Soil soultions

Previously I removed some grass and put down stones at edge of patio, since last summer it has been flooded with water it has started to drain away when we have a few days of no rain.

Recently found out the ground is clay so drainage is terrible.

Are there anyways of sorting drainage out before we lay the area with patio slabs?

I have no drain access at the back of the house, nearest drain is 10m away from where the problem area is, so land drain will be difficult as will have to remove old patio.

I heard that you can mix peat with the clay and that will help with drainage but will it work with laying a patio over the top.

Thanks

 

Even clay soil shouldn't be permanently flooded and not soak away. Of course in torrential rain it won't soak away fast enough and will flood, but that should soak away between downpours - even if it still remains "muddy" to walk on

Is it a new-ish build? It seems to be the case, more often than not, that builders wreck the drainage on sites these days and the gardens never recover.

Soak-away is the answer, but if the ground underneath won't soak away, then a soak-away won't help.

I don't think you can pipe surface water into a drain unless it is a storm drain ... and even then it may not be permitted (to add surface water drainage into existing drains)

 

Thanks for the reply, the property is not new build its about 30 years old. The rest of the garden is fine, the problem seems to be where we taken the grass away to put stones down. The water has been there since November and only started to go away this past two weeks.

 

This post I have added has pictures to show you.

Flooded Garden

 

I'd be inclined to dig a hole to see what was down there.
I had to get specific permission from SWW to add the rainwater from the extension roof to the storm water drain.
I suppose the other thing is; is that area the lowest point of the garden and/or your neighbours gardens so that they drain into that area.

 

both neighbours have decking over there area that is flooded in my garden. Speaking to a neighbour, they have had water problems previously and that was a reason for the decking. They also removed there grass for the whole garden and replaced with artificial.

 

Oh David. You are not alone. When motorways began to spring up in Britain. Even the greatest engineers fell short. Drains? what drains. Our fab, ever changing weather conditions soon changed that.

Forward to your garden. There are several kinds of land drainage to choose from. For the average garden. Observe where the rainwater tends to go. Now dig out , not too ddep a pathway -like strip, gradually sloping it down and away from the house and or patio. Then dig a sump. This is simply a squarish hole say 6x6x 6ft. Fill the hole with brick rubble and top over. This is the basic soak-away drain used for house and buildings to get rid or rain water.

 

Nigel. I have heard of this before. I used to visit an elderly gent who owned his own house and garden freehold etc. This was around the time when the various suggestions of us running out of water was, topic of the day.

He, although his garden was large but mainly grass. He had a great imagination if you get my drift. He decided to get some water butts and site them next to the downfall drain pipes. Using a now marketed drainpipe splitter, he planned to divert some of the rainfall into his butts. Daft old b...er contacted Thames Water. Wowee! Now Thames water has become th sole owner of the rains that fall from heaven. Oh how I would love to be in the High Court and listen to this battle.

 

To do a thorough, permanent job, you need to dig trenches in a fish-bone pattern, run perforated pipe in the trenches leading to a central collection point, either a soakaway or a pond. Sounds like a job for a mini-digger!