swampy garden
 

my smallish garden is sloped towards the house and gets like a bog when it rains. how do I build in some drains for it ?

swampy garden
 

bettyday wrote:
my smallish garden is sloped towards the house and gets like a bog
when it rains. how do I build in some drains for it ?

This sounds to me like a case for consulting a professional on the
spot. But one fine professional has a website at:
http://www.pavingexpert.com/

If you click that, and enter "drainage" in his search window, you'll
find good stuff.

I imagine you've already checked to see if there is an existing drain
which has got blocked, or covered up by previous work.

The two problems to confront with drainage are stopping the stuff
getting in -- as with field drains -- and where to send it once it's
got in. In built-up areas these can both be very difficult.

You may find that raising the overall level helps, as long as that
doesn't bring water into contact with the house walls near or above
the damp-proof course. Likely to be a big job. Sometimes installing a
pond with a hard surround such as paving will make the soggy
situation into a pleasant one.

--
Mike.

swampy garden
 

bettyday wrote:
my smallish garden is sloped towards the house and gets like a bog when
it rains. how do I build in some drains for it ?


--
bettyday

In my experience the bogginess is more to do with the type of soil than
the amount of water in it -i.e. a clay soil will get boggy with little
rain whereas a sandy soil may stay quite stable even when very wet.
It's difficult to drain clay from underneath as the rain won't get to
the channels. You'd need to think about diverting the surface water
somehow.

thanks for the advice, from what Ive read as suggested every idea seems too involved for my size garden, I was hoping that by digging some holes and filling with gravel and a layer of soil on top the rain could drain away through the gravel and down away to earth ?

swampy garden
 

On 12 Dec 2005 06:12:07 -0800, wrote:


bettyday wrote:
my smallish garden is sloped towards the house and gets like a bog when
it rains. how do I build in some drains for it ?


--
bettyday

In my experience the bogginess is more to do with the type of soil than
the amount of water in it -i.e. a clay soil will get boggy with little
rain whereas a sandy soil may stay quite stable even when very wet.
It's difficult to drain clay from underneath as the rain won't get to
the channels. You'd need to think about diverting the surface water
somehow.

and don't forget that drains have to have somewhere to drain to.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

swampy garden
 

bettyday wrote:
Wrote:
bettyday wrote:
my smallish garden is sloped towards the house and gets like a bog
when
it rains. how do I build in some drains for it ?


--
bettyday

In my experience the bogginess is more to do with the type of soil
than
the amount of water in it -i.e. a clay soil will get boggy with
little rain whereas a sandy soil may stay quite stable even when
very wet. It's difficult to drain clay from underneath as the rain
won't get to the channels. You'd need to think about diverting
the
surface water somehow.

thanks for the advice, from what Ive read as suggested every idea
seems too involved for my size garden, I was hoping that by digging
some holes and filling with gravel and a layer of soil on top the
rain could drain away through the gravel and down away to earth ?

That will _sometimes_ work, especially if you use clean hard-core
rather than gravel, and incorporate a lot of loose stuff into the
topsoil. But the holes will have to be big ones. If your lawn just
gets a bit "noisy" and squelchy after rain, that could be enough; but
if you can actually see water half an hour after the rain has
stopped, then I'd say it won't.

You really should chat to your neighbours about it: either they have
the same problem, and can tell you what they did about it, or your
garden is the lucky recipient of all the water from their gardens!

Sounds like a case for a paved area to me: keep it clear of the
damp-proof course.

--
Mike.

swampy garden
 

Mike Lyle wrote:
That will _sometimes_ work, especially if you use clean hard-core
rather than gravel, and incorporate a lot of loose stuff into the
topsoil. But the holes will have to be big ones. If your lawn just
gets a bit "noisy" and squelchy after rain, that could be enough; but
if you can actually see water half an hour after the rain has
stopped, then I'd say it won't.

You really should chat to your neighbours about it: either they have
the same problem, and can tell you what they did about it, or your
garden is the lucky recipient of all the water from their gardens!

Sounds like a case for a paved area to me: keep it clear of the
damp-proof course.

--
Mike.

Even a thin layer of sand/topsoil mix on my garden was enough to stop
the top level squelchyness as the sand helps the water disperse rather
than sit in a puddle. The OP said the garden slopes and I guess it's
just the lower part of the garden that gets waterlogged?