Garden Drain

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Derbyshire
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I need to install a drain in the back garden to drain water from the patios and the greenhouse roof.
There aren't any pre exisyting drains at the rear of the house to connect it to, but at the side of the house, there is a drain for the toilets, bath and sinks.
Am I allowed to connect a rain water drain to this (ubderground, in the man hole) or am I not allowed to?

Thanks!
 
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only in special circumstances and thats fairly rare,so i'd say no.you will have to dig a soakaway which technically speaking should be a minimum of 4.5m from any building
 
A soakaway isn't an option unfortunately as the sioil is clay after the first foot and so water doesn't soak away. It just sits there.

Do you know why you are not allowed to drain rainwater into a drain like that?
 
What if the rain water already goes to the sewer with no seperate rain drain.
JonB
 
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which technically speaking should be a minimum of 4.5m from any building
Building Regs. state 5m.

A soakaway isn't an option unfortunately as the sioil is clay after the first foot and so water doesn't soak away. It just sits there.
What’s having clay soil got to do with it, a soakaway is supposed to be at least 1m deep!
Do you know why you are not allowed to drain rainwater into a drain like that?
It’s primarily to do with overloading the surface & foul water drainage systems & it’s not just a breach of Building Regulations, it’s a breach of Local By-laws without permission so you could get a hefty fine if you ignore it& you cant divert it into the road down your driveway now either.

Just to make things even more difficult; digging a new soak away is notifyable building works so you’re supposed to tell the council & pay a fee for them to inspect the hole is deep enough, is of sufficient volume & the material you’re going to fill it with is suitable.
 
ok,it sounds like you maybe be able to drain it into the positive system.just call your local water authority to confirm this.
 
You could always try digging a Dutch drain; basically a trench filled with gravel which will divert the water away from the problem area to a better drained part of your garden.
 
Richard, what I meant when I said the soil is clay after the first foot, is simply that. It is solid clay and at about 5 feet down turns into a blueish cloloured clay that is as hard as stone, so all you get is a waterproof hole.

What's the positive system?
 
Not sure exactly what you mean by a “positive system” but this site may help;
http://www.askthebuilder.com/339_Positive_Drainage_Keeps_a_House_Dry.shtml
The type of soil you have does make a huge difference; as a result of building works here, I still have an extension with an open down pipe that I haven’t yet connected into our soak away drainage system. When it rains, the water gushes out over the patio but quickly disappears into the surrounding flower borders. It’s been like that for 2 years now but the fact that our soil is so well drained & copes with it is just making me too lazy to deal with it :rolleyes: .

If your problem reallly is that bad, you could try grovelling. You probably need to ring your LABC first but it may ultimately rest with your water authority. Ive never had need to try it so am not sure but if your not already paying for surface water drainage (& many are even though they dont have it :eek: ), they will probably increase your sewage/water rates charge as a result. I think you best option is probbaly to divert the water to an area of the garden where you can drain it away more easily using a Dutch/French drain or even a lump of buried soil pipe.
 
There is absolutely no point in digging a soakaway in clay, whatsoever. If a bco asked for a percolation test then it would fail. Miserably.

If connecting to the sewer system is the ONLY option available then you maybe allowed to do so.

There are still plenty of 'dual' systems (storm & foul) still in existence. Is yours?
 
west runton,norfolk.dual drains there.well was when we worked there.some places have a mains foul sewer AND a positive rainwater drain.
 
There are still many areas on dual drainage systems & in most of those, older properties are still connected to them but BR's & the local authority won’t necessarily allow you an additional connection to any system you may already have. ;)
 
how big is the area and is there any existing paving there already? if so where does that drain to?
 

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