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Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:29 pm
by foureyes
hi all, another clay post! garden slopes downards towards raised patio / house. 4 out of 5 surrounding gardens are higher and drain into mine. the fifth garden has vertical paving slabs against mine presumably to keep the water out!
so water collects on lawn against patio to a few inches depth.
clay lawn is like molten chocolate with grass on top for half the year.
I've dug a pit about 6 feet deep and its all clay, i gave up through exhaustion!
im thinking of:
a) a network to a pit with a submersible pump in it, which pumps through a pipe which goes under paving of patio towards house and into the only available drain - my gutter downpipe.
b) getting some kind of bore cutting device and stand there for days sinking a shaft until i get through to something porous? then make some very deep soakaway holes
c) build up the lawn so it slopes away from the house and towards the only garden lower than mine… ( doesn't solve the soggy clay issue but should reduce the amount of water that has time to soak into my garden)
opinions please!
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 8:58 pm
by GB_Groundworks
Non are cheap, a) propably the most realistic for diyer
B) require a piling auger, there are mini ones available but not cheap and you might have to go 100 metres till you hit anything then more than likely you'll be at ground water level so defeats the point end up with a bore hole.
C) expensive depending on access, existing soil have to be removed and stockpiled suitable fill imported preferable something sandy and better draining than you have then relay and turf. And you are not meant to deliberately divert water onto a neighbours property.
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:13 pm
by foureyes
cheers GB, as i imagined then.
re c) it looks to me like my neighbour has deliberately blocked natural drainage from my garden into his, with his paving slabs. (that happened before we bought the house) so perhaps i should raise the garden to stop my kids tripping into the edge of the patio 
(oh, and there is no access, it all has to come through the house!) nightmare
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:32 pm
by GB_Groundworks
A is your only option then, hand dig the drains into your sump. Fill with free draining gravel top with some geotextile, turf over then install a automatic pump in a sump.
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 9:26 pm
by Mikey_C
^^ i concur with Giles. watch out if you are in the 6' deep hole, you shouldn't really be in a hole deeper than 1M without the sides being supported.
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 1:23 pm
by foureyes
Hi all, thanks for your advice all those years ago, I've put this off so many times but really need to do something. I’ve decided to rent a hand auger with a clay head so I can determine if by incredible luck the clay gives way to something else within a couple of meters at the house end of the garden (my previous test was at the far end)
If I get lucky and find something I can tap into with a crate soakaway then excellent!, but if the clay proves to be too deep or bottomless, I will have to pump from sump.
I didn’t make it clear last time that the only drain I have access to is the single guttering downpipe which goes into the patio…
It could be feeding the original soakaway (house is 1930s), or it could be joining the main drain (one manhole around front of house) which I think is combined. I plan to use tracing dye to determine if the gutter drain is connected to the manhole drain via some under the house magic…
If the gutter goes somewhere else im not sure how I can determine where that might be? it could be filling the old soakaway and flooding the garden!
That gutter is likely to be my only access to drainage so im ok to use it? Dad suggested piping into the kitchen sink under the U-bend but this seems risky?!
Many thanks again, Adam
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 9:15 pm
by foureyes
Update for others in this situation: tracing dye arrived today, and after a day of heavy rain i poured 10 litres of it down the only drain at the back of the house - which the single gutter downpipes goes into... it sucked up 10 litres instantly and sounded hollow and keen for more so i hope that means it isn't going into an old soakaway under the extension and is instead connected to the combined drain which i can check around the front of the house next time i try. fingers crossed 
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:44 pm
by digerjones
So you poured dye down pipe did you look at any manholes to see where it was going?
10 litres of dye?? Why not food colouring or vimto or something.
Sorry can't help, maybe post some pics
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 7:07 am
by foureyes
It was getting dark and I got dragged in to eat with family so missed the chance, plus I was hoping to see evidence of the dye in the garden which would indicate the drain was going to a silted soak away perhaps. As it had been raining all day this was a chance. It's drain tracing dye which claims not to be toxic, makes a large volume and stands a better chance of showing up in garden than somethng else. Either way, the fact that the drain sounded hollow to me and sucked up the water is a sign it it connected to the combined drain at front of house. Just need some daylight to check .
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 7:11 am
by seanandruby
The idea is to have the lid off the manhole and get someone else to pour dye in whilst you check the flow and also stop anyone falling in.The next course of action if nothing shows is to rod the pipe and see how far rods go. You might need a cctv survey to find out. Could be the bend has come away from the pipe ( see it a lot on old pipework ) and that whats making the sound.
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:34 am
by foureyes
Yep that was the plan, i was just too keen and didnt think about the rest of the family wanting their dinner and my wife probably not wanting to go look in the drain. Sill it isnt going to rain today so i might see evidence of leakage into the garden when i get home.
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:02 pm
by digerjones
Oh I see. Just put the hose pipe down it
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:22 pm
by seanandruby
...Belt and Braces digger, nothing wrong with that and his choice. Should never discourage a layman/diyer doing things right, I commend foureyes.
Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:32 pm
by digerjones
It's just something I wouldn't have thought about. I'm Normally faced with these problems and have to use what's about.
I agree with you I commend foureyes too, his family is more important than looking down a drain :laugh:
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 9:49 pm
by foureyes
Hi all, ok I've confirmed with an auger it is all clay to about 5 feet down in all parts of the garden. Also gotten around to finishing the dye in the drain test and luckily for me the single drain out back which the gutter uses DOES flow through into combined drain around the front of the house yay.
Plan now is to make a sump, run a few properly done lines into it, get a pump and take the excess out of the sump into that drain.
a couple of questions please:
A) ok to put the sump under the patio with an inspection hatch? might be too close to building perhaps (patio to be remade in near future anyway!
B) any suggestions of stuff i need to check next?!
cheers, Adam