Garage drain pipe overflowing

danrv

Hi
Any ideas on what type of drainage this might be?
The garage guttering is clear of debris but the at base of the down pipe, water backs up and starts to flood the area. This pipe connects to a square to round adapter at the base which then fits into a pipe in the ground. The guttering is full with water too. 

I did clear out some weeds from the pipe in the ground as far as I could but I think it’s blocked further down. It’s possibly a soakaway. 
Any help appreciated.

newatc

I had a similar problem with the assumption that our soakway was blocked and I asked a tradesman to quote for a new soakway. When he looked he suggested putting a rainwater barrel there to capture (and subsequently use) which would be much cheaper which is what we done.

EssexExile

The pipe underground is blocked, could be roots, ours was. A rainwater barrel will only take so much. If you were really naughty you could just put a spout on the bottom of the pipe and point it at the drive.

DRP

Have you tried clearing any silt at ground level?
i have a soak away from the 1930s that blocked and caused the down pipe to fill with water all the way up 2 storeys to the gutter.

I assumed the worst but lifting the downpipe and clearing out the silt with a trowel sorted it out very quickly.

FreeBear

DRP said: I have a soak away from the 1930s that blocked and caused the down pipe to fill with water all the way up 2 storeys to the gutter.

Similar age soakaway here (a brick lined chamber some 6 ft deep). The problem I had was pipes clogged by roots from a privet hedge. Hedge is now gone, and the pipes dug up & replaced. Also fitted a debris interceptor to the bottom of the downpipe to make it easier to clear out any crud. Also had a soakaway that was "constructed" in the 1970s for a garage roof. Totally clogged with roots & silt, it got dug out and replaced by a couple of storm crates. A second debris interceptor fitted, and I don't expect to have any problems with it in my lifetime.

Eldi_Dos

The issue may be more noticeable now you have took down your tree and it is not drawing moisture from that area.
Disconnect your square downpipe and push a couple of rods down round pipe and see how far they go and try to get a feel for what type of obstruction, ie soft muddy or dead stop.
Be prepared to do a bit of digging and if you are on clay soil not really a issue you can leave,now that tree is no longer there wicking the ground.

danrv

Well, I thought is was clear. Big chunk of compacted debris/leaves protruding from the ground pipe. Must be from the recently cut down Beech tree that hung over the garage.
The soakaway blockage is a seperate problem but the flooding will hopefully ease now with this blockage cleared.

danrv

Have unblocked what I can from the plastic pipe in the ground but need a suitable flexible tool or something to do anymore.
There’s about six inches of pipe then concrete pipe so it might be that it’s connected to the mains drainage system. 
The nearest drain cover is 13m away. 
Also could be root damage from a nearby conifer bush as the soil I’m removing has fine roots in it.
Testing it, water stays in the pipe for a long time so it needs unblocking. I may dig around the area to see what’s there.

Eldi_Dos

Hire or buy some drain rods and a double worm screw, rod from drain cover 13 mts away. The rods may have a flange that you can put a spanner on and rotate rods so that worm screw chews through blocked material.Try this before digging.

ThisIsWeird

danrv said:

Have unblocked what I can from the plastic pipe in the ground but need a suitable flexible tool or something to do anymore.
There’s about six inches of pipe then concrete pipe so it might be that it’s connected to the mains drainage system. 
The nearest drain cover is 13m away. 
Also could be root damage from a nearby conifer bush as the soil I’m removing has fine roots in it.
Testing it, water stays in the pipe for a long time so it needs unblocking. I may dig around the area to see what’s there.

I think worth excavating around that white pipe as it looks like just soil, so easy. See if there's a gulley trap there which should be easy to clean out. Rods are likely to shove half the debris down into the soakaway (or whatever it feeds in to).

danrv

Have dug a little bit away and there’s a stepped concrete surface or structure that the pipe connects to. Large roots from the Beech tree seem to have passed around it. Further digging is going to be hard work and probably won’t be of any benefit and a pro job would be expensive I would have thought.
It could be part of mains drainage as there’s concrete there. A soakaway would be further away from building foundations.