# Garden Flooding Issue - Help Required



## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

Since I bought the house I've noticed a small issue...... Ok a big issue with drainage in the back garden. The previous owner deemed it fit to stone over flags and put decking over them to so my garden floods rather bad as the pictures below show.









Basically the lawn seems to have a high spot so the complete outer edge floods, along with the path and under the shed. I cant do much about the shed as Ill be dammed if I am moving that again. I didn't know about this issue when I got the shed but put it on stilts anyway - good job I did :lol: But the ground is full of clay!

I have removed the bushes at the back of the garden as they where just spiked bushes and a utter pain for the dog (when he was alive) and with us as with kellys god daughter playing in the back garden kept getting pricked with them as they went through your shoes! Surely this wouldn't make much difference to the soaking up of the water!

The last picture above is below the decking and the water sitting on top of the flags for reference.

My plan (tell me if I am thinking wrong here) is to lift most of the decking up and smash the flags up getting rid of them. I then plan to dig a pit and stone it to make a drainage hole / soak away to help water collect elsewhere.

Any other ideas?

As for the front. I cant do to much as its stone and sand at the moment. Ive not really thought about this one yet but its not so much of a big deal as a car parks on it fine :chin:




Unless you can suggest anything?

Many Thanks

Kev


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## Deniance (Jun 28, 2008)

Dunno, but that amount of water around your foundations cant be good! Jesus wept!


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## Deniance (Jun 28, 2008)

He hasnt lumped loads of cement and concrete under those stones has he?, you never know what some people do!


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

I would think you need to find out what's underneath your lawn, decking and stones in the front. Looking at the pics your neighbours garden doesn't seem to flood which makes me think it's something the previous owner has done to cause the issue.


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Drainage gulley into a soakaway out the back, probably worth having drainage holes put into the soil too 

I'd put a gulley out the front too, between stones and driveway. Big stone patches do have a tendency to hold water, any idea what's under it ?


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

Deniance said:


> He hasnt lumped loads of cement and concrete under those stones has he?, you never know what some people do!


No idea but it maybe a membrane under the stones in the back which isnt letting water through at all.



m4rkymark said:


> I would think you need to find out what's underneath your lawn, decking and stones in the front. Looking at the pics your neighbours garden doesn't seem to flood which makes me think it's something the previous owner has done to cause the issue.


Neighbours is ok but he has had alot of work done previously. Im not sure whats under the stones think i best get digging tbh



Clancy said:


> Drainage gulley into a soakaway out the back, probably worth having drainage holes put into the soil too
> 
> I'd put a gulley out the front too, between stones and driveway. Big stone patches do have a tendency to hold water, any idea what's under it ?


No idea as above whats under the stones may see if i can get a pipe to a drain or something


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

Yeah have a look what's under the stones front and back mate 

I recon out the back it could be a concrete path that's just been stoned over as it's holding loads of water. They shouldn't of put a dpm under it and it probably wouldn't hold the water that we'll if they had , maybe a weed membrane but that wouldn't stop water


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## wlmoate (Nov 29, 2014)

A soak away may be a waste of time. For it to work you will need a low water table and its efficiency is controlled by the soil type.

Try the simple things like removing any objects that restrict water soaking away E.G as mentioned those flags and any PVC weed block under the gravel


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

You need to make sure that flooding is not above your damp proof course or you'll end up with a problem indoors too !

As above if you think the problem lies beneath the decking then you'll need to bite the bullet and lift it out. 

If the fill is mainly loose gravel which the pictures imply the. I don't think that's the cause of the issue. 

You may want to get the drains and any soaks ways checked for blockages. You might find this is the result a blocked pipe from down pipe for example

Ps hope you get it sorted, good luck !


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## james_death (Aug 9, 2010)

you should have two full brick courses between ground and damp cause this to reduce volume of water splashed back onto bricks in heavy rain.

As others say could be rubble etc causing water build up.... would not worry about dpc unless height of the garden has been raised.

If its clay you will always have issues unless you can afford a huge excavation and replacement soil.

For the lawn try sticking a garden fork to the hilt all over it to aid drainage but if clay it will have negligible results.

Even with a good soil you can still get heavy bouts of rain that over power its drainage ability. 

The more drainage the better even concrete is not such an issue as long as well planed with appropriate run off drainage.

Looked at pics again and your dpc looks to be 2.5 bricks above the stones that are flooding.


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## graham1970 (Oct 7, 2012)

As Alfa suggests get the drains checked,a camera survey could save you a lot of time and graft.if there are no other properties in the area affected like yours the standing water won't be due to a high water table.
How long does it take to drain?


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## turbosnoop (Apr 14, 2015)

We are on clay soil here. The drainage is crap. Slowly overtime doing things to make Improvements. Have took away various slabs and put stones in there place with a membrane (proper one). The additional kick in the balls with clay soil is that soak aways don't really work as concentrating a lot of water in one place means it will take ages to drain away. 

Decking, done well, can be good as its lifts you up off the boggy ground whilst allowing the water to soak away through stones underneath. 

One thing you can do is buy some sand and dig up the worst bits of your soil and mix sand in with it. The sand helps turn it into a more absorbent soil. 
Stating the obvious but water always wants to get to the lowest point, remember this. The concrete drive probably doesn't help as waters running off it into the stones, could they be topped up or the depth increased from the bottom, or at least rake the stones from any high spots back down into the low spots. Let us know how you get on.


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## philbfc (Sep 21, 2014)

Have a search on google for a french drain. 
However you'll need somewhere to connect it.
Put one in my garden as i had similar issues, now no problems.


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## isctony (Sep 24, 2008)

Any update on this? Would be interested to know how you are getting on and what you have found out.


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

Firstly I apologise for the delay as just after this was posted my dad passed away so lifes been in the way but I am back onto this now.



graham1970 said:


> As Alfa suggests get the drains checked,a camera survey could save you a lot of time and graft.if there are no other properties in the area affected like yours the standing water won't be due to a high water table.
> How long does it take to drain?


Takes ages to drain example the weather we had the other month was manic rain for a week then 2 weeks of extremely hot weather and sun. It didnt dry out it was nearly 3-4 weeks before you could walk on the grass fully.



turbosnoop said:


> One thing you can do is buy some sand and dig up the worst bits of your soil and mix sand in with it. The sand helps turn it into a more absorbent soil.
> Stating the obvious but water always wants to get to the lowest point, remember this. The concrete drive probably doesn't help as waters running off it into the stones, could they be topped up or the depth increased from the bottom, or at least rake the stones from any high spots back down into the low spots. Let us know how you get on.


Front isnt a massive issue that drains really fast but rear is stupid as per above. Ive been mixing sharp sand in the lawn but to no avail. Forking it (oh matron!) alot and nothing has changed.



philbfc said:


> Have a search on google for a french drain.
> However you'll need somewhere to connect it.
> Put one in my garden as i had similar issues, now no problems.


See below Id be interested in your thoughts



isctony said:


> Any update on this? Would be interested to know how you are getting on and what you have found out.


Well see below.

re visiting this as well I want to enjoy the garden more. I had a quote for £3.5k plus to basically put a big soak away in and re do the garden which I didn't think was to bad but thinking about it I would like to do something myself.

So looking into it I think a big sump pit at the lowest point near the shed would be a massive improvement with a French drain by using something like this -










So in short dig a great big hole, bottom of the hole loads of stones, then like a membrane around the sump liner in the hole thus allowing water in but keeping soil etc out. Stones around this to allow water to run around.

In the sump Ill have a sump pump so once the level gets high it will pump the water out down a tube somewhere less of a issue.

Now what I cant fathom is 2 things.

1. If I have a run off down the path that floods that's a solid pipe from the sump how do I get other standing water areas into said sum or with the sump being at the lowest point would nature take over and the water head to the sump as its draining???

2. With the hard pipe taking the water away in theory could I have another larger diameter pipe that has holes in angled to the sump to allow water to drain into it and then the water goes down to the sump to go into the other pipe to go away??

The pipes would be in a trench with stones and a membrane again.

How plausible do you think this idea is realistically :fish:

Here is a video of what I was thinking

The sump and how it would work -






With aspects of this -


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

What is under the stones in the back garden ? If you put a storage sump at the lowest point in the garden the water will naturally end up there you won't need to direct it. You may need to collect and direct the water from the stone area however

Also so you are aware a soakaway has to be 5m from a boundary or structure if you end up down that road. The storage sump is basically an attenuation tank which I think falls under the same rules but not 100%. Where would you discharge the stored water too ?


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

Clancy said:


> What is under the stones in the back garden ? If you put a storage sump at the lowest point in the garden the water will naturally end up there you won't need to direct it. You may need to collect and direct the water from the stone area however
> 
> Also so you are aware a soakaway has to be 5m from a boundary or structure if you end up down that road. The storage sump is basically an attenuation tank which I think falls under the same rules but not 100%. Where would you discharge the stored water too ?


Under the stones is just soil / clay so nothing. I will look into the sump and boundary issues cheers


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

Looks and sounds like my garden, clay is a nightmare. Mines a swamp 90% of the year.


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## Alfa male (Jun 16, 2009)

I know lots of people who have had filter drain systems put in to solve this very issue, with the outlet connected to the foul sewer run to avoid soak aways. 

Totally illegal, works a treat and very difficult to detect the connection when all covered up !! Clearly I'm not endorsing this suggestion in the slightest.


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## Kiashuma (May 4, 2011)

I was going to do this, didnt know it was illegal, better not.


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

Alfa male said:


> I know lots of people who have had filter drain systems put in to solve this very issue, with the outlet connected to the foul sewer run to avoid soak aways.
> 
> Totally illegal, works a treat and very difficult to detect the connection when all covered up !! Clearly I'm not endorsing this suggestion in the slightest.


No agree my mrs dad did the same when the house was built. Will see what I can do though


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## jj9 (Jun 11, 2015)

All the info you need can be found at the site below... :thumb:

http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm

Cheers.


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## Kev_mk3 (Sep 10, 2007)

Well little update (pictures to follow)

I have dug a hole in what seems to be the lowest area in the garden in front of the shed. 2 ft square hole and 2 ft deep dug. I covered it up and left it.

Last night it hammered with rain, garden didn't flood and the hole was full of water

So now I've shown that works I need to figure out

1. how to drain the water into the drain etc

2. If to use a pump or gravity?

3. What to line the hole once its a lot bigger / deeper


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