Wet Lawn issue

noviceman1

Hi,

I have an issue with my front lawn which is about 2 years old that you may be able to help me with. When the builder was here, he dug a huge hole in the middle of the future front lawn and buried loads of rubble, now there is no drainage underneated this area atall, and the lawn constantly gets flooded with our irish weather. Last Summer, it was more like a lake than a lawn, there is even rushes growing there now.

What I was thinking of doing, was digging a hole again in the worst affected area and fillling this up with stones so that it will a soak pit of sorts. The soil also when it went in was very wet initially and I don't think that helped, so was then going to re-fill it with decent top soil.

My worry with this approach is that even after putting in the stones, there still won't be drainage because of the rubble underneath, I really don't know if this is the correct approach or if I should have a soak pit in field on edge of lawn and drainage pipes running into this from lawn. Second option is obviously more hassle and more expensive, but will first method work, what do people think?

Sonnenblumen

Another idea might be to think of other alternatives to a lawn.

stackerman

noviceman1 wrote: »

Hi,

I should have a soak pit in field on edge of lawn and drainage pipes running into this from lawn. Second option is obviously more hassle and more expensive, but will first method work, what do people think?

If it was me, I'd do both.
Dig out the crap the builder put in
Put in small soak hole with an overflow into the field, with a second small soak hole if needed (depending on levels and amount of water).
Might also be worth taking topsoil from field and replace soil in garden.
Make sure you put membrane over soak hole before you put soil back !
Prob not what you want to hear , but best job and should not cost too much more as you are going to have to get in a machine anyway.

Scottie99

If the builder is still in business maybe you should call this crowd about his illegal dumping http://www.epa.ie/

Problem sorted and a new lawn:D

bbam

keving wrote: »

If it was me, I'd do both.
Dig out the crap the builder put in
Put in small soak hole with an overflow into the field, with a second small soak hole if needed (depending on levels and amount of water).
Might also be worth taking topsoil from field and replace soil in garden.
Make sure you put membrane over soak hole before you put soil back !
Prob not what you want to hear , but best job and should not cost too much more as you are going to have to get in a machine anyway.

I wouldn't dig out rubble if thats what he put in...
Regarding an overflow into the field, I wold be careful runing water from your site into a farmers field unless it is going into a drain, he may not like his field getting wet.
If there is a drain you don't need soakholes, ask the farmer first and run some drainage channels from the drain in the field into the garden wet-spots..

To be honest there is no easy remedy for this probelm, it will take digging, drainage pipe and stone...

foxinsox

Did you watch Super Garden on RTE 1 last night? It seems to be similar predicament to your garden. I'm sure it's probably on RTE player, it might give you and idea of what needs to be done.

I'm no expert on drainage or digging large holes in gardens so please check out all options! :rolleyes:

doolox

It is possible that the builder allowed heavy machinery to cross your lawn and compacted the soil leading to your problem now. This is common in many estates in Ireland, Also the dumping and seeding over of rubble, loose wire etc is very common and very annoying when you have to dig them all out again.
I had similar trouble with a house in Galway 20 yrs ago and had to hand dig out all the back lawn to avoid the back of the house becoming flooded. The amount of bricks, blocks, steel bindings, bits of pallets etc that i had to dig out was unbelieveable. I then had to get ina lot of stones to make soak-holes to sort out the problem.

stackerman

bbam wrote: »

I wouldn't dig out rubble if thats what he put in...
Regarding an overflow into the field, I wold be careful runing water from your site into a farmers field unless it is going into a drain, he may not like his field getting wet.
If there is a drain you don't need soakholes, ask the farmer first and run some drainage channels from the drain in the field into the garden wet-spots..

To be honest there is no easy remedy for this probelm, it will take digging, drainage pipe and stone...

Well I did assume that the OP owned the field too, because of the way he refered to it. Too often Ive seen all sorts dumped into 'the hole', plastic, plaster board etc. I would def dig down and have a look, and you can be certain the builder didnt put membrain over his dump :mad:. Soil compaction as stated before is a common prob, but this sounds more serious.
Plenty of good points made by all, but only the OP who knows the site, can decide on the right option.

Best of luck

noviceman1

thanks to all of you for your replies. I have thought of other option than lawns, but that's not what I asked here. As for field, it is my father-in-laws field, so I could put soak pit in there if neccesary, no drains around really to drain into.

The issue is both compacted soil and lots of rubble underneath it, including all of the stuff you mentioned. So, I guess I'm really going back to my original question, which wasn't really answered. What I was planning on doing was just digging out the compacted\bad soil, not the rubble, putting in a membrane, as you guys suggested, then covering with stone and fresh top soil and re-seeding. Would this act as a soak pit do people think?

Must check out that programme on player

Waffle

here's a suggestion -

Pick a spot. Dig a hole and test the drainage - if there is no visible lowering of the water level after 24 hours then keep digging. (Mine was about 4 feet deep as this stage)
Line bottom and sides with landscape fabric (mypex?). Fill with clean stone - the larger the better, but anything will do. Cover with same fabric. Top soil on top.

This might be enough if it's the low point of garden, but i'd create at least a few channels into it (the channels are easy by comparison anyway - and if there are only a few short channels, you could probably get away without the piping)

You can keep soil if it looks half decent and mix it with compost,peat, sand or something to improve structure, before putting it back down.

noviceman1

good suggestion, thanks. i was thinking of putting some drain channels into it aswell as you suggested...

I'm not really sure what you guys mean by membrane or mypex or landscape fabric, i must go in to hardware shops and have a look at the different options and see what's there, because I'm a bit ignorant to what ye're talking about there to be honest

goat2

Waffle wrote: »

here's a suggestion -

Pick a spot. Dig a hole and test the drainage - if there is no visible lowering of the water level after 24 hours then keep digging. (Mine was about 4 feet deep as this stage)
Line bottom and sides with landscape fabric (mypex?). Fill with clean stone - the larger the better, but anything will do. Cover with same fabric. Top soil on top.

This might be enough if it's the low point of garden, but i'd create at least a few channels into it (the channels are easy by comparison anyway - and if there are only a few short channels, you could probably get away without the piping)

You can keep soil if it looks half decent and mix it with compost,peat, sand or something to improve structure, before putting it back down.

i did same as this person
it worked

Waffle

I'm not really sure what you guys mean by membrane or mypex or landscape fabric

its simply a material which will allow water through, but will keep the soil out.
Same stuff as used as weed control under decking and around plants.
Keeping soil out allows a void to be maintained around the stones, which will fill with water during heavy rain. The pit can then act as both a sump and soakpit when the rate of drainage is less than rainfall.

Go into a gardening centre or agri store. They will cut any length and charge by meter. Alternatively, woodies sell them in packaged rolls - usually 1mX20m

noviceman1

ah thank you, well explained, hence the reason you say to put it all around the stone, and you know what I have a huge roll of it behind my garage that my sister in law had left over...

will try that

noviceman1

so, i've been surveying my options out there just now and think i have a plan, i have lots of stones of varying sizes, someone mentioned i should use the bigger the better, I have some huge ones, they might take two to lift, are they too big and i have more of say 12 to 13' squared and then more like 5 to 6' squared. Does it really matter or will i just shove them all in, i guess i'm asking is there a stone that is too big?

Waffle

nah. chuck 'em in. good way to get rid of them. Not going to make much difference tbh