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Advice on land drainage please

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I have a fair sized lawned area that is really badly waterlogged, so bad that it sometimes resembles a lake ( on a hillside ) I dug two grooves in the land with my 4x4, approx 20ft long running from mid height to a lower point, probably 3 inch deep and they just fill up with water and slowly flow to the lowest point which is the drive entrance, you have to see this to believe it. I would like some knowledgable person to have a look and advise me how to go about rectifying my problem, it seems like water is flowing downhill under ground on a bed of clay and rising in my garden. I got a car in the middle and need a dinghy to get to it and will have to fit floats to get it off tha grass, where do I find a tug boat in Longley .. Lol .... Any constructive advise will be greatly appreciated, but please don't try to explain on here as you need to see it to get the full picture and hopefully point me in a positive direction ... Thanks in anticipation .... And regards ... Joss 07891 394118 .... Help !!

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In principle, very simple. In practice, not a job for the feint hearted.

 

At the top of the garden, dig a trench across the width. Cover the bank of the garden side of the trench with visqueen. From the lowest point of this width, dig a trench to the lowest part of the property. The trench probably needs to be 600mm deep. Lay 100mm perforated drainage pipe into the trench and back-fill with gravel.

 

 

 

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Hi Andy, thanks for the info mate, that is gonna be a good sized excavation job, think I need a mini digger as the land mass is 615 sq mtr. Would you think I could do with a core sampler to determine the depth of the clay at strategic points in order of building up a picture of what is happening and where, because I don't think the clay is down all that deep and if I hire a digger and op, I need to be able to give precise details of the job required or hand dig if say the clay is only down 12" ? This really is a fair sized bit of land, I bought a ride on mower for the grass, would have probably been better off with a Dredger .. Lol

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Hi Andy, thanks for the info mate, that is gonna be a good sized excavation job, think I need a mini digger as the land mass is 615 sq mtr. Would you think I could do with a core sampler to determine the depth of the clay at strategic points in order of building up a picture of what is happening and where, because I don't think the clay is down all that deep and if I hire a digger and op, I need to be able to give precise details of the job required or hand dig if say the clay is only down 12" ? This really is a fair sized bit of land, I bought a ride on mower for the grass, would have probably been better off with a Dredger .. Lol

 

You'll probably find rock beneath the clay. Just dig some small holes with a spade, or a post hole auger.

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There will be farmers out there who can lay the drainage for you if there is good access. Have a look for agricultural services in South Yorkshire (Probably near Donny as they have more flat land there), expand to Lincolnshire if needed as I am sure that they have lots of land that need drainage over there.

 

Won't be cheap though!

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If the clay is only 12" from the surface, no wonder you are water logged !

 

I would have thought that 600mm should be ample, to clear surface water but using a mini digger, it will be a piece of cake to go deeper. I think core samples is a bit OTT. When the digger hits the proper clay strata, that will be deep enough. As Jon26 states, below the clay will be shale and rock, if you get to that, so much the better.

 

Of course, the next issue, is where the collected water is going to end up!

Many moons ago, at a previous home, I had a similar problem with a natural spring. We dug a soakaway approx 4ft square and 6ft deep and filled it with broken housebricks. The following morning it was full to the brim. In desperation, I put a land drain across the top of the garden, intending as a later stage to direct it (illegaly :o) to a manhole. However the problem ceased. A few weeks later, my neighbour at the time (a miserable old sod) said, " I can't understand where all the water is coming from, my garden is waterlogged":twisted::twisted:

 

 

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Sounds to me like you need to find out where all this water is coming from, not just how to get rid of it. Is there a culverted stream which comes out underneath your lawn? Or water diverted round the foundations of a building?

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I think the water is coming from the apex of the hill which is Buchanan rd and running/soaking downhill riding on the clay bed which is probably deeper up there and gradually gets closer the surface as it gets to me on Crowder rd and outcrops in my property as the clay is not too far down. So in wet weather the ground is soaked and water sits on the top and if you walk out in it you sink a good 4+ inch. Yes it is worse nearer the proprties at the top left diagonal towards the centre where it is wetest. Looking from my house the land is rectangular, at top left (highest point) it gradually slopes down to the top right of the land. From top left to bottom left it also slopes down and from top right to bottom right (lowest point) it also slopes down, and from top left diagonally to bottom right it also slopes at steeper gradiant. If any of you knowledgable guys get a spare 5 mins please come and take a look, if just just for the laugh, I'm normally not dim but this has me baffled ...

Edited by jossmirff
Correct

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