Soak away issue

[dan620684]

Hi
when I purchased my house I was aware that my surface water runs directly into to ground as and not the sewage. My house shares 1 down pipe with 3 other properties and it runs into the ground in my garden. It has not been a problem before now but the last 2 times its rained my patio has flooded thus pushing the sand and dirt out around/under the patio slabs. which i causing others to start sinking. (SEE PICTURE) I guessing this is where the soakaway/drainage ditch must me. From my understanding it needs to be 5m away from property and this is around 2m.
If someone can help me out on these few questions that will be great.

1. should there be 4 houses sharing only 1 down pipe?
2. should I move it the extra 3m away as I will need to rip up decking or maybe dig it 4m away, would this be fine?
3. what is the best hardcore to fill trench with?
4. should I put a concrete layer on top of hardcore?

if anyone could help me out on the above or even recommend the best course of action that will be great.

 

[Ian H]

That seems a very specific area for the water to be coming up. Before anything else I would lift that slab and have a dig down.

It could be a collapsed pipe before the soakaway, a load of debris blocking the inlet to the soakaway or if your lucky a surface water manhole.

It seems unfare for you to take the water off the other 3 properties and you should really split the cost of any repairs.

 

[dan620684]

Hi
funny enough i've just dug down and found that there is a pipe that comes from the downpipe, It just seems to be going into the dirt there is no rubble/hardcore to filter the water away. ive dug down to what seems to be a chalk base and cant seem to get thru it. could this be what is causing the water to rise up in that specific area?
It is strange as we are the first 4 houses in the row which share the same downpipe at the front and back of the houses. whereas the other house in the same row only share 1 downpipe between 2 houses which i find weird.

Should I move it further away? or would i be ok with putting stones in and a concrete layer and go from there? (I hate digging)

 

[Ian H]

It's a lot of water for a soakaway but it must have been working for years as it it.

Could you post a picture of your dig? (I love digging)

 

[John D v2.0]

You'll probably find that one of the 4 houses had their cutters redone at some point and to save money they just chucked the down pipes and let it all go to you. Technically they probably have no right to drain into your gutter. See if you can work that out and talk to them.
Your may also have been done incorrectly, post photos as above and maybe we can work out how it was supposed to work originally

 

[motorbiking]

How long has it been like this? You do have a right to charge them costs, but if its been like this for some years, he's probably acquired a right to do so.

 

[dan620684]

Hi
Thanks for your reply.
From what i can find out the guttering has been servicing the 4 houses for long as they known according to neighbours.
all the other houses on the street have guttering which serves 2 houses and drains down on the right hand side of the houses. whereas in the pics you will see my house and the one on the right joins in to the 2 house on the left. (I BELIEVE BEING EX COUNCIL HOUSES AT SOME POINT THE COUNCIL CHANGED THE GUTTERING AND BEING USELESS IDIOTS CHEATED AND USED 1 DOWNPIPE) would i be right in thinking that??

The house on the right is privately rented and the two houses on left are council. ( I own my home).
previously i have had to fix the downpipe as it come loose and was just flooding down the exterior walls and flooding my garden. I tried approaching the council and because i'm not a tenant they would not help out even though i explained the problem was on a council property.

as you can see in the pics the downpipe is on my neighbor's side but it looks like someone has knocked the wall down and run it into my garden which would possibly explain my theory above.

 

[dan620684]

2

 

[dan620684]

3

 

[Ian H]

That looks a bit naughty and I think your right that the council did it an easier way.

I bet yours used to come straight down into your drain (might even be able to see the old fixing near the cable) and the neighbour went into their own drain.

 

[dan620684]

Hi
there are no drains in the back gardens of all the hoses in this row (including the ones to the right)
I have nothing to suggest that i had any downpipe in my garden neither can I see if the neighbour on the right has had anything.

im looking at putting a down pipe between at the end of the neighbours on the right hand side.

can anyone suggest if this will be a good option? or what i could do instead?

 

[dan620684]

This is exactly what i'm dealing with. HELP!!

 

[^woody^]

Contact your water company for a drain layout plan

 

[Ian H]

Did you get a picture of the hole you dug?