Soak-aways

[User]

 

[User6179]

I just dug a hole and filled it with all the stones I had sieved out the dirt when I was creating a lawn 3ft x 3ft x 3ft, it takes the water of one side of the garage roof which is about 16m2, works well

 

[sheddy]

how long have you got ?
http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain08.html#diy

 

[Levo-Lon]

All down to soil im afraid,clay just makes a pond.

If you can get to a decent sub soil or water table your sorted.

You could build a brick one with a pea gravel bottom then you can clean it out if it clogs.

 

[postman]

We had the same problem.All gardens in our street have clay soil.Our lawn at the bottom of the garden used to stink of wet all the time.So i dug it up.I dug nine deep holes,back filled with rubble,got someone in to edge it with pavers then filled the area with pea. gravel.Simple and effective solution to rain water and does not need cutting.

 

[Dave7]

I think our neighbour must have had a similar problem. He seems to have dug a hole about 6' x 2'.
Strange coincidence........I have not seen his wife since he dug it

 

[Salar]

Depends upon what type of property/ building. If it is for residential / commercial etc it needs to be designed to BRE Digest 365.
I've designed many over the years, not a five minute job and you need to do 24 hour percolation tests etc.

If it's just a garden shed an unscientific big hole + stone usually works!

 

[Beebo]

The one that our builder dug was filled with what looked like milk crates. Creating a cage like structure.

 

[Salar]

The one that our builder dug was filled with what looked like milk crates. Creating a cage like structure.

They are much more efficient than stone requiring a smaller hole to be dug..

 

[Globalti]

Yes we had to do that for our new factory mixing chemicals, right next to a small river. It was a hole the size of a swimming pool, lined with permeable membrane then filled with plastic crates and roofed over for the car park. The Victorians would have done it with elegant brick arches of course.

 

[screenman]

The one that our builder dug was filled with what looked like milk crates. Creating a cage like structure.

I was just

going to suggest that, somehow though I cannot imagine him paying out for them.

 

[Fnaar]

The one that our builder dug was filled with what looked like milk crates. Creating a cage like structure.

Archaeologists of the future are gonna be flipping confused

The Elizabethans of the 2000s occasionally tried to hold on to the dying tradition of what they probably called the 'milkyman'. These drove electric chariots, delivering the liquid from a cow's teat, for families to imbibe in a long-forgotten ceremony. The milkyman also occasionally would claim a due, intercoursing with the female whilst the male was away doing 'work'. This particular milkyman, probably buried as a king, was, we think, called Ernie. It is thought that, in the west, his chariot was capable of greater velocity than others'.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Depends what you are getting to achieve its this just a waterlogged lawn, rainwater off a roof?

 

[Heltor Chasca]

To ease your anxiety: Change your terminology to ‘land drain’ or ‘French drain’. It really isn’t rocket science and they work brilliantly.

There are regs now for gutters and the like.

 

[Archie_tect]

I wouldn't start from here.... give it a go, 1mx1mx1m, lined with the membrane and backfilled. It will work unless it's a heavy clay subsoil, [in which case it will just fill up and then overspill downhill], if it doesn't work then do something else!