garden drainage

[Cuprager]

Hi All,

I have just moved into a new house, there is a nice block paved drive leading into a block paved patio at the rear of the house, the patio is one block higher than the drive so you step up onto it.. The problem is that the person who laid the blocks didn't put the correct fall on them so water pools on the rear patio. They did ensure that there was adequate fall away from the house though so the water isn't sitting against it.

I need to think about putting in proper drainage, I was thinking of a gully in the middle of the block paved patio (where the water pools) that leads onto some drainage pipe that i would install down the side of the house under the block drive and connect it to the rainwater downpipe at the front of the house. I am thinking that lifting the soldier course of blocks that rests against the side of the house would be easiest.

I want the guly that I put into the middle of the blocks to be able to cope with another drainage connection from the garden at a later date since that seems quite water logged.

Questions...

Does this arrangement sound sensible?

Will the existing downpipe drain handle the extra water that is going to be added to it?

How deep would i need to bury the drain pipe?

Is it a DIY job to connect this new drainpipe into the existing rainwater downpipe?

Should I use perforated or solid pipe - thinking that this pipe will be laid very close to the side of the house.

What else do i need to think about?

TIA

Gerry

[R]

Cut last row before the step and install some ACO drain feeding down the side to your existing drain or a soakaway ?

[Cuprager]

Thanks for the suggestion, however I don't need a grated drain on the driveway so I would be reluctant to put one in due to the cost of the things. I was thinking along the lines of drainpipe / perforated flexi pipe etc that could be buried in the drive and the blocks reinstated over the top of it...

[Cuprager]

Does nobody have any suggestions?

[Roger]

The message from Cuprager contains these words:

snip problem

Sounds like hard work, particularly if you want invisible joins where the reinstated blocks go.

How long is a piece of string? That depends on what your rainwater drain is connected to and the surface area of both the roof it drains atm and the area you intend to add. Patios tend to be quite small but even small gardens (if you ever make that third connection) tend to be larger than the roof.

At least some rain goods manufacturers quote the capacity of their downpipes on their website but if the ultimate connection is to a soakaway the capacity may well be smaller at that end and very difficult to test prior to doing the work.

You mean how shallow don't you? You are constrained by the depth of the existing drain at point of connection. If you go deeper at any point you are installing a non accessible silt trap which will be much more prone to silting up than a gully.

Probably. If it is a modern plastic pipe surrounded by earth, sand or gravel certainly although you will need slip collars to put in the branch unless the existing gully is temporarily removed. If it is glazed earthenware encased in concrete it might be too daunting for most people.

Perforated pipe needs to be laid surrounded by pea gravel or similar if it is to function as intended. Doubles the cost of the materials (and some) even though the trench can still be a shovel width or even a spade width wide. Unless you actually need the ground water drainage stick to unperforated. Apart from anything else at low flow rates the water flows through the gravel beneath rather than the pipe itself.

Perforated pipe under 4" diameter can be had but is not easily available. When I put in a french drain round my barn I stuck with 4" rather than go to the trouble of ordering more than double the length of

3" (50 metres minimum order IIRC) than I actually needed for the job in hand.

Relaying the patio to eliminate the puddle.

Building regulations if the drain leads to a public sewer (or perhaps even if it doesn't).

Obviously not. However now I have taken the plunge someone else will be along in a minute to point out how wrong I am. :-)

[Cuprager]

It is a 3 bed detached house so the roof is a fair size but not huge.

Some investigatory digging will be required then to determine if the levels will suit the run of pipe.

Noted.

I think that this may be the better (easier) option.

Thanks.

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