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Old 02-02-2004, 12:21 AM
KD
 
Posts: n/a
Default New build house - garden waterlogging


"David Hill" wrote in message
...
If your house is newly built then I think that the most likely cause of

your
problem is soil compaction.
It is very common on new sites, esp. where the builders have had a lot of
machinery running back and fore over the same ground.
If you are part of a development and are towards the outside of the site
then you may have had the machines running back and for over your ground

as
they built a lot of the other houses.
At the end what do the builders do?
They level with the bucket of a JCB and then dump a few inches of top soil
on top , level (Again often with the JCB) then get turf laid over the lot.
If the landscaper you spoke to says it can be rectified then I very much
doubt if you are on a flood plain..
if you can get a long iron bar then try to punch a hole into the ground

and
see just how hard it is and at what depth, alternatively you could try

just
with a fork or spade.
Try in several places, and I doubt if you will get it in more than a few
inches before you hit hard soil.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk




Firstly, apologies for conflicting user names on OE - I am reinstalling XP
on one machine and writing on another...

Hi David,
What you say sounds very similar to what the landscaper said -
compaction, compaction, compaction :-) In response to Angela (above) part
of the problem has already been mentioned in the first 'few' snagging lists.
I have had a good email rant at the builders over the weekend as they had
already promised to sort the problem out before they organised the laying of
half of the turf and promised to replace/sort out the ground before they did
it - they didn't :-( It was the same group of contractors who laid the
second half of the turf which is now effectively floating. I have received
an invoice from them for this and, to be honest, I am inclined to pay them
for this work since I did not specifically ask for the drainage to be sorted
first. I am fairly sure that I can get the replacement organised when the
builders fix the drainage. Although the ground gets very wet .. I am sure
that we are not on a flood plain as we are quite a way up a hill. There is
a local field drain that appears to have been partly covered by the
activites of tree planters on behalf of Scottish enterprise. As mentioned
we are right on the edge of the new estate and we have suffered from
repeated construction traffic. Lots of factors are affecting the drainage
and the main problem will be getting the builders to acknowledge that it is
their responsibility to fix it - we simply can't use the garden as it
stands/sinks. We have already had to abandon 3/4 of the planned jobs for
landscaping of the garden due to this waterlogging problem - I just hope
that it can be sorted out. Thanks for all the help so far.

Keith aka Sarah P aka KD