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Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:53 pm
by GuyF
Hello
Upon removing an old pond in my garden I have come across which I believe to be a land drain. It seems to run parallel to the back of my house and is made from 1 foot clay sections that are butted together, and after heavy rain, water flows out of the top of each joint that I have exposed in the ground and hence the old pond hole is filling up with water. I have removed and inspected some of the clay sections and they are half full of clay and therefore I suspect this is the case along its entire length.
The land drain is only 3m from the back of my attached garage and I am concerned this could cause a problem.
Has anyone come across this type of land drain and any ideas on how I can resolve this issue.
regards
Guy
Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:29 pm
by henpecked
Using teram to line the trench, then pea gravel surrounding the drain will be the way to go. But modern land drain is plastic pipe, it might be better to replace with this.
Im sure Giles will be along soon to advise 
Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2012 10:07 pm
by local patios and driveway
Pull it out and forget about it. Redundant now days
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 6:38 am
by haggistini
Are you sure it's a land drain? It sounds like a damaged combined storm and foul don't remove it FFS until you know what and who is responsible for it take a picture of it
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:51 am
by lutonlagerlout
the description does indeed sound like an old land drain
we have gone through lots of these with foundations
unlikely to be foul
LLL
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:40 am
by joydivision
yeah, id say land drain. I have come across many of these, all butted up and slightly smaller diameter than the usual underground drainage.
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:46 am
by local patios and driveway
Yeah the give away is that the pipe is in small 1ft sections just laid next to each other and the diameter is maybe 3". You couldnt run foul through it they are designed to leak
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 9:49 am
by Tony McC
If the pipes you've found look like this......
...then it's almost definitely a land drain.
So, the next question is to determine whether it's a dispersal drain, possibly for an old septic tank, or a collector drain, taking water from the ground or overflow from the pond.
If it *is* a dispersal drain and you are confident that there is no septic tank any longer and therefore no need for the drain, you can ignore it or remove it as you prefer.
If it's a collector drain, you should satisfy yourself whether it's active and performing some function or redundant. If active, you might clean it through or choose to replace it with a modern equivalent. If redundant, see above.
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:21 pm
by GuyF
Hello everyone
Thanks for your replies.
The pipe sections are exactly the same as the photo posted.
When I removed and inspected the sections a small trickle of continuous water came out one end of the drain still in the ground, so I contacted my local planning office today and they have themselves confirmed that it is a land drain that was installed when all the houses were built. He told me to just repair the broken pipe and cover up. I live in a semi in a built up area.
However, we have had heavy rain fall today and the large hole where the pond use to be (3m x 2m) has completely filled. I can appreciate that the rain has fill some of it up but when I pumped out most of the water today to expose the land drain it was bubbling out a continuous stream of water and refilling the large pond hole again!!
I am guessing the drain is blocked downstream and the water is being forced into my low lying hole after heavy rain.
My garden is heavy clay, but I was wondering whether I can in some way divert the land drain water into my garden away from my attached garage that is currently only 3m from the drain.
Tony McC - Because I am getting continuous water flow after heavy rain, I guess it is active, but how would I clean it through? Is this type of drain designed to leak out water from every butt joint? The reason I ask is that if not then if there is a blockage in my neighbours section downstream of the pipe then all the water flowing along the pipe from say 10 houses up stream would result in all that water being released into my garden and hence the reason the pond hole is re-filling.
Any advice again would be much appreciated.
When I have worked out how to paste a photo into my post I will.
regards
Guy
Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:54 pm
by Tony McC
You can clean with drain rods plus attachments or use a professional jetting system
Posting Photies