Fin drains

[adamr7747]

Hi All,

I have a site with a gentle slope across it & my house in the middle. When it's wet the water runs onto and across the site from neighbouring fields. The groundwater level is also often only just below the ground level. So I am looking to divert away the flow on the surface & in the ground.

I've read the page on pavingexpert on fin drains and think it looks like exactly what I need. It does surface & subsurface drainage, doesn't require messing with lots of aggregate and minimises the amount of digging. The only catch is I can't really find anywhere that sells them for domestic use. The websites are generally about roads & by the manufacturers, rather than merchants. Is that because I'm missing something which makes them obviously inappropriate for domestic use? Or does anyone know a good source for them online? Or should I be looking somewhere else?

Thanks,
Adam

 

[jj4091]

Try either your local builders merchants or farm supplies depot

 

[SFK]

I see land drains as being Perforated pipe wrapped in geotextile material to stop soil entering pipe. And then in a gravel filled cutting.

Hence did a search for perforated drainage pipe:

Google Search

One example:

50mm Perforated Land Drain Pipe x 50m Coil www.landscapeplastics.co.uk

Description

www.landscapeplastics.co.uk

Also the holes are placed at the bottom so the water rises inside the pipe. That always surprises me even though I know it is the done way.

Do you have somewhere for the collected water to go?

Sfk

 

[adamr7747]

Thanks both. I've tried builders merchants & farm supplies but no joy.
SFK: I'm looking for a fin drain solution, not a french drain. The water will drain into an existing ditch.

Adam

 

[Scally-Ho]

Search for Polypipe as they manufacture what you are looking for. Use the link to find your nearest stockist.

Find your nearest stockist

Search for *product name* stockists

www.polypipe.com

 

[SFK]

The membrane above the drain:

PermaSEAL 8 Geodrain Membrane 20m²

An 8mm stud external waterproofing membrane with Geotex, a filter fabric, thermally welded to the studded face. It is used externally below ground in conjunction with a land or French drain to protect new build basements.

www.permagard.co.uk

 

[adamr7747]

Just in case anyone else comes looking for the same thing, the organisations to contact are merchants for groundworks & engineerings products. Perhaps someone here knows how to refer to them, but I've not encountered them before. Anyway, they typically do not do online stock listing or ordering, so you have to find & call your nearest depot. Keyline, Cirrus and Civils & Lintels are examples.

Adam

 

[adamr7747]

Since there doesn't seem much other info on the internet about using fin drain in a domestic setting, I thought I'd share some of my experience... I ended up with some Polypipe Linflex Type 6 fin drain. It comes rolled up with a sleeve at the bottom to insert a separate bit of perforated pipe - using a drawstring which is included in the roll. The pipe pulled pretty easily through the sleeve - though you need a bit of space to be able to lay it out straight to do it. I was a bit concerned that the completed thing would be unwieldy and you can see a bit of that in one of the pictures, but actually it was much easier to work with than I'd thought, and getting bends etc out of it was no big deal. Last thing to note was that it was a bit awkward keeping it aligned in the trench, in preparation for the backfilling. You can see I resorted to some sacrificial sticks & bits of random slate to keep it on one side.

 

[yorksbuilder]

Looks good, hopefully it sorts your flooding problem. Let us know how it goes