New drive - downpipe issue soakway/drain setup...

[greentown]

This is not my house but is almost identical and I wanted to post a picture but haven't got the techie skills yet.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-p....england

Mine is a semi - joined at the other side of the bay window - with a shared downpipe between the houses emptying into my garden. There must have been a soakaway when the houses were built but not any more and so I've extended the downpipe to the end of the front garden to drain the rainwater away from the house. I dug a big hole to take the water which fills to the top when it rains. The soil is quite clayish and it does take a few hours to soak in - but it does soak in eventually.

However, the front garden slopes very gently back to the house - probably about 6 inches in difference over the course of the slope - maybe a bit less.

There are airbricks level with the current concrete around the base of the house and when it rains heavily, the rain pools in the garden and runs back to the house, through the airbricks and under the floorboards - causing bad damp and condensation inside. The base of the house seems faily damp generally even when not raining very heavily.

I'm getting a new drive/dropped kerb etc and want to take the opportunity to sort the issue with the rain water drainage.
A few contractors have come to look at the job.

I want the drainage issue solved as a priority and then the drive surface comes second.

There seem to be two views with contractors.

Have a french drain around the walls of the house filled with pebbles then block pave or gravel the drive. The downpipe would go into a soakaway at 5m distant.

Or, block pave up to the wall of the house, sloping downwards to a linear drainage channel which drains along with the downpipe into the soakaway. Then block paving up to the roadside.

I can't work out whether it's better to have a french drain against the house or block paving against the house sloping downwards into the drainage channel. Both contractors say their approach will work better.

Both will be below the level of the airbricks.

At the moment I also use a water butt to re-direct some of the downpipe flow into the drain under my kitchen window (I know I shouldn't do this but otherwise the house would flood).
In this recent rain over the past month - the drain by the kitchen has overflowed with rainwater while the butt couldn't cope with the downpipe and the garden flooded too. So I definitely need to do something!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[seanandruby]

I wouldn't put a french drain around the house. It is always best to direct water away from your house walls. A linear drain might be your best option. Your soakaway is probably past it's sell by date. How deep have you dug your try hole for drainage. If all else fails and as a last resort you will no doubt pipe into an existing drain. If your soil is to clayey then maybe a soakaway or storm crate is not an option. Do a deeper try hole and gauge the water level see if and how fast it drains.

[lutonlagerlout]

on houses that age rainwater was often run to the foul water system
not good practise nowdays
as sean says french drains are a very bad idea

problem is if you are on clay soil the water wont go away

can you run the linear drain around the house to a soakaway at the rear where the water will not run back to the house?

LLL

[greentown]

Cheers for that - I didn't realise french drains were viewed badly next to the house. A lot of my neighbours have them - is it something that people used to do more 'in the past'?

I'll need to look more into that with the contractors who've suggested it.

One said, dig out next to the house, Blackjack the walls and then put large pebbles down/french drain - is that old thinking?

I think getting the water directed round the back of the house would be good but to be fair - the back garden floods too

Is the french drain a definte no-no?

Unfortunately, the contractor I liked best suggested that.

[lutonlagerlout]

blackjacking the walls is a good idea,I have done that below ground at home
but ideally you dont want any water running to your foundations or next to them if possible

french drains are just a water trap IMHO

LLL

[greentown]

Thanks - I thought the Blackjack sounded like good stuff.

I've looked back at the contractor's quotes and I think I might have misunderstood his intentions with the french drain - I think he's proposing a structure like this: house wall - french drain filled with large pebbles - about 1 metre walking area of block paving around house sloping down away from house to linear channel drain (draining to soakaway) and then the rest of the driveway block paved gradually sloping up to the roadway/dropped kerb.
Something approximately like this next to the house: http://blog.jewson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/step-6.jpg

The other contactor said No to a french drain - pave right against the house - sloping downwards away from the house into a linear channel but with the linear channel closer to the house and the gradual slope again up to the roadway - something maybe more like this next to the house:
http://www.firstpave.co.uk/sites....nel.jpg

Thinking about it now - virtually all the rain should go into the linear channels using both contractors methods - is the french drain more of a belt and braces approach?
Say, perhaps if the linear drain overflowed maybe? At least then I would have the second defence of the french drain?

There's no difference in prices quoted - I just want what's best for the house drainage really.

[seanandruby]

That's why it is recommended soakaways be 5 metres from the house. Water around house is never a good thing without tanking.
Where are the contractors proposing to drain the linear channel to? No point draining it straight into the ground.

[greentown]

The soakaway will be just over 5 metres away at the end of the proposed driveway - dug down to take account of the slope - the linear channel will run acroos the drive about a metre or so away from the house and both the linear channel and downpipe from the gutter will go into the soakaway.