Overflowing gully connecting to old soakaway (ed.)

[Al Morg]

Please help me solve this issue! We bought this 1975 semi almost a year ago and since we moved in we have had non-stop issues with a gully overflowing in the corner of our driveway, flooding out our garage whenever there is heavy rain. With a bit of investigating it seems that the gully serves both mine and my neighbours roof plus our joined garage roofs and our driveway run off- which is obviously too much for it to handle anyway. We've had a drainage inspection and it seems that the drain runs to a soakaway under the drive - and according to neighbours it is probably an old rubble soakaway put in when the house was built. We have had it blasted through, but it hasn't solved the issue.

For the past few months we have resolved to channeling our roof water into our garden, whilst also collecting the garage roof water in a big bucket and pumping it out to the road to try and limit the amout of water going down the gully - but we still experience flooding on occasion. We've also got a dam of sandbags in the garage to help with this. Neither of these solutions are ideal in the long term. We've had a quote to rip up the existing driveway and install a crate soakaway and new paved driveway which came in at almost £6000 (£3k each split between me and my neighbour) which is far too much for us to spend right now.

Can anyone think of cheaper alternative solutions to help solve this problem?

I've attached a diagram which hopefully explains our problem a bit better

Thanks in advance!

 

[CBW]

It seems odd to me that a soakaway would be installed to cope with that much rainwater (I could be wrong), so it might be worth investigating further, and perhaps a 2nd opinion on the gully outlet connection.

 

[Al Morg]

It seems odd to me that a soakaway would be installed to cope with that much rainwater (I could be wrong), so it might be worth investigating further, and perhaps a 2nd opinion on the gully outlet connection.

Thanks Chris. I am assuming it is a soakaway as it is what the neighbours have said + we don't pay for rainwater drainage on this street. We had a professional camera inspection (plus i did one myself with a cheap ebay inspection camera) and it only went in so far, approx 3-4 metres until it couldn't get any further and nothing could be seen. That being said the guy we had out did seem like he didnt really care, so maybe we need to get someone else out for 2nd opinion as you have suggested.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Can you put a water butt between the front door and garage door with a submersible pump that will automatically turn on and pump out when the water risers. Then have a pipe attached to the pump going into the rear garden into another gulley? (temporary solution)

Andy

 

[Al Morg]

Can you put a water butt between the front door and garage door with a submersible pump that will automatically turn on and pump out when the water risers. Then have a pipe attached to the pump going into the rear garden into another gulley? (temporary solution)

Andy

Hi Andy,

We've got this kind of set up already which pumps the water out to the road (but I'm using a naff looking flexi-tub as anything bigger gets in the way of the garage door opening). It works well, but like you say is not a great solution long term
Thanks

 

[CBW]

Would it not be included in the rates though for drainage, and it may be setup as combined as opposed to separate system. It could be a collapsed drain, or anything. Are there any manholes nearby? Is everyone’s on a soakaway system?

 

[Al Morg]

Would it not be included in the rates though for drainage, and it may be setup as combined as opposed to separate system. It could be a collapsed drain, or anything. Are there any manholes nearby? Is everyone’s on a soakaway system?

I think there may be a manhole at the back of the house as both my neighbours have one in their garden- although I havnt seen mine as it would be underneath my decking. We have got combined sewers around here but its all at the back of the house as far as I'm aware.
According to neighbours alot of the drainage on the street is soakaways

 

[CBW]

According to neighbours alot of the drainage on the street is soakaways

If this is the case, it might look a bit unsightly, but cheaper, are you able to divert from front main roof to rear, to a gully?

 

[ETAF]

I dont know the law, but just an observation, if water is being let into the public pavement/road and that water freezes, and someone slips over then someone may be able to make a claim, as you are not "disposing" of you roof water into a soakaway or gully. just a thought, unlikely but just in case your the only house with ice across the public footpath/road.
As i say just a thought.

 

[Lower]

Where are the drains at the rear of the house. Could you send the water from the front of the roof to the back of the house with some drainpipe down the side of the house and into a drain at the rear? Would take a lot of the load off the soakaway under the drive.

 

[blup]

Is the gulley blocked, preventing the water from soaking away (you say the inspection camera was obstructed)?

Can you remodel the driveway so the excess water flows onto the road?

Did your sellers disclose flooding as an issue when you purchased, it's a standard property information question?

Blup