Drainage help for my garden please (pictures) 20 January 2021 at 11:11AM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 16 replies 671 views

crai

HI all
I moved into my house around 2 years ago and when it rains moderately it is a nightmare. We had a storm over the last couple of days and this is the remnants.


As you can see the sides are covered in water. Where the dark brown boards are, I dug a hole about 1/2 metre down as I thought this may provide somewhere for the water to drain. Obviously this hasnt worked well, but it is ok when it rains lightly as water isnt visible around the sides. The plan was/is to cover these boards with stone. Would it be be better to fill in the hole beneath these boards with aggregate/stones?.


My garden is fully clay soil and its not level. Dipping in the part where you can see the puddle near the camera on the photo with the slide. Which is probably contributing to the problem. Can anyone provide any help/ideas on how to fix/limit this issue?

My neighbours to the side both have paved/turf gardens and do not have any problems, even in heavy rain!

There is no water build it near/around the house but I would like to get it sorted as soon as possible. Any helpful comments please? 

Thank you all.

crai

Here is a photo of the garden from upstairs. As you can see neighbour to the right has raised beds/atrificial lawn. No grass. Neighbour to the left has same type of thing. 

Farway

Is your garden a bit lower than the neighbours then?

If so that explains it, you are their solution to poor drainage

You are on clay so as far as I can tell raising the level is the only way, if you put drainage in your have to get the water to go somewhere, and your neighbours gardesn will not thank you

A large hole with shingle would become a sump with nowhere to drain to given it's clay

The waterlogged boards on the right could be raised, which would hide the water but not solve it

Not sure I can offer any better advice, maybe someone else has more ideas?

Have a look here to see what was there before your house, was it a pond or marshes maybe?

https://maps.nls.uk/

The side by side is useful, old against now

crai

Farway said:

Is your garden a bit lower than the neighbours then?

If so that explains it, you are their solution to poor drainage

You are on clay so as far as I can tell raising the level is the only way, if you put drainage in your have to get the water to go somewhere, and your neighbours gardesn will not thank you

A large hole with shingle would become a sump with nowhere to drain to given it's clay

The waterlogged boards on the right could be raised, which would hide the water but not solve it

Not sure I can offer any better advice, maybe someone else has more ideas?

Have a look here to see what was there before your house, was it a pond or marshes maybe?

https://maps.nls.uk/

The side by side is useful, old against now

Thank you for your help. Yes both of their gardens are slightly raised. So in the summer I will be levelling my garden and raising it also, and putting turf down with gravel/sand drainage underneath. If anyone has any other ideas please comment.

SootySweep1

Hi
We have flooding issues in our garden due to there being a very high water table where we are.
We've put soakaways in but the only real solution we've found is to raise the height of the garden above the water table.
Jen.

twopenny

With paving and artificial grass there is nothing elsewhere to absorb the water and it has to go somewhere.

It's possible that the raised beds are also draining under the fence.

Is the whole lawn sodden (I know stupid quesiton in this weather) but usually after ordinary rain?

And does it dry out after ordinary rain?

Apodemus

Raising the level of the lawn very slightly would seem to be a good move, but I think I'd also consider creating a drainage pond/bog garden in the back right corner.  If you were not on clay it would be relatively easy to put the two jobs together and move material from the corner and spread it on the lawn, but that might not be so easy in your situation.

Davesnave

Your neighbours' gardens are using yours as a drainage sump. The only answer is to make your garden at least as high as theirs and incorporate plenty of gravel to make drying out  somewhat quicker, but it looks like drainage will remain tricky. Don't underestimate the amount of material you will require. This isn't a job for a few bags of stuff from B&Q!

twopenny

The problem with a pond or swamp is there are small children in a small space.
Even a covered pond not a good idea as they will find a way under it if not watched.

Davesnave

Ponds of the wildlife variety are no threat to kids. If a hedgehog can get out....

They never do it twice either; mine will attest to that!

The sort of pond that kills children is the sunken barrel and similar things, including water butts.

However, I think the OP wants to maximise the usable space here, as it's clearly a 'shared' garden!

wort

I would look into getting proper drainage pipework put in, before relaying the lawn etc.