Soakaway won't work - what alternatives do I have?

[Temmy]

Ello,

I've been trying to sort out the rainwater drainage at the back of our house. We don't have a surface water sewer, only foul.

I started to dig a soakaway pit, only to find four different colours of clay. At 1.2m deep it's still surrounded by clay and after yesterday's heavy rainfall this is what it now looks like:

It's been like that for 24 hours. No absorption whatsoever.

Obviously, I could try and go deeper, but that's not guaranteed to solve the problem. It could be clay for 10 meters down. Who knows?

What alternatives do I have?

 

[Bouy]

And if you filled in the hole to the top with a hosepipe what absorption rate do you get over 24hrs , nil or x litres

 

[^woody^]

What happens to the current RW drainage?

 

[JP_]

I don't know, but a mate said they had a massive soakaway in their garden - maybe this is why, sometimes it just needs to be really big.
Probably a good case for sending it into the main drainage though? My gutters go into the main drainage, I pay a bit extra but it helps keep the drains clean.

 

[^woody^]

I don't know, but a mate said they had a massive soakaway in their garden -

What, your mate used to live there?

 

[JP_]

No, in his garden, my point being, maybe with clay you need a bigger soakaway?

 

[^woody^]

No, in his garden, my point being, maybe with clay you need a bigger soakaway?

The point of my initial question is that presumably the house has been there for many years, so how is the existing rainwater being dealt with and why are you now constructing a soakaway?

If there was no soakaway when built, then perhaps there was a reason for that?