How deep should you dig a soakaway?

Dig a hole in your garden measuring about 300mm square and 300mm depth. Pour a bucket of at least 10 litres of water into that hole. If the water has soaked away within about two hours then soakaways should work very well.

How do you calculate the size of a soakaway?

A) CRATE SYSTEM Where ground has good soakage (such as sand/gravel) then the size/volume of a crate type soakaway can be calculated as follows: Volume = Roof area being drained x (50mm rainfall rate per hr/3000).

What is the minimum distance of soakaway from the building?

Ensure soakaways can be sited at least 5 metres from any buildings.

What is the best stone for a soakaway?

Our Soakaway Gravel Stone 30 – 80mm is perfect for filling a soakaway for land and garden drainage. In addition to preventing waterlogging and sustaining the life of your garden, a soakaway will stop damp from seeping into the property from outside.

What do you fill a soakaway with?

Always wrap the soakaway crates with a geotextile membrane to maintain the performance of the system. A layer of sharp sand or pea gravel should be put into place before the crates are lowered, then the geotextile membrane should be fitted inside the hole, ready for the soakaway crates to sit on top of.

How big should a soak pit be?

Percolation testing should be done when the groundwater is high and is carried out as follows: Drill a test hole 100–150 mm in diameter for the expected depth of the soak pit. If groundwater is struck before the expected depth is reached, the depth of the ground water is taken as the maximum depth of the soak pit.

How are Soakaways constructed?

A soakaway is simply a hole dug into the ground, filled with rubble and coarse stone which allows surface water to percolate back into the earth close to where it falls.

Can I build my own soakaway?

Constructing a basic soak away is fairly simple you dig a hole in the ground and fill the hole with gravel available from most builders merchants. (The 20m flint gravel from amazon is Ideal).

What are the requirements for a soakaway?

A soakaway must have capacity to store immediate run-off from roofs and hard surfaces and the water must then be able to disperse into the surrounding soil quickly enough for the soakaway to be able to cope with the next storm.

Where should a soakaway be placed?

Soakaways should be:

  1. built on land lower than, or sloping away from, buildings.
  2. sited at least 5m from the foundations of a building.
  3. sited to take account of topography, ensuring that water is drained away from the building.
  4. in soil of low permeability, only be provided where no alternative system is available.

What size gravel do you use for a soakaway?

There should be at least 150mm of 10-75mm granular material used to backfill around the soakaway, and units having larger diameter weepholes are usually shrouded with a geo-membrane to prevent the backfill material falling into the chamber.