garden and lawn drainage solutions and systems

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waterlogged garden drainage systems and how to drain surface water from a lawn tips

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Got a soggy waterlogged garden that holds water after heavy rain?

When what you really want, is a lawn the kids can play on after school without bringing saturated mud into the house or maybe flower borders or a vegetable garden with soil thats not saturated after rain. Its a common problem, not just for homes and gardens built on low lying land or clay and compacted soil. Structures you or your neighbour have added to your garden, like retaining walls, footing for house extensions and garden patios can all divert water.

Our gravel drain system (based on french drains) installed under the turf or garden topsoil will solve waterlogged garden drainage problems, even clay soil drainage. Garden drainage takes about three days to install and the area will be useable within a few days. Why put up with a lawn the kids can't play on and a saturated garden you can't plant in. The problem won't just go away.

Testing a waterlogged garden.
DIY test, dig a hole 24 inch deep x 12 inch square and half fill it with water. Leave it for a day. It should empty on well-drained soil, if it doesn't or if it fills and it hasn't rained,you have a drainage problem.

Heavy rain water can cause under ground springs to change direction. All sorts of things can contribute to waterlogged, soggy garden drainage problems. Even in well drained soil water will not soak away fast enough during periods of exceptional heavy rain and will run across the top of the lawn to the lowest point (puddling) but don't worry if it soaks away within an hour or two.

If it doesn't you have got a drainage problem. Garden drainage is a difficult problem to sort out but the good news is, it can be sorted, even clay soil drainage. Planting trees or shrubs in a soggy area of your garden wont work, unless you are planting bog plants, because the roots need to breath,they will eventually die, Willows grow on the bank not in the stream. Adding topsoil doesn't really work, you will need lots off it if you don't want to create even more drainage problems . You may also just shift the saturated soil problem to another area of your garden or to a neighbour.

The good news is a drain system installed below the surface will solve 90% of garden drainage problems. Ever since the Romans used them to solve drainage problems, not much has changed, perforated plastic pipes (holes at the top or bottom, depends who you ask !) came and went, French drains still work.

Why are they are called French drains? Although stone drains go back the Ark, they are actually named after an American, Henry French a 19th-century judge and farmer ( "a trench is cut in the cellar-bottom, two feet from the wall, a foot deep at the farthest corner from the outlet and deepening towards it, round the whole cellar, following the course of the walls. In this trench, two-inch pipe tiles are laid, and carefully covered with tan-bark, and the trenches filled with the earth. This tile drain [is] connected with the outlet drain 18 inches under ground, and the earth leveled over the whole." )

How much does garden and lawn drainage cost for a small to medium garden? About �1600.
garden drainage contractor and installers,turf layers and landscape quote available in Weston super mare,Bristol,Bath,Taunton,Yeovil,Wells,and all towns in Somerset, North Somerset,Devon,Wiltshire,Dorset,Berkshire and London .

How to drain surface water from a waterlogged landscaped garden or garden lawn
DIY tips installing your own garden drainage further down the page.

Soggy compacted lawn tip Use your hollow-tine aerator to spike soggy patches then brush grit sand over the area working into the holes to improve condition and help surface drainage.

What are the main reasons for poor garden drainage problems?

Why doesn't surface rain water drain away?

One of the reasons for soggy lawns and a waterlogged garden problem is compacted soil combined with the mixing of sub-soil and topsoil when the house was built. Some drainage problems however are not man made the soil may be clay (surface cracks up when its dry) and a lot of housing is being built on clay. On clay and other water retentive soils, the flow of water though the soil is very slow, this can be made worse by dips in the surface allowing water to puddle. You can carry out a simple test if you have a waterlogged garden or soggy lawn, dig a hole 24 inch deep x 12 inch square, half fill with water, leave it for a day, It should empty on well-drained soil. If it doesn't or if it fills and it hasn't rained, you have a garden drainage problem.

What can I do with a waterlogged garden and soggy lawn problem.

Replacing the top 6 inches of clay topsoil with new topsoil and returfing can help but is costly if it doesn't solve the underlying waterlogged garden and soggy lawn drainage problem. Instead its just shifting the problem to another part of your garden.

How much does it cost to get a garden and lawn drainage contractor in ?

French drain lawn and garden drainage is relatively low cost, costing about �1600 for a small to medium sized garden, including drains and soak away or connection to the surface water drainage system .

Or you can borrow a digger, spend a few weekends digging trenches in clay soil, lugging a few tons of gravel into your garden and getting rid of an equal amount of clay (what goes in French drains must come out first) I have included some D.I.Y.garden and lawn drainage tips on my site. Or enjoy your weekends and ask a garden drainage contractor for a price to install garden drainage .

Important. After the gravel surface drainage system has been installed.

Returf over grit sand, this will ensure the drains will work to there full capacity, If you are not laying new turf over the completed drainage system, spread grit sand over the whole lawn. Leave the tips of the grass showing, wait for the grass to grow through and repeat several times. Hard work, but you will end up with a level well drained lawn that's nice to walk on.

Bog area, water feature. You can make the most of waterlogged areas in gardens and lawns and install a Natural pond or a Bog area water feature filled with colourful wild flowers and maybe a Willow or two I have listed plants that love waterlogged soil on my wild flower lawn page.

How to drain a garden

Garden and lawn drainage systems and solutions

French drain.
Look for a spot in your garden at the bottom of the slope where the water could soak away. French drains should drain to a out-of-the-way area with sandy soil, through which the water could soak away, but be sure your attempt at DIY garden drainage does not shift the problem to a neighbours property . Soakaways on clay soil do not work as water will not drain through clay. If your garden is on clay the land drainage channels may have to connect into the surface water drain system. You need to slope the French drain to carry the water down to its destination.Dig a horizontal trench across the length of the slope (This is the worst part) heading in the direction of the soakaway. French drains should be about 6" wide and 12" deep. Before filling with gravel, line the trench with landscape fabric to keep earth out of the gravel to promote percolation of water through it , shovel a coarse gravel onto the landscape fabric. Wrapping the fabric over the top of the gravel, now replace the turf and you have built yourself a French drain.

Herringbone drainage
If lawns are waterlogged over the whole area Herringbone drainage is your best bet. Mark out the main trench from the highest part of the lawn, to the lowest. Then mark the side trenches to connect to the main drain, forming a herringbone pattern. The side drains join the main drain at a 45 degree angle. Use wrapped gravel as above Space side drains at 10 ft intervals for clay soil and 25 ft intervals for loamy soil. At the lowest end of the main trench dig out a soakaway at least 4 ft deep and link the main drain to the centre of the soak away.You have built your Herringbone garden and lawn drain. Bear in mind if you hit clay when digging out the soakaway, its not going to work and you will need to look at either connecting into the surface water drain system or possibly a ditch or stream running through or around your property.

Soakaway drainage trench
For lawns that are level and water lays on the surface, a soakaway trench could work. Dig a trench about 2ft deep and 2ft wide along the length of the lawn. Partly fill the trench with about 9in of brick rubble, then 8 ins of gravel and replace the turf.

Do not connect into the Foul drainage system, this is the drainage system that removes the waste from the toilet,bath, sinks, washing machines, dishwashers and showers.

You can connect into the surface water drainage, this is the drainage system that deals with rainfall from your gutters etc.

In some gardens ( garden slopes away from the house) it may not be possible to connect the gravel drains directly into the surface water drainage system and the rain water may need to be drained into a sump and pumped. I have included some basic information on the drainage sump and pumps page

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