Building Soakaways: The Benefits And How You Can Start

The excess rainwater buildup through driveways, gutters or French drains could potentially cause problems for your home, especially if allowed to filter through and reach the communal piping. Note that too much water could potentially cause flooding and bursting, thereby leading to costly repair work. Your property may also become waterlogged or compromised over time. Fortunately, building soakaways present you with a superb way of freeing up the drains and getting rid of excess water naturally. If you live in a region that mostly experiences wet climate, then building soakaways in your garden offers you a fantastic solution to curb any water logging concerns in the turf of your garden.

The Soakaway System Explained

The soakaway system, also commonly referred to as an infiltration gallery is a commonly used method to infiltrate rainwater underground. This applies whether the water comes from downspouts or barrels. The infiltration system allows water to sit, then gradually infiltrates underground, instead of draining or flooding storm sewers and other unwanted areas.

Why should you use a soakaway as opposed to rubble?

Building a traditional soakaway drainage system includes the collection and piling of rubble in the hole and around drainage pipes. While this is a widely accepted solution, using soakaway boxes provides numerous benefits as we shall soon discover below

The Benefits of Using Soakaways

Soakaways present homeowners with an incredibly efficient and adaptable water collection and dispersal method, as they occupy a minimal surface area and are fairly easy to build and operate.

Architects say they like how the drainage crates enhance the natural rainwater drainage abilities of soil, considering the crates offer a large surface area, which is in contact with land. Generally, their impressive volume reduction, as well as peak flow attenuation, explains their wide usage as a drainage method.

Soakaway crates require minimal manual work because the crates are light and much easier to transport. These crates mostly come flat-packed and users can simply clip them together for the desired fit. Unlike the use of ruble, there is absolutely no need for lots of heavy lifting.

The boxes come in a variety of shapes too. Consequently, a soakaway system can be constructed to a rain garden (the rainwater collected in the soakaway is beneficial as it provides additional water for your garden).

Where should you install the system?

You need to position the soakaway on particularly soft turf that allows the infiltration of excess water. Therefore, if you dig up a hole on a solid surface, then your actions will be counterproductive, as you’ll only be building a hole, which stores water and only overflows when it fills up.

You need to locate the pits at least five meters away from the external walls of your home. Choose a lower gradient such as a garden. If built on a tilt, the water will automatically flow towards the drainage system, meaning you’ll have very little digging to do while constructing the system.

Fitting The Soakaway Systems

When you decide to build these innovative drainage systems, it is imperative that you follow some important principles as outlined below:

1. Always make sure the drainage pit where you intend to install the boxes is five meters away from the buildings.

2. Before you add the crates, make sure the hole is higher than the water table. When the hole starts to flood on its own, it is lying under the water table, meaning any water that finds its way here will remain still and have nowhere to flow to.

3. The pipe the hold must have a drop of at least 100mm.

4. The diameter of the pipe should be 75mm or more.

5. Where possible, make sure the piping system is straight. Remove any bends that form during construction of the drainage system to eliminate any risk of blockage.

6. Before you start constructing the drainage system, it is important that you consult the local authorities. The system must adhere to Local Building Regulations.

7. Make sure the pit where you’ll put the boxes measures 1mx1mx1m underneath the point where the drainage system enters.

Soakaways present homeowners with an innovative method of disposing of rainwater from buildings by moving it from the watercourse or sewer. Remember, a good system must have the ability to store sufficient run-off water from the surface and the roofs as well. The water is stored in the chambers and then safely dispersed at a later time. With the right system, you can greatly benefit from a highly cost-effective system that allows you to live sustainably while doing its part efficiently by being rain smart.