Land Drains

Tenuous link to weather with this one, when we first moved into our house in January 2006, every time the dog came back in from being in the garden, she would have wet paws even if it had not rained for days as the land just did not drain as it is made up of very heavy clay with a thin topping of soil to allow the grass to grow, the only course of action was to improve the drainage.

poppy
Garden as it was when we moved in, first job was to put a gate into the fence so the mini digger can get in.
digger
Work starts on installing the land drains.
Trenching
All trenching done.
Backfill
Drains installed and back-filling.
rotovator
Top soil added and ground rotovated.
Patio
Patio base going in.
bin store
Beginnings of the bin store.
patio
Patio going down.
lawn prep
Edgings and raised border going in.
turf
Turf going dawn.
patio
Completed patio.
furniture
Patio area, note the gate in the fence used for the digger access.
lawn
Lawn growing well.

 

6 thoughts on “Land Drains”

  1. Hey! Really great work! Beautiful view. I’d rather use rolled lawn too instead of seeds as I did 3 years ago? because you instantly get cool lawn. But for my 800 m2 lawn it is costy(( Is drainage work well? Do you have high level of ground water?

  2. Hi,

    Yes the water table is very high and where I live on the Fens of East Anglia is reclaimed from the sea, so the ground is solid clay and swells when wet and cracks when dry, all a bit of a nightmare.

  3. Where does the water end up that is being collected by the pipes? And, do you have to ensure there is a fall on the pipes?
    Thanks

  4. Hi Andrew,

    Thanks for checking in, the land drain pipes have a slight fall to take the water away to a surface water drain which is also used for rainwater from the house gutters.

    Ian

  5. Hi, is the grass still growing well or does it have big streaks in it where the land drains are?
    Thanks James

  6. Hi James and thanks for checking out my blog,

    The lawn has since gone to make way for a cabin and planters, reducing the maintenance burden, however, the lawn did thrive after the land drains were installed, that said, when the weather was really dry and hot you could see the route the drains took and also due the ground being heavy clay, fissures would open up which would need filling otherwise you could break your ankle!

    Maybe I should have gone deeper, but the ground is so heavy I’m not sure if anything would have stopped the drain outline other than strong irrigation.

    Ian

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