Hi all
Renovating house to live in.
In the garden there is an area which when there has been any rain whatsoever, does not dry out.
It has been sludgy during the late winter and spring, particularly with the rain, and walking on it meant sinking into the mud about 8 inches or more. It was never solid to walk on. Puddles on the rest of the garden would drain and dry out but not here.
We have dug down as seen below, and at the deepest part we found that beginning at 0.9 metres was a bed of thick grey clay which appeared nearly pure with very little soil within it. Trying to dig further down into this cley proved impossible.
Once it rained again, the whole of the hole below was filling and not draining off while the rest of the garden was. A friend has loaned us a pump so we could pump the rain water away.
Once drained free of water, we turned the pump off. After this last week or so of hot weather, no water has returned to the hole, which tells us the water which collects here is rain water and not from a burst pipe, spring, or other.
I have enquired about getting a digger in from behind the gate to dig out the cley. However they are concerned that the cley could go down 2 metres or more and they feel this could affect the foundation of the adjacent outbuilding or cause some subsidence?
Some sort of soakaway was mentioned. However we don't know where the water could drain to or how? We believe there is some cley within the top soil before the cley bed too which would still clog up the topsoil if not removed.
Finally we are wondering whether we could fill with MOT hardcore and pave over, ensuring the paving slabs are angled towards the free draining part of the garden?
Any help on what to do would be most appreciated .
Thanks.
Renovating house to live in.
In the garden there is an area which when there has been any rain whatsoever, does not dry out.
It has been sludgy during the late winter and spring, particularly with the rain, and walking on it meant sinking into the mud about 8 inches or more. It was never solid to walk on. Puddles on the rest of the garden would drain and dry out but not here.
We have dug down as seen below, and at the deepest part we found that beginning at 0.9 metres was a bed of thick grey clay which appeared nearly pure with very little soil within it. Trying to dig further down into this cley proved impossible.
Once it rained again, the whole of the hole below was filling and not draining off while the rest of the garden was. A friend has loaned us a pump so we could pump the rain water away.
Once drained free of water, we turned the pump off. After this last week or so of hot weather, no water has returned to the hole, which tells us the water which collects here is rain water and not from a burst pipe, spring, or other.
I have enquired about getting a digger in from behind the gate to dig out the cley. However they are concerned that the cley could go down 2 metres or more and they feel this could affect the foundation of the adjacent outbuilding or cause some subsidence?
Some sort of soakaway was mentioned. However we don't know where the water could drain to or how? We believe there is some cley within the top soil before the cley bed too which would still clog up the topsoil if not removed.
Finally we are wondering whether we could fill with MOT hardcore and pave over, ensuring the paving slabs are angled towards the free draining part of the garden?
Any help on what to do would be most appreciated .
Thanks.
