Percolation Tests

kormak

Howdy Folks...
I'm back to pick your brains again!
myself & my partner are now contemplating applying for a 3rd time to the council for planning.
At this stage, I have been accepted for local needs, access, house design.
But in the last refusal my site's soil test went against me.
The site itself can be sometimes a little wet, but I would put this down to improper and neglected drains that border the field at either end.
I got a soil test done on it last year and it recorded a
P-Value of 35 and it's T Value was 81.
However the eng. decided only to do one drop on the T as it possibly would have gone above 90 if 2 were tested.
The frustrating thing is that none of this was even mentioned in my first application!
however in my 2nd app, the planner deemed this to be a fail.
We are proposing to install a BAF wastewater treatment system, which I believe doesn't even require a huge amount of soakage?
It was also noted by the percolation eng.s that we would import soil and carry out all essential site works if planning is granted.
This app was in Meath, who's CoCo don't essentially stick with present EPA guidelines, but rather have their own standards (requiring a t value of under 50)
We have decided anyhow to give it another shot.... :mad:
This time digging, deepening and rejuvenating the 2 drains and hope we get some sort of dry weather, to dry out the site as much as possible.
Then carry out another soil test and see what result we can achieve.

Has anyone any advice they can shed on the scenario?
We were contemplating getting the whole site properly ploughed, drained, etc... but it was believed that this might take alot of time, money, etc...
and it might be just as good to at least get the drains in working order again.
(I will add the soil testers advised on inspection they appeared to be in poor condition)
Do you think this rejuvination will help the field significantly??
Also... I'd imagine every field in the country is suffering from water logging at this point with our sh!te weather, surely the councils are aware of this??

anyhow: Thanks in advance.

Builderfromhell

The best thing you can do is get someone qualified as a site suitability assessor to look at the site, evaluate it and then give advice.
No one on this forum can advise on site suitabilty without doing a thorough site evaluation.

kormak

well yeah...
the company that's carrying out my Percolation Reports are essentially site advisers too?
Are you saying i should get an independent one?

eoinzy2000

Everything can be engineered. If your site soil fails the test, you can import good quality soil to a required depth beneath percolation pipework. Your original site assessor should have made these recommendations, conditional on a retest on imported soils, and your engineer should adopt the provisions/requirements on the planning documentation and drawings.

DOCARCH

Mod Note: I am sure after 8 years the OP is sorted! @eoinzy2000 - don't 'grave dig' old threads. Thanks