Blocked rainwater soakaway.

[cuban8]

The gutter down pipe at the front of our house discharges into a small brick lined hole that overflows with heavy rain. I guess that this is a soakaway into the ground as there are no access points that would allow the rain to run into the nearby sewer manhole. The hole is heavily blocked with plant debris and stones that have built up over quite a few years. (I only discovered this when I removed a large overgrown bush next to the down pipe).
How should the soakaway work and how should I go about getting it to deal with storm quantities of rain?
The property is approx 75 years old.
Advice appreciated. Thanks.

C8

 

[breezer]

have you cleaned out all the stuff that is in there?

 

[Darkrob_DIY]

basically a soakaway is a pit in the ground which is filled at the bottom by coarse rubble/hardcore to store the water before it is soaked into the ground! Atm it sounds like the soakaway isnt working because of this debris and once cleared should work fine aslong as it is the right size for the size of building and rainfall it is dealing with.

R Critchley

 

[cuban8]

Thanks for your advice. I've cleared out the debris at the bottom of the down pipe (about 12" of crud) and discovered a small metal grille. Once I'd cleared away the muck from the holes in the grille I could see water underneath. No problem now, as I've had a hose running through the system for 10 minutes or so. The water does in fact find its way into the sewer exiting the property.

Cheers

C8