bloaked soakaways

[panpiper]

hi everyone, can anyone tell me how to clear a blocked soakaway without having to dig up my blocked paved drive. we have a down pipe attached to the garage both back and front and when it rains it floods the drive and the back of the house. we have had drain rods down both sides but to no avail. we are not quite sure which direction the soakaways travel in, but we are certain that they are soakaways as they are not connected to any drains. many thanks great site by the way

 

[breezer]

as i understand it a soakaway is a large hole in the ground at least 1m from thebuilding (it may be 3) the hole is then filled it with rubble lwaving lots of space for water, which then soaks away.

if the soak away is blocked you will have to did it out.

how ever it may be the pipe to the soakaway is blocked or broken

a cctv inspection will tell you, or dig it up and see

 

[Richard C]

If you’ve checked the feed pipes are clear, they don’t feed into the mains drain & it really is the soak-away that’s blocked, I think you’re more or less stuffed. You will have to find/clear/repair/dig out the old one or provide a new one somewhere that will involve the minimum of disruption to your block paved drive. How old is the soak-away, who built it, if the drive was laid later were the feed pipes damaged during the work, are you sure there actually is one?

Unfortunately, many soak-away’s are little more than a not very deep hole in the ground filled with a few broken bricks & some rubble & usually nowhere near large enough, especially if your on clay! & if all the feed pipes don’t have inlet gully’s fitted, all the carp, moss & bird do do from the roof ends up in the soak-away & even a properly designed & built one will silt up after a few years!

 

[Richard C]

as i understand it a soakaway is a large hole in the ground at least 1m from thebuilding (it may be 3) the hole is then filled it with rubble lwaving lots of space for water, which then soaks away.

if the soak away is blocked you will have to did it out.

how ever it may be the pipe to the soakaway is blocked or broken

a cctv inspection will tell you, or dig it up and see

Just so you'r aware; I believe current Building Regs. require a new soak-away to be minimum 5m from the buiding &, believe it or not, it's now notifyable work!

 

[panpiper]

as i understand it a soakaway is a large hole in the ground at least 1m from thebuilding (it may be 3) the hole is then filled it with rubble lwaving lots of space for water, which then soaks away.

if the soak away is blocked you will have to did it out.

how ever it may be the pipe to the soakaway is blocked or broken

a cctv inspection will tell you, or dig it up and see

Many thanks for that but I was hoping to rectify it without digging the drive up, we've had drain rods in up to about 9 metres but it hasn't cleared it so it looks like a job for the big boys thanks for the advice

 

[panpiper]

If you’ve checked the feed pipes are clear, they don’t feed into the mains drain & it really is the soak-away that’s blocked, I think you’re more or less stuffed. You will have to find/clear/repair/dig out the old one or provide a new one somewhere that will involve the minimum of disruption to your block paved drive. How old is the soak-away, who built it, if the drive was laid later were the feed pipes damaged during the work, are you sure there actually is one?

Unfortunately, many soak-away’s are little more than a not very deep hole in the ground filled with a few broken bricks & some rubble & usually nowhere near large enough, especially if your on clay! & if all the feed pipes don’t have inlet gully’s fitted, all the carp, moss & bird do do from the roof ends up in the soak-away & even a properly designed & built one will silt up after a few years!

Hi Richard C many thanks for all the information, the soakaway's were originally laid by the builders when the bungalow was built in 1988, the drive was laid not too many years after that, but we have had drain rods down up to about 9 metres and still it floods as soon as any rain comes. I guess we will have to call in the professionals. the thing that confuses us is that if you pour water down the front drain, the level rises in the back one, yet on the plans they are supposed to go in opposite directions. Many thanks for your help anyway.

 

[Richard C]

Hi Richard C many thanks for all the information, the soakaway's were originally laid by the builders when the bungalow was built in 1988, the drive was laid not too many years after that, but we have had drain rods down up to about 9 metres and still it floods as soon as any rain comes. I guess we will have to call in the professionals. the thing that confuses us is that if you pour water down the front drain, the level rises in the back one, yet on the plans they are supposed to go in opposite directions. Many thanks for your help anyway.

Te 2 inlets are obviously connected with no apparent way out but rodding 9 meters! Are you sure that’s a soak-away & your not just driving into soggy dirt! Current regs. require 5m but, as Breezer pointed out, it was a lot less prior to around 2000 or so & I cant imaging any developer then digging more trench than he absolutely had to!

Try the Dyno pro/bog folks or whatever but, in all honestly, I think you’ll be throwing good money after bad. It’s not a sewer & has different probs. & they will do whatever they have to justify the call out; I fear you will end up paying triple digits cash for basically what we’ve just told you!

 

[panpiper]

Hi Richard C
many thanks for your advice, well they show as soakaways on the plans but without uncovering them I suppose we'll never be really sure. Anyway, we've decided to try and remedy the problem by diverting the water that comes off the roof so I'll let you know if it's successful. As for Dynorod - I think your right and we'll leave them in the phone book for the time being.
once again - many thanks
panpiper

 

[Richard C]

Hi Richard C
many thanks for your advice, well they show as soakaways on the plans but without uncovering them I suppose we'll never be really sure.

As already pointed out; a soak-away is basically a fairly large hole in the ground full of rubble to which the surface water drainage pipes should be connected; a long pipe with holes in it doesn’t constitute a soak-away, which maybe why your having problems.

Can I ask where are your proposing to divert the water to? Most water authorities no longer allow surface water connection into the foul drain so I wouldn’t advise that; you will probably be braking local by-laws as well!

 

[breezer]

just curious, why cant you have the roof water that would have gone into a soak away going into the sewer.

I could understand if it were the other way round

 

[panpiper]

hi breezer
cos we have no sewer pipes on that side of the house and to get to them would mean digging either the patio and half the garden up or the drive, neither of which appeal. so until a better solution comes up we are going to divert the water from the roof into rain butts and pump what we can from the gulley's - not ideal, but the only thing we can think of for now.
many thanks
panpiper

 

[Richard C]

just curious, why cant you have the roof water that would have gone into a soak away going into the sewer.

I could understand if it were the other way round

It gets a bit complicated depending on where you live, weather or not the public sewer is just foul or combined foul & surface water & how over developed the area is. Many water companies no longer allow surface water discharge into the public sewer system because it’s working at or near capacity & simply would not be able to cope with the extra water. This possibly has something to do with a total lack of investment by long since privatised water companies & that certain parts of the UK are now so over populated. A phone call should tell all!