Digging a Soakaway

[Mark-UK]

Hi

I have got a bit of surface water around the sides of my shed. It's nothing too major but long term it will need sorting out. To do this I'm looking to dig a soakaway. I've included a pic of my back garden and the shed to give you a good idea of what's happening.

The plan is to dig a channel about the width of a spade, roughly a half foot to a foot away from the shed's side walls to a depth of about a foot (the two red channels in the pic). My back garden slopes downward away from the shed and it ends a fair distance away. There are a few things I'm not sure about though, so I am hoping someone might be able to give me some advice.

How far down the garden should the channel go? The pic shows how far I'm considering taking them.

What would be the best thing to do where the soakaway ends (the red circles)? Dig a deeper hole or just let it soak into the soil?

Should I run a perforated pipe down both channels or can I just fill them with small stones?

Thanks all

 

[Notch7]

5 metres away is the building regs distance -it is to be far enough to stop a noticeable increase in water near a buildings foundation.

You only want 1 soakaway really.

Standard 110mm underground pipe to the soakaway.

note if your ground is clay then a soakaway will act as a storage tank not a soakaway.

Either a traditional rubble soakaway or for a much higher volume use some aquacell type crates.

 

[Mark-UK]

5 metres away is the building regs distance -it is to be far enough to stop a noticeable increase in water near a buildings foundation.

You only want 1 soakaway really.

Standard 110mm underground pipe to the soakaway.

note if your ground is clay then a soakaway will act as a storage tank not a soakaway.

Either a traditional rubble soakaway or for a much higher volume use some aquacell type crates.

Thanks for the reply Notch

Do you mean the end part of it has to be 5m away? If not I'm in trouble as there's no way I have that space at the sides.

Not sure what you mean by I will only need one soakaway. Won't I need one on either side?

Could I get away with just a channel either side (assuming I need two) leading away from the shed? I don't want to have to dig a deep hole at the end of the channels if I don't have to, but I will if that's what it takes.

 

[Notch7]

Thanks for the reply Notch

Do you mean the end part of it has to be 5m away? If not I'm in trouble as there's no way I have that space at the sides.

Not sure what you mean by I will only need one soakaway. Won't I need one on either side?

Could I get away with just a channel either side (assuming I need two) leading away from the shed? I don't want to have to dig a deep hole at the end of the channels if I don't have to, but I will if that's what it takes.

if its not under building regs you can do it any distance, min 5m is the ideal I suppose.
5 metres is just from the building in any direction, it doestn have to be away from the sides.

generally on a house extension, the gullies are joined by 110mm pipe below the ground and then 1 pipe goes to a soakaway. in you case you could run a pipe across the front of the building and join at 1 corner with a Y

the pipe that run from the end of your french drain to the soakaway dont need to be very deep -obviously you need a fall though.

 

[Leofric]

It depends on the ground conditions and water table whether a soakaway is suitable for surface water disposal.

 

[Mark-UK]

I'm just going to dig a channel either side, about 30' down the garden away from the shed and let the water soak into the soil there.

 

[Ian H]

First you could dig a hole where you plan to have your soakaway, fill it with water and check it soaksaway ok.