Land Drainage

[Derrick Hughes]

Think this has been covered before ,but I have some land drainage to do and may struggle to get drainage stone on site ,are there any other options for backfill that will last other than stone , not done any test holes yet so unsure but it seems to be deep loamy topsoil over Clay for what I've been told ,top drain will be intercepting a lot of water from higher ground

 

[Bert Jansch]

I’ve heard of people using straw or turf, or pieces of, say, hawthorn. I’ve actually dug up old tile drains with the remnants of turf covering them.
If there’s any way you can get stone to the drain, I would do it though. I think anything else is a poor substitute. Then again, I live up to the moor in east Lancashire with heavy soils on heavy clay.

 

[stroller]

I used some linseed straw on a bit I did, the water is still flowing out after about 6 years.

 

[Blue.]

Terram above the pipe or Terram sleeve over the pipe.

Always good practice to cover with a bit of sod because any worms in the sod will head back to the surface,the drain starts working quicker.

 

[Flatlander]

In the US mid west and here locally in Manitoba no stone us used even in heavy clay. Pipes are sleeved with a screen for sand and soil particles getting in. I questioned it myself but was told the pipe was for lowering the water table allowing surface water somewhere to go. I do still think the stone makes for a great catchment area improving the efficiency.

 

[Blue.]

This stuff.

100mm Land Drain Geotextile Filter Sock Sleeve Wrap - United Civils Supplies

This land drain geotextile filter sock sleeve is white in colour and is suitable to wrap 100mm land drain pipes. Available in rolls of 25mtrs, 50mtrs and 100mtrs but you if require a shorter length the sleeve fabric is easy to cut to the length you desire. Alongside single-wall land drainage...

unitedcivilssupplies.co.uk

 

[Exfarmer]

Think this has been covered before ,but I have some land drainage to do and may struggle to get drainage stone on site ,are there any other options for backfill that will last other than stone , not done any test holes yet so unsure but it seems to be deep loamy topsoil over Clay for what I've been told ,top drain will be intercepting a lot of water from higher ground

Your grandfather, or possibly great grandfather would have used hedge trimmings. Check out “Stephens book of the farm”

 

[DrWazzock]

I used some linseed straw on a bit I did, the water is still flowing out after about 6 years.

That’s what we used. Seemed to work alright. Used it to keep sand out.

 

[Lakesdigger]

This stuff.

100mm Land Drain Geotextile Filter Sock Sleeve Wrap - United Civils Supplies

This land drain geotextile filter sock sleeve is white in colour and is suitable to wrap 100mm land drain pipes. Available in rolls of 25mtrs, 50mtrs and 100mtrs but you if require a shorter length the sleeve fabric is easy to cut to the length you desire. Alongside single-wall land drainage...

unitedcivilssupplies.co.uk

Problem with that is that the fabric ends up blocking up and a perfectly clean pipe never sees any water.

 

[Lakes Nash]

Problem with that is that the fabric ends up blocking up and a perfectly clean pipe never sees any water.

Don’t get one full width of the trench, ie if your trench is 12” wide get a 9” wide membrane

 

[Dry Rot]

Problem with that is that the fabric ends up blocking up and a perfectly clean pipe never sees any water.

Iron stone in the water will quickly block the filter. Now how do I know that?

 

[Spencer]

Iron stone in the water will quickly block the filter. Now how do I know that?

Yeah don’t use it if land produces Iron Ochre..

 

[Spencer]

Plenty of clay tiles laid without stone and work just fine. Can’t beat stone to the top to get water away tho. Our contractors Mastenbroek tracked gravel cart would take a full 18t load of gravel and go pretty much anywhere with it, so always a way

 

[Dry Rot]

There's a lot of good advice on this thread but it is only good for the soil it works on! All sand here and pipes just don't work long term. State the soil type!

Every time I go to town I pass what is quite literally a loch! It is a very large pond and the sub soil is all sand. The standing water is backing up and flooding a neighbour because the land owner does not realise it is because he has failed to clean out a ditch over 100m away for several years. In this sand, a ditch will pull water in from a considerable distance. The deeper the ditch, the better it works even when there is next to no fall. A functioning ditch would lower the water table which would in turn lower the pond level until it is non-existent above ground level. Plant and soil life can't live below water without oxygen. Once the micro organisms (insects, worms, bacteria, etc) die, the burrows they make collapse, soil structure is destroyed and an insert bog is the result.

A well maintained ditch will drain effectively for years. So well that those pink cheeked clip board wielders think it doesn't need cleaning because it's working. But the water table, unseen, is rising all the time and a stagnant pond is the result. Then we get a period of heavy rain and it "over flows" and floods. What a surprise! Just because it's below the surface and unseen, doesn't mean it's not there!

 

[Tamar]

If only you knew a good straw dealer that could supply some straw for your drains !!


Although I guess stone from Wales might be cheaper this year.

 

[Wellytrack]

Got to be a way to get the stone on site.

 

[Lakesdigger]

Plenty of clay tiles laid without stone and work just fine. Can’t beat stone to the top to get water away tho. Our contractors Mastenbroek tracked gravel cart would take a full 18t load of gravel and go pretty much anywhere with it, so always a way

Tiles are a completely different entity to plastic pipe. Plastic pipes need gravel around them at the very least regardless of ground type imho, stone right to the top of your wanting to gather surfaces water as well. Tiles rely on being porous to let the water in but do actually draw it a bit as well which is why they work when backfilled with the sh*t you dug out.

 

[puppet]

How about wool. Takes a long to rot

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Yeah don’t use it if land produces Iron Ochre..

We have it here
It's worse with plastic pipes or it could be that my plastic pipes are on land that's worse for Red iron
I would not expect to find Red Iron on the Sussex Downs though , even if its Loam over Clay ?

 

[colhonk]

Tiles rely on being porous to let the water in but do actually draw it a bit as well

Sorry to tell you BUT,that is a myth, Clay tiles are not porous, the only way for water to get into the drain is through the gap between pipes, FACT, verified to us by the Tile manufacturer years ago when we were laying them,told NOT to push them tight together, before plastic came into its own, and also verified by customers whom we laid part field with clay tiles and other half with plastic, they never wanted clay again.
WHAT are your roof pan tiles made of and how? the exact same material as your clay tiles, fired in the same way as well, Does the water soak through the roof ? No.
Sorry to dissapoint you but just stating facts.

For lighter soils plastic pipe used to be able to be got with shorter narrower slots so the pipe did not fill up so fast as well as the nylon sleeve.
Much prefered the cocoa nut bristle coverd pipe for sandy soil.

Iron ochre uuuurrrrr. short term fix only.