Garden waterlogging advice

ColchesterFC

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I'm working on completely revamping our garden. I've been digging out flower beds and laying turf. The garden slopes gently away from the house towards the bottom of the garden. The problem I've come up against is that we have a patio and path that leads down from the house to the garden. When it rains the water runs off the patio and path onto the top of the lawn and it becomes waterlogged as the soil is high in clay. I've looked into the possibility of digging a soakaway but the recommendation is to dig down 1.5m and there's no way that will be possible as there's no access for a digger and I won't be able to dig that deep by hand into the clay.

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Has anyone got any thoughts/ideas/suggestions for how I might be able to solve the problem? Thanks.

(P.S. The patio is being re-laid as I just put the slabs down in a hurry for a rabbit hutch to go on, but as the rabbit has now gone I will be relaying it properly).
 

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Mandofred

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Could you put in a couple of French drains? Putting a couple of small ones in has helped our back lawn. Water goes where if you can drain it to the end of the property? Neighbour might not like it.
 

Old Colner

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If you are relaying the patio why not slope it all towards the house into a new drain installed at the foot of the house wall (like the ones the use in front of garages when the drive slopes towards the property).
 

Tashyboy

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Top left picture shows end of a building/ extension. What guttering do you have on that re down pipes.
 

ColchesterFC

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If you are relaying the patio why not slope it all towards the house into a new drain installed at the foot of the house wall (like the ones the use in front of garages when the drive slopes towards the property).

Patio slopes by about a foot from the house towards the garden. Would be prohibitively expensive to build up the bottom of the patio to slope it back towards the house, and all materials having to be hand carried down the side of the house into the back garden.
 

SteveJay

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Could you put in a couple of French drains? Putting a couple of small ones in has helped our back lawn. Water goes where if you can drain it to the end of the property? Neighbour might not like it.
I have successfully installed a french drain to solve a similar problem in our green, which also slopes away from the house but used to end up waterlogged in a gravel area at the lowest point. However, I am lucky enough to have some waste ground behind our fence with a ditch, albeit dry in summer.
I could put a pipe under the fence to drain into the ditch.
Installing a french drain which drains into a neighbours property is asking for trouble and, I believe, would constitute an offence.
 
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