I'm in the process of replacing some horrible decking at the end of my garden with a patio. At the same time I'll also be replacing a badly laid patio/path at the house end with more of the same.
Surface water drainage is currently non-existant, the decking is porous, and the existing patio is just slabs on mud.
The house (mid 60's) has combined drainage for surface and soil, but for practicality sake as well as environmental I'd like to use soakaways instead.
The patio areas are 27 and 25sq m (top and bottom). The proportions and location of the patios are such that allowing them to surface run-off onto the intervening lawn would probably soak the lawn too much.
I was thinking of burying several Suds type crates in a line between the two patios, and draining one into each end - 6 crates would give me 1.2 cubic metres which I estimate to be adequate in usual circumstances. The surface water capture would be via linear drain installed on each patio.
However, I hear that soakaways are less effective on clay soil, the soil around my house does have a clay component, though we've never experienced any surface flooding or water-logging in the past 4 years. The land is relatively flat with a slight fall from back to front.
Am I asking for trouble using soakaways in this scenario? Would it also be a problem if the soakaway was to one side of the garden, so adjacent to a neighbours land?
Another option would be to install a land drain beneath the lawn in place of the soakaway - is there any guidance as to what sort of area or linear meterage would be required to adequately cope with the runoff? Could I use both a collector and a dispersal arrangement to even out the water content caused by surface runoff onto the lawn - thus negating the need for linear drain channel?
Thoughts and advice welcome..
Surface water drainage is currently non-existant, the decking is porous, and the existing patio is just slabs on mud.
The house (mid 60's) has combined drainage for surface and soil, but for practicality sake as well as environmental I'd like to use soakaways instead.
The patio areas are 27 and 25sq m (top and bottom). The proportions and location of the patios are such that allowing them to surface run-off onto the intervening lawn would probably soak the lawn too much.
I was thinking of burying several Suds type crates in a line between the two patios, and draining one into each end - 6 crates would give me 1.2 cubic metres which I estimate to be adequate in usual circumstances. The surface water capture would be via linear drain installed on each patio.
However, I hear that soakaways are less effective on clay soil, the soil around my house does have a clay component, though we've never experienced any surface flooding or water-logging in the past 4 years. The land is relatively flat with a slight fall from back to front.
Am I asking for trouble using soakaways in this scenario? Would it also be a problem if the soakaway was to one side of the garden, so adjacent to a neighbours land?
Another option would be to install a land drain beneath the lawn in place of the soakaway - is there any guidance as to what sort of area or linear meterage would be required to adequately cope with the runoff? Could I use both a collector and a dispersal arrangement to even out the water content caused by surface runoff onto the lawn - thus negating the need for linear drain channel?
Thoughts and advice welcome..