Garden drainage

rockdrummer

This is my plan,

Dig trenches, about 3ft deep and 1.5ft wide strategically in the garden. Fill with gravel and topsoil of about 5 inches. Here are some pictures of the trenches, I just have to make them deeper...

Have a few questions?

1. After Im finished with the trenches Im planning to spray weed + feed + moss on the existing grass. Then sow the grass where the trenches are and any other patches around the garden. How long would I have to leave this stuff before sowing seed? would I be better off rotavating the whole lawn and starting from scratch?

2. How much would gravel for drainage be from say Roadstone. And how do i calculate how much I need?

Any advice would be great...

rockdrummer

OK just rang roadstone - €50 for 1 tonne which covers 10sq mtrs @ depth of 2 inches. How the hell do I figure out how much I need?

squire1

Ask and ye shall receive.

The master of all garden drainage threads.

www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054939061

€50 for a tonne of drainage stone:eek: Shop around. Pea gravel or maybe 0.5" chips should be fine.

rockdrummer

Cheers,

Yeah I've seen that thread, a little advanced for my needs. Any ideas on where else to source the gravel?

squire1

Your local builders providers or patio centre. That €50 you are being quoted is 80% delivery charge. It is cheaper to get it delivered loose rather than in bags if you can have it tipped in your driveway.

Quantity depends on volume. Work out the volume of the trench you need to fill and you need 2Tn for each m3 approx. I may be corrected on that but most builders providers would be able to tell you what tonnage will be needed if you give them the volume.

rockdrummer

Rang 2 local building providers and they both quoted the same - €50 and €54 per tonne of gravel.
Can anybody give me a name of a provider that is cheap !!

beolight

from second jpeg doesnt look like you have dug deep enough

to be really effective you need to keep digging ontill you break/remove the hardcore dead pan that is preventing garden draining properly, this will be a layer of black compacted soil get rid of that and you have won half the battle keep this compacted black soil seperate from the rest as you need to dump this

once you get rid of this fill the trenches up with water and see how long it takes to drain away

rockdrummer

Didnt read my plan, I said I have to dig deeper thats only the layout of the trenches....

rockdrummer

good idea to fill trenches with water and see how long they take to drain !!

beolight

actually i did read your plan to go 3 foot down:D first jpeg looked ok but second day jpeg told a different story;)

just use 3 foot as a guide you need to keep going until you hit the dead pan(this may be 2 foot or 5 foot down u never know) you will need a pick axe then if you have a kango use that like a spade much easier

once there do the water trick if it drains quickly viola you have solved problem in that particular spot only:) if takes forever to drain dig a bit more and test again then put in your drainage stone

to do this properly you should be using drainage pipe and digging your trenches in a herring bone fashion i.e at angles and running them all to a soakpit or ditch

rockdrummer

Is using piping not too much for such a small area? first jpeg gives an idea of how deep Im going to dig all trenches as I said: Here are some pictures of the trenches, I just have to make them deeper...

artieanna

I think you've got the idea you are creating drainage throughout the garden,
it would be no harm to do a water test, but once you add the gravel it will take away the water from the surface (thats what you want) and your lawn should be much drier and improved on the surface.

imho For such a small area you don't require piping or a soak pit you just want to improve and increase drainage...its not a large field...

Good luck with it!

beolight

would agree also with last poster probably overkill

on the otherhand if a jobs worh doing you may as well do it properly first time you have already dug the trenches adding a drainage pipe and soakpit along with the drainage stones might add a little bit more work but at least you will have it done now it would be heartbreaking if in a few months time the area is still water logged and your forced to dig again as a compromise forget about the herring bone layout just join both trenches

ask delly if he still has some drainage pipe left over from his project

then again if you just break up the hard pan you will probably be okay also:D

choices choices.... they never said it would be easy:D

rockdrummer

Cheers lads, thats my greatest worry - after all the hard work if it is not sufficient and the ground is still water logged. Gonna being building a patio later in summer on the walked parts of the garden, so both in combination should be sufficient - I HOPE !

A bit of a worry - as I was digging the trench closest to the house yesterday evening I came accross a few pipes, I punctured one ! Theirs no smell and their not much water in it. Could it be a drainage pipe?

Also in the same trench I came accross some water about a foot down - I looked around but could not find a pipe, where could this water have come from?

In both cases the trench runs parallel to the house and is about 4 foot from the house !!

Concerned about these, here's a few photos of what I mean. Any ideas?

beolight

re: burst pipe

you need to dig all around this pipe and either expose it fully to determine what exactly it is. with any luck you will find it is a bit of discarded pipe (builders are a very thoughtful buch) if part of drainage system try and find which way it is running(digging again:D ) if it is you need to find out if rainwater or sewage, get someone to flush the toileta few times,if sewge repair pipe properly if not see if its rainwater i.e locate rainwater gullies and run garden hose to it and turn it on

if its rainwater pipe you may have somewhere found a nice soakaway pit, i.e somewhere to connect your rainwater drainage pipes to ....not allowed really but ....

if none of the above you need to break hole open a bit more and see if any cables in it

repairing the pipe is easy so dont be afraid

more pictures this reminds me of my own back garden drainage project which i must finish:D

Re: puddle

this is more than likely still water that hasnt drained away indicating a hard pan that needs to be broken up

i.e dig deeper:D

rockdrummer

Hey thanks for the reply, will do test later today. Their are no cables in it and it doesnt stink so I dont think sewer ! It looks like drainage pipe, I only put a hole in the top of the pipe so I can get some repair stuff for this. Will have a look in hardware store later today...

Strange thing is I have 2 trenches running parallel to each other and the house, 1 about 4 ft from house the other about 8ft. I found the pipes in the one 4ft from house, but the one that is 8ft their are no pipes and this is deeper than other one. Where do the pipes go?

Could their be anymore pipes in the ground, am fearful about completing this project now !!

beolight

if its a working drain sewage or rainwater the repair stuff is not going to work, you will need to cut the pipe straight and put a joiner piece on it

more than likely it is just a piece of discarded pipe

dig all around it and find out

rockdrummer

Why would patch not work, its only a bit of the top of the pipe, water would run on the bottom of the pipe ?

beolight

probably will work maybe im being too finicky on commercial they would put concrete haunching around pipes(dry mixof concrete) before back filling

what if it fails?

i know i would rather do it right now when i have the chance and not have to worry about it

also if rainwater pipe i would put access joint on it to take drainage pipes

still think its only a piece of discarded pipe the trench doesnt look deep enough

dig around it

rockdrummer

I know the trench doesnt look deep enough - but as you say the shoddy work that is carried out these days who knows ?

Gonna carry out the few tests that you suggested this evening and see what happens... My guess is rainwater pipe !