(Rights to use a) Soak away (Ed.)

[noseall]

I can not get a digger in my back garden and while I am prepared to put a soak away in (I really don’t need this aggravation and they were always friendly before) we are higher than them so our water will soak into their garden anyway. What she is not accepting is the water levels in the soil/clay are higher than normal. After 30 years she is now complaining her walk way is wet but I don’t have a tap to the sky. We have someone who has installed soakaways and is willing to manually dig.

Soak-aways do not work and should not be installed in clay ground.

 

[Notch7]

I can not get a digger in my back garden and while I am prepared to put a soak away in (I really don’t need this aggravation and they were always friendly before) we are higher than them so our water will soak into their garden anyway. What she is not accepting is the water levels in the soil/clay are higher than normal. After 30 years she is now complaining her walk way is wet but I don’t have a tap to the sky. We have someone who has installed soakaways and is willing to manually dig.

A percolation test is needed to find out whether a soakaway is suitable, they won’t work in clay soil.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

What she is not accepting is the water levels in the soil/clay are higher than normal. After 30 years she is now complaining her walk way is wet but I don’t have a tap to the sky. We have someone who has installed soakaways and is willing to manually dig.

Soak aways, do not work in clay. They use clay, because it is waterproof, to line canals. It might though, be worth checking, how deep the clay is, and considering if it might be worth boring through it, to provide drainage.

 

[Maryanne15]

Agree

 

[noseall]

Agree

For your own benefit - I'd look towards the sewer system. Have a look on your water bills to see if you are paying a storm collection fee, i.e. combined system.

 

[blup]

Unless I’ve misread the posts you have an existing soakaway that was put in when your own extension was built. Don’t assume that because the area you live in is on a clay belt that it is universally unsuitable for a soakaway