive the length of my post. I wanted to give a clear description.
Many thanks, Jim