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.

rabidbun

Is it possible there is a leaking pipe, hence the arc shape radiating out from a leak?

Davesnave

A leaking mains is tops in my book too, especially as you're experiencing subsidence. It would be worth checking this out with the water authority ASAP.

koalamummy

I will call our water authority on monday and ask them if they will look at it. I might struggle to convince them though as our water is drawn from the mains on the opposite side of the house and there is nothing at all besides some plants and a barrier fence to the affected side. The barrier is there to prevent access to a stream that runs under the end of the street which has very steep banks with an almost straight drop of approx 15ft to the water level.

Davesnave

koalamummy wrote: »

The barrier is there to prevent access to a stream that runs under the end of the street which has very steep banks with an almost straight drop of approx 15ft to the water level.

You live on top of a hill with a stream? Doesn't happen.....unless of course there's another higher hill beyond you, in which case all kinds of other possibilities, like springs, old drainage courses, mine workings etc come into play.

koalamummy

Yes odd as it sounds this is actually the case!!! Said stream appears from absolutely nowhere at the far side of our street about 1ft below normal ground level on the edge of a field, Its watercourse would appear to drop dramatically somewhere beneath the road as at the far side of the road it is substantially lower as I explained approximately 15ft lower. This is definitely a stream as we have checked and it is detailed as such on OS maps. I was initially of the same mindset as yourself and was convinced that it was simply part of the farmers land drainage system. My husband however always ascertained that it was in fact a stream, and was proved right

The next nearest hill which is admittedly higher than where we are is about 2 miles away across level farmland and a large busy road.

I am beginning to accept the possibility that it may be a spring as this whole region has lots of them. If this turns out to be the case then I will just need to remember to be thankful that it is not directly beneath my house, as there is a street near my parents with an odd large gap in the middle of it which was filled at one time by two buildings of semi detached houses. These were knocked down not long after completion as apparently they were built on a natural spring which caused them to be too unsafe to inhabit and had to be demolished. Oddly they too were at the top of a hill?

Davesnave

We are on top of a ridge, but there's a slightly higher part to this ridge to the west of us, so although that doesn't seem much, quite a bit of ground water still comes our way.

The spring has likely been culverted under the road, or like the houses you mention, no road!

I would try to get some expert advice on this to ascertain that there's no risk to your house, then either "go with the flow" and make a pond/boggy area or maybe explore the feasibility of installing a French drain.

dug123

Rice sounds the obvious answer