lawn drainage in cork

confusedeire

I'm getting sick of my back garden being contently wet a sludgy even when it didn't rain for a few days. so i think its time i start to make a move on it. only thing is i don't know where to start.

cost is the biggest issue with the job so i think a landscaper is out. does anyone know how much this should cost me?
the grass area is not that big about 160m2 but would i be mad 2 have a shot at digging the drains and soak away myself by hand?

where would i get the pea gravel needed for the drains and drainage pipe?

where would i get the membrane for around the pea gravel in the drains?

would i need to put the membrane in the soak-away?

what's the best material to use in the soak-away?

can i run the water that runs off the footpath in to the garden to the soak-away also or would i be better to divert that drain to the same drains as downpipes?

when i'm finished all that maybe next year.... where could i buy the roll on turf?

any recommendations of places the get this stuff in cork? or any tips on doing this job are all welcome

2012paddy2012

In same boat how did you get on!

confusedeire

I didn't start it yet just researching it at the moment. Hoping to get some idea's here

DFBG

Hello confusedeire,

Depending on the aspect/slope of your garden in relation to your house, the drainage may not need to be a huge job. A good solution is called a french drain. Basically a trench dug approx 18" deep by 18" wide, part filled with medium rounded stones, then a drainage pipe put in, (special yellow perforated piping), then more rounded stone placed on top. Soil can then be replaced above it, and grass re-seeded. A number of these can be dug, to intersect and allow drainage into a back corner of garden, or into existing "wavin" drainage pipes.

Again, this depends on the size, slope and soil quality of your garden.
I have done a number of these in gardens in the past, always with success.

Rounded stone can be bought by the ton, delivered from various companies around Cork, yellow perforated piping can be bought from your nearest co-op or builders providers.
If you prefer grass turf rolls, i can recommend a good supplier who grows and maintains large meadows of the stuff. Very good quality.

It is possible, with a couple of able-bodied people helping, to dig these sort of trenches by hand, and complete the work with barrows and shovels. As cost is a factor for you, and paying a mini-digger driver €100 a day, plus rental of machine may not be viable, manual labour may be the way to go!

This is as much as I can offer without knowing more about your particular garden. I hope it helps in some way. Feel free to ask for more info, if I can help. And good luck!

2012paddy2012

Any one near meath you know does this work!

spygirl

We had similar problems with our little patch. Was constantly wet and swampy to such an extent that we only used it in the height of the summer for years. Then we added a dog. Last year decided could not cope with the muck and flooding for another year so put in french drains.
Didn't have anywhere to run the water off to at such so we made some.soakaways Dug large trenches where the pooling was worst. Lined and then filled these with clean rubble, rocks we found, bits of bricks, broken slabs. basically whatever we could find as cost was a big issue for us. we then covered this with gravel and pulled back over the lining before a sprinkle of topsoil and then grass seed. we dug other trenches less deep to connect to the soak away pits at a bit of a slope.
Garden was a building site for a while as between kids, work and the weather it was hard to get into.
This year finally getting it all back together. No flooding last summer or all winter. Dogs future is not looking ropey for trailing muck everywhere anymore either.

There is a very good thread somewhere on here which gave us some great tips and then Youtube as well. There was a special membrane we got to hold all the rubble. Not weed suppressing fabric as it will just rot away and the soil will just sink down into the pits and the drainage would be gone again. Had to do it bit by bit but did not cost a small fortune by any means. Just a lot of work by the other half.

If the digging doesn't scare you off and your not afraid of putting the work in yourself it's a great way to go

confusedeire

DFBG wrote: »

Hello confusedeire,

Depending on the aspect/slope of your garden in relation to your house, the drainage may not need to be a huge job. A good solution is called a french drain. Basically a trench dug approx 18" deep by 18" wide, part filled with medium rounded stones, then a drainage pipe put in, (special yellow perforated piping), then more rounded stone placed on top. Soil can then be replaced above it, and grass re-seeded. A number of these can be dug, to intersect and allow drainage into a back corner of garden, or into existing "wavin" drainage pipes.

Again, this depends on the size, slope and soil quality of your garden.
I have done a number of these in gardens in the past, always with success.

Rounded stone can be bought by the ton, delivered from various companies around Cork, yellow perforated piping can be bought from your nearest co-op or builders providers.
If you prefer grass turf rolls, i can recommend a good supplier who grows and maintains large meadows of the stuff. Very good quality.

It is possible, with a couple of able-bodied people helping, to dig these sort of trenches by hand, and complete the work with barrows and shovels. As cost is a factor for you, and paying a mini-digger driver €100 a day, plus rental of machine may not be viable, manual labour may be the way to go!

This is as much as I can offer without knowing more about your particular garden. I hope it helps in some way. Feel free to ask for more info, if I can help. And good luck!

i would be interested in the grass turf alright would you mind PMing the details to me

i dug a couple of inspection holes last night to find about 16-18 inches of very clayey top soil on top of solid rock. not rouble but ROCK.

i'm going to dig a couple of more just to be sure.

after i dug the hole i 2'x2' and about 16" down i filled it with water to the top. in the first 3 hours it dropped by 1.5" and 13 hours later it had only dropped by 5" in total. how bad is that drainage?

i think French drains are my only option if it is all rock under there.

just thinking there my drains from my downpipes from the gutters are all backed up. could they have been going to French drain and are now backed up?

ponddigger

hi any photos of your project. jack