Soak away questions

[nelliedee]

Hi

We are having to build a 1.5m cubed soak away. We have looked at the new cell/crates and they look ideal but at £90 each and needing 12 I think that is out of the question. So we now need to build the old fashioned honeycomb type and i have some questions that someone might be kind enough to answer.

1. how thick should the concrete base be?

2. should we place a membrane around the honeycomb brickwork to stop the earth falling inside the soak away?

3. Am I right in thinking that we do not fill the void with rubble anymore? do we just leave it empty?

4. Can we patio over the top of a soak away?

The paving site that usually has all the answers seems to have removed its instructions on the honeycomb brickwork.

Nelliedee

[noseall]

up here in Staffs, we dig a big hole and fill to the drain invert with rubble -
protect and channel the pipe outlet, polythene over the rubble and cover with top soil. bingo!

[nelliedee]

I wish I lived in Staffs

[Joe Malone]

I'm guessing you're building something similar to the old soft water tanks that used to be built to service Victorian properties, if that's the case, they're not filled with rubble and they're not protected with a membrane. It's now an unusual and expensive way of providing a soakaway. I recently used these crates to build a soakaway and yes they're expensive but there are cheaper ways to do it. Why not simply dig a pit, line it with terram then fill with rubble. The BRE do a very good guide on soakaway design which explains exactly how to do it.

[Joe Malone]

I have pictures of the soft water tank I recently backfilled with concrete if it helps?

[nelliedee]

Hi
We are building the soakaway to take the rain water from rear of roof. It is being inspected by the council who have told us we cannot backfill with rubble. They suggested the crates/cells but after pricing them I felt that there must be a cheaper way.
Have you the link to the place that explains how to build it?
Nelliedee