Waterlogged Area

koalamummy

I live in a street at the very top of a hill and my house and garden is at the highest point of the street yet an area of my garden is constantly waterlogged. Strangely this is also at the highest part of garden on the primeter at the side of my house. The rest of the garden slopes downwards both to the front and rear of the house. Our soil is clay so I would expect it to be damp but this is ridiculous! It has so far sunk several inches and the turf has disappeared. This area is also in full sunlight all day long. The area is a perfect arc shape if that gives anybody any ideas?

I have tried digging in sharp sand and gravel, 2 tonnes of each so far to no avail. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Savvy_Sue

Are you in an area where mining was carried out in the past?

Is there a possibility of a burst pipe under the area?

Have you had a surveyor or structural engineer take a look?

Gigervamp

Might be an idea to ask over on the Greenfingered forum.

koalamummy

I am in an area that was formerly heavily mined but our coal board report came back clear for this area. I appreciate that these are not always accurate, which now thinking about it has given me something to really panic about!

This was former farm land until my street was built here and there are no houses to that side of us at all and never has been, just lots of plants and a barrier fence to prevent access to a stream that runs under the entrance to the street. this stream has banks which have at least a 15ft drop before you would be at the water level so I doubt that that has any involvement. Our mains water supply feeds in at the opposite side of the house so I don't think it is a burst pipe as there would be no reason at all for one to be there.

Nobody has been to look at it yet as to be honest I had no idea of who to contact to look at it as I have never seen anything like this before.

koalamummy

Gigervamp wrote: »

Might be an idea to ask over on the Greenfingered forum.

I did ask over there too but I am just trying to gain as much input as possible and the wide range of knowledge and experience found on this board often astounds me I am hoping that somebody somewhere has experienced something similar and could share their experience as at the moment I am worried about what exactly is causing this, and I am aware that it probably needs fixed urgently, but I haven't actually got a clue what it is that needs fixed or who to approach to do it if that makes any sense?

faerie~spangles

I could be way off the mark...

The mining left voids.

Water finds its own level.

Savvy_Sue

Thinking about who to consult, when was your street built, and by whom? If in the last 10 years, I'd try to get in touch with the builder / developer. Who did your survey? Get advice from them, or ask for a professional recommendation. You could do worse than phone the local council, planning dept might know what kind of professional input you need.

Probably not much you can do before Monday though ...

How large is this area? The 'perfect arc' suggests a 'feature' from when it was farmland, but no idea what that might be. You say no reason for a water pipe to be there, but maybe there was a water pipe out to a field for watering animals.

It could be a combination of mining and farming, of course ... ground sinks, previously capped off pipe bursts ...

averagemummy

I used to work for a water company - sounds like it's either a burst pipe (only seeping through, you may not notice the drop in pressure) or it could be a natural spring underground that it now finding it's way up to the surfaces, especially if there are some cavities in the ground from mining

koalamummy

Our house is only 20 months old, however now that we have paid for the house our builders, ( a large national company) seem harder to contact than Lord Lucan! I will contact our solicitor as I can't find our copy of the survey and I can't remember who did the survey. I will call the council on monday too for advice on who I should contact as I am very worried about any potential danger that this may pose.

The arc runs for just over 10m along our boundary fence, and at its widest point stretches just under 4m into our garden. It gets wetter and deeper the further in from the edge that you stand and has pools of water in the centre.

I am happy to pay to have it fixed whenever I find out what the actual problem is, but until that point I am too worried to let my children out in the garden.

koalamummy

averagemummy wrote: »

I used to work for a water company - sounds like it's either a burst pipe (only seeping through, you may not notice the drop in pressure) or it could be a natural spring underground that it now finding it's way up to the surfaces, especially if there are some cavities in the ground from mining

This area has an abundance of natural springs in it so that is a definite possibility. Would this cause the land to sink? Do I contact my local water company to investigate this, or if I have to do it privately do you have any idea of who I could contact?

averagemummy

If it' s a natural spring the water company probably won't want to know. I would try to get them to rule out a burst pipe though. Does your water pipe run in from there or the front (it's more likely to be the front, where is your water meter?) You could ask if a technician (sp) could come out and check for a burst pipe in the area.