ᐅ Garden drainage during heavy rainfall, like recently experienced in North Rhine-Westphalia
Created on: 26 Jul 2021 18:02
T
Tarnari
Hello everyone,
I have a question that I can’t phrase very precisely. If more details are needed, please ask.
Recently, during heavy rain in NRW, we had the problem that so much water fell that it couldn’t drain away, and after a while, it looked like this:
Here from the garage door
and here from the first floor looking towards the adjacent kindergarten.
This is the lowest spot in the garden, which is why water collected there.
In the end, the water reached 25cm (10 inches) high at the garage door. Fortunately, the door was watertight, and a pump prevented worse damage. We were lucky that the rain eased overnight, otherwise, the water level might have risen up to the terrace.
The soil is unfortunately very clay-heavy, and the water collecting near the kindergarten in the second picture didn’t help either, as it eventually “connected” with our pool of water, turning two ponds into one large one.
Tomorrow, our landscaping contractor is coming to check how this could be at least partially controlled in the future. Currently, there is no drainage, no soakaway, no gravel bed—nothing.
The current idea from the architect and the landscaper is to remove the lawn, excavate the area with a mini excavator, fill it with gravel underneath, and additionally install a drain pipe in the damp-proof course towards the terrace, connecting it to the terrace drain and the roof downspouts.
Does that sound reasonable? We definitely need to do something, but we don’t want to waste money either. We are willing to invest if it helps. We assume that similar weather conditions will occur more frequently rather than rarely in the future.
I appreciate any tips or suggestions. As mentioned, if important information is missing, please just ask.
I have a question that I can’t phrase very precisely. If more details are needed, please ask.
Recently, during heavy rain in NRW, we had the problem that so much water fell that it couldn’t drain away, and after a while, it looked like this:
Here from the garage door
and here from the first floor looking towards the adjacent kindergarten.
This is the lowest spot in the garden, which is why water collected there.
In the end, the water reached 25cm (10 inches) high at the garage door. Fortunately, the door was watertight, and a pump prevented worse damage. We were lucky that the rain eased overnight, otherwise, the water level might have risen up to the terrace.
The soil is unfortunately very clay-heavy, and the water collecting near the kindergarten in the second picture didn’t help either, as it eventually “connected” with our pool of water, turning two ponds into one large one.
Tomorrow, our landscaping contractor is coming to check how this could be at least partially controlled in the future. Currently, there is no drainage, no soakaway, no gravel bed—nothing.
The current idea from the architect and the landscaper is to remove the lawn, excavate the area with a mini excavator, fill it with gravel underneath, and additionally install a drain pipe in the damp-proof course towards the terrace, connecting it to the terrace drain and the roof downspouts.
Does that sound reasonable? We definitely need to do something, but we don’t want to waste money either. We are willing to invest if it helps. We assume that similar weather conditions will occur more frequently rather than rarely in the future.
I appreciate any tips or suggestions. As mentioned, if important information is missing, please just ask.
Here is some feedback.
We will have an excavator dig a hole about 1.50 meters (5 feet) wide, equally deep, and approximately 8 meters (26 feet) long up to the terrace. Gravel will be placed in it, followed by topsoil, and then grass will be laid again.
A drain pipe will be installed in the splash guard area, connected to the roof drainage system. Additionally, we plan to build a “chamber” where we can install a pump as a precaution in case the water level rises again.
However, the landscaping contractor clearly stated that these are only temporary measures to delay the effects depending on the amount of rainfall. 🙁
Apparently, nothing more can be done since all water flows to us from the daycare center.
Now we have to hope that they are also willing to take action.
At least the church is open to discussions. That should be a good start.
We will have an excavator dig a hole about 1.50 meters (5 feet) wide, equally deep, and approximately 8 meters (26 feet) long up to the terrace. Gravel will be placed in it, followed by topsoil, and then grass will be laid again.
A drain pipe will be installed in the splash guard area, connected to the roof drainage system. Additionally, we plan to build a “chamber” where we can install a pump as a precaution in case the water level rises again.
However, the landscaping contractor clearly stated that these are only temporary measures to delay the effects depending on the amount of rainfall. 🙁
Apparently, nothing more can be done since all water flows to us from the daycare center.
Now we have to hope that they are also willing to take action.
At least the church is open to discussions. That should be a good start.
If excavation is necessary anyway, would it be possible to combine it with a cistern? That way, you could at least collect some of the water for irrigation and might recover part of the investment over the years.
I'm not an expert, so please don’t criticize me if this is a bad idea.
I'm not an expert, so please don’t criticize me if this is a bad idea.
KingJulien27 Jul 2021 19:51Tarnari schrieb:
because all the water from the kindergarten flows towards us.Can’t you build a
Nida35a schrieb:
small 20-30cm (8-12 inch) flood barrierat the boundary to the kindergarten?H
hanghaus200027 Jul 2021 19:54The daycare center is not allowed to simply drain water onto your property. This needs to be addressed first.
I’m too lazy to quote each of you individually.
The rainwater cistern was also my idea, but unfortunately, we have an issue with the setback to the property boundary at that spot.
We also considered a flood wall. However, it would need to be built on the daycare center’s side to be effective. Still, we have some ideas. Our garden and landscape contractor has done something similar using root barriers for bamboo at a client’s place. That stuff can apparently hold back quite a bit.
Regarding the daycare center, see above. We want to address it there as well. However, there seems to be little legal recourse. We also don’t really want to push it, since our little one is enrolled there.
They are, as mentioned, willing to tackle the issue together. I think that’s very valuable.
The rainwater cistern was also my idea, but unfortunately, we have an issue with the setback to the property boundary at that spot.
We also considered a flood wall. However, it would need to be built on the daycare center’s side to be effective. Still, we have some ideas. Our garden and landscape contractor has done something similar using root barriers for bamboo at a client’s place. That stuff can apparently hold back quite a bit.
Regarding the daycare center, see above. We want to address it there as well. However, there seems to be little legal recourse. We also don’t really want to push it, since our little one is enrolled there.
They are, as mentioned, willing to tackle the issue together. I think that’s very valuable.
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