Outside drain query

mrs_slapshot

Hi. My house is about 18 years old, I've lived here for a couple of years. In my back garden there is no single outside drain, there's a gully next to the brickwork which has a pipe running along it with slits in it. I've just jet washed my patio and all the dirt clogged up this pipe and the water drained away slowly; I had to clear the muck out (yuck!). When I moved in there were some decorative stones covering this pipe (small ones) and I'm wondering if it would be ok to put stones over it again (as these have been cleared out now) or would this block it up? I've never known there to be no outside drain before, it seems really weird!
TIA

50Twuncle

Is the drain "surface water" or "dirty water" ie) Poo !!
Because you hear stories about new build properties with mis-connected drains / sewers !!

mrs_slapshot

It's surface water!

(Really mucky though after cleaning the patio...)

No-one have any advice? Please?!

roswell

It should be covered in gravel that pipe will lead to a proper drain somewhere. google French drains and see if that explains yours minus the gravel.

Davesnave

All surface grids like this let some muck through, so need cleaning eventually. We have one like you describe on the road outside.

Gravel on its own will fall through the slits, but larger pebbles might help keep it clearer. Alternatively, you could lay gravel on some black polypropylene netting and cover it that way, still achieving reasonable drainage.

Of course, in extreme rain, anything which filters is going to impede water collection, but only you can decide if that will result in a problem, or not.

mrs_slapshot

roswell wrote: »

It should be covered in gravel that pipe will lead to a proper drain somewhere. google French drains and see if that explains yours minus the gravel.

That's exactly it - thanks!

mrs_slapshot

Davesnave wrote: »

All surface grids like this let some muck through, so need cleaning eventually. We have one like you describe on the road outside.

Gravel on its own will fall through the slits, but larger pebbles might help keep it clearer. Alternatively, you could lay gravel on some black polypropylene netting and cover it that way, still achieving reasonable drainage.

Of course, in extreme rain, anything which filters is going to impede water collection, but only you can decide if that will result in a problem, or not.

Thanks - have got some larger pebbles to use.