Another waterlogged garden topic

View attachment 4453View attachment 4450View attachment 4451View attachment 4452View attachment 4453 A few pics of state of play....slight break in the weather....first pic is first problem area which is normally cured.....and the rest are as is.... pumped away lovely but Mr L has stopped play as it's 'persistantly' pouring AGAIN.......

 

Wow lolomac, and i thought i had problems.

Love the pump, where did you get it from ?

regards
G

 

The pump was from Machine mart Mr G does a cracking job....though you wouldn't think so.....all the water pumped away lovely earlier....if only i had somewhere to store it...but after ANOTHER really heavy downpour it's creeping back again....
Next doors is much worse than ours...admittedly his garden is a good 6" lower than ours but he also dug a soak away....5ft x 4ft and 4ft deep and filled with rubble....still under water though.....

 

Our lawn and drive out front were flooded yesterday - that's normal after heavy rain, but I should have taken a picture I've never seen the "lake" that big before. All gone within 30 minutes of the rain stopping - and that's just perforated drainage pipe going to a soak away.

 

This morning in the garden........
What do you reckon.....water cress or rice

 

Scrungee: Thanks for pointing out that that this should have been disclosed by the sellers.

Just dug out the Property Information Form and found the following:
Note: 'Property' includes all buildings and land within its boundaries.
7.1 Has the property suffered from flooding? If Yes, please give details. [they ticked NO and left the Details box blank]
Note: flooding may take a variety of forms: It may be seasonal or irregular or simply a one off occurrence.

Need to try and get statements from the neighbours either side, and call my solicitor. One neighbour has sand that this has been happening for years and years.

Mr Grinch: This has been like this for 6 days now. I'm expecting it to be there for another week than It will disappear overnight. I think it disappears when the local water table drops but that's just a guess.

 

BLIMEY !!
I like your path but do you not feel that it may of added to the problem you have ? Or is it a problem you all have in the area ?

regards
G

 

It's a problem in the whole area Mr G...it's the first time in 2 years we've had rain this heavy and persistant and raising the path may have contributed to it being worse but at least i can get to my GH now..whereas before the whole lot used to be underwater.Thankfully this isn't a regular occurance

 

Is it seriously worth getting into a long legal dispute that would cost a lot of stress and time, not to mention money. If you do win the case then what would you expect to gain ?
You see, i wouldnt class this as flooding, more of a wet area at the bottom of your garden. I would see a flood as something that would put your life or property at risk. Im no legal expert but thats how i see it.
Personally, what i would do is dig a big and very deep hole in your lawn where your bin is, fill it with hardcore and shingle and see if thats helps. If it doesnt then you havnt lost anything as its pretty wet anyway.

Good luck.

G

 

Ive been reading through your website Kristan, amazing patch you have there. How do you keep on top of it

What do you garden on ?

regards
G

 

Two answers spring to mind. "Alkaline Clay" is one, and the other one is probably "Acid" !!!

I work from home, so spend an hour in the garden most lunchtimes (well, on days when I don't need waders and a snorkel!), and this time of year I try to knock off soon after 5pm and am in garden until dark or thereabouts ... often doing some pricking-out or potting-on after dark.

This is the busy time of year, of course, once we get to about June then the work load diminishes significantly.

 

Everyone, i really appreciate the responses to date. It may well be too much hassle to sue the sellers, but for little cost I can send them a scary letter, once i get everything lined up.

If I wanted a professional to fix this for me, would i be looking for a landscaping company, a drainage company, or something else?

 

Steve I'd still be inclined to have a word with your solicitor, just to see if it's worthwhile taking it any further.

I wouldn't hire a lanscaper, they're to expensive. I'd go for groundworkers.

 

If you are able Steve i'd give it a go yourself...a decent size soak away perhaps.....our crude attempt has worked fine up untill now....we will have to have a rethink now even though this weather has been freak.....our problem is the water table and we can't do alot about that....i wouldn't like to say how much it would cost for the pros to sort it...i'm not a skinflint but if i can have a go myself first i will good luck

 

My 2p worth.
It will cost you to get a solicitor involved and for what? All the owner would have to say is "its not happened before, also not had rain like we have now before"

You could then go down the route of "But the neighbours said this, and then he says.........." (and all the time its the solicitor who keeps it going to make more money)

I would go for the soak away digging option as it will be cheaper in the long run.

Speaking of soakaways......

If you are going to build one, dig a trial pit first. The idea is that you dig a hole say 300 x 300 x 450 mm first and you watch when it rains and when it doesn't rain to see how well it drains. If it doesn't drain, or it fills when there is little or no rain the you have a high water table, in which case a sump and pump would be good.

If it easily drains (after the rain) go ahead and build a big soakaway, ideally it should be around 1 x 1 x 1 M and filled with as much large but solid material as you can find (This way it leaves big gaps but is still strong enough to stand on)

If you have clay subsoil and you can not penetrate it then you will have to opt for a sump and pump. It is as the name suggests, a sump (a hole in the ground deep enough to accommodate a sump pump) with the outlet going to a soak away, (yes silly isn't it, you can't have a soak away so you build a sump and pump the water to a soak away) Legally you can not put rain water down a sewer, it has to go into the storm drains or a soakaway.

If you opt for a sump there are a couple of things you must do. It should be a hole in the ground that is lined and has a solid base. (paving slab is fine for a base, the sides can be a brick wall with gaps in the bricks) The reason you can't just dig a hole and drop a pump in is erosion. A good sump pump will shift dirt, all be it not a lot at a time, it will if allowed pump out the surrounding soil, not only will this block a soakaway, it also makes the hole in which the pump sits bigger / the surrounding ground will become unstable.

Which pump?
The most suitable is not always the best since it wont run that often. Steer clear of the drill pump mentioned earlier, complete waste of time. Get a cheap sump pump with float switch, you can get a plastic bodied sump pump with float switch for less than £50 (stainless steel pumps are great for taking knocks, but if it sits in a sump who is going to knock it?)