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Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 10:24 am
by fredbrutus
Hi everyone
i'm laying a patio but my garden slopes slightly towards the house. i thought i would tackle like this:
manufacture a slope away from the house so the rainwater can drain to the lawn. however this would require the start of the patio to be too high in relation to the dpc, so i was going to start the patio 45cm from the house wall and put some gravel in the gap. am i right in thinking the gravel still need to be 150mm below dpc?
now i'm thinking that this would look naff as there would be a step down to the gap and then a small step up to the patio.
i think it would look much neater to fit a linear drain alongside house and have the patio slope towards the house instead, continuing the natural slope from the lawn.
the problem is the downpipe is sealed at the bottom so how do i connect a linear drain to it?
i'm just going to butt joint the slabs, so can i not just rely on rainwater draining through the tiny gaps?
any advice or other solutions much appreciated,
Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 11:51 pm
by Rich H
You need to have proper drainage. Slabs should not be butted but laid with minimal joints. The joints should then be filled with kiln-dried sand for preference. The water retention provided by this means will prevent rainfall from draining through the paving.
A linear drain is your best bet - each section is recessed to allow you to cut in a drainage pipe, which in turn can be connect to the down pipe. There will be a way to do it, and the fittings are all available from your local builders' merchant.
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 7:39 pm
by matsfc
use an aco drain- its only £15 or so per metre so not worth worrying about- surround it with concrete and invent your own way to connect it to main drain- yes this is how its generally done as there often aren't the correct connections. just make sure your connection is water tight.
gravel along your house is very bad (looks amateur, looks like a lazy builder did it, looks like crap, and you might even promote damp in your house- i.e. bad stuff).
Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 8:13 pm
by msh paving
matsfc wrote:use an aco drain- its only £15 or so per metre so not worth worrying about- surround it with concrete and invent your own way to connect it to main drain- yes this is how its generally done as there often aren't the correct connections. just make sure your connection is water tight.
We don't need advice like that given on this forum,people come here for honest advice ,not how to bodge something up,
If you don't know the correct way to do a job please say nothing as it reflects on Tony the site owner and us moderators and the other tradesmen who post to help others out MSH 
Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 9:06 pm
by matsfc
msh paving wrote:matsfc wrote:use an aco drain- its only £15 or so per metre so not worth worrying about- surround it with concrete and invent your own way to connect it to main drain- yes this is how its generally done as there often aren't the correct connections. just make sure your connection is water tight.
We don't need advice like that given on this forum,people come here for honest advice ,not how to bodge something up,
If you don't know the correct way to do a job please say nothing as it reflects on Tony the site owner and us moderators and the other tradesmen who post to help others out MSH
was just trying to help- we never had problems and been going since 1969.
i'll assume everyone is dummies here from now on if u like and can't take some basic common sense advice based on experience.
(ps. crack a hole in ur pipe with a hammer to connect an aco drain and u'll be fine ) 
Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 9:46 pm
by Dave_L
Well I've got to agree with some of what you say - sometime there isn't the space etc etc available to connect 'properly' so sometimes you have to be a little inventive and deviate from good working practices.
But we are all professional tradesmen here and if we all worked the same way it'd be very boring.....so lets have less of the sniping etc please Life is too short!
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 6:02 am
by mickg
crack a hole in ur pipe with a hammer to connect an aco drain and u'll be fine
wow thats a brilliant idea matsfc, why on earth did i never think of that !!
cos I will now be able to save about £40 each time I connect my channels to the existing drain instead of using the correct procedure ???
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:03 am
by Rich H
Run-off water should NOT be connected to the main drain unless you have absolutely no other option. It is not advisable which is why we don't advise it!
Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:11 am
by kop202
Just a thought if your drain connects to the foul drainage system - you might need to trap your connection first
