Rainwater Drains

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

the rainwater drains at my house aren't really very good....and having exposed a bit of one of them I can see that the water is basically coming back out of the collar.
I had a company come out to try and jet wash them out but they couldn't unblock them.

I've got a quote for a new soakaway to be dug in the front garden (5M from the house as that's the regs these days).... however it occurs to me that the problem is the drain is blocked allowing the water to overflow it and I dare say that this isn't helping and may well be harming the house.

My Father in law has deliberately blocked his rainwater drains and forces his rainwater to run over his block paved drive down to the council drain in the street as he was having damp problems.

I'm wondering whether it would be worth just doing something similar and letting the rainwater drain directly into the ground rather than go to all the expense of digging up the garden and installing milk crates !

thoughts ?

Paul.

 

[noj]

I guess it all depends on what's covering the soil, exterior ground level and which way the ground slopes. Downhill, away from the house over block paving is going to be much better than a leaking non-drain against house, but if you're discharging onto something where everything then runs back against the foot of the wall then there's no benefit.

It is a pretty much no cost, little labour thing to try though if the lie of the land looks reasonable...

 

[plasticpigeon]

If it is just the gulley that is blocked then that could be easy to change. My house has combined drains so rainwater grey water and foul water all go down the same place. Is your rainwater meant to go down the drain? Have I misunderstood the situation?

 

[MatthewC]

Whatever you do, you must get that water away from the house. I had a couple of soakaways dug and don't regret the expense. If you intend staying there a while, then it's worth doing the job properly!

My Father in law has deliberately blocked his rainwater drains and forces his rainwater to run over his block paved drive down to the council drain in the street as he was having damp problems.

If that block paving was done in the last few years, that's actually illegal! Block paving is of the devil. If you lay anything now, it has to be porous (or have a drain to a soakaway, I think) so that rainwater doesn't go to the public drains but rather back to the ground (where it belongs). Mind you, I suspect that this is ignored by the vast majority of people (including "professional" tradesmen) and councils have insufficient funds to enforce such things.

 

[Pennyviz]

Dynorod can put a camera down, see what and where the blockage is - whether roots, plaster from renovations etc etc. They can put a root cutter tool down and reline pipes. Or you can do as I did and just dig up the blocked section and unblock and refit new uncracked drain gully trap (which I think fairly brutal rodding and pressure hosing had opened up).

A soakaway would need to be some distance from the house wouldn't it? so you would still need to get it there.

Penny