Boring holes in poorly drained lawn
Adrian Sims
of those 2-man petrol powered post-hole borers you can hire for about
30 quid a day to a depth of about 1.5 metres (diameter 8 inches) and
then filling the whole (to within 6 inches of the surface) with
gravel?
This seems like an easy solution - easier than hiring a digger and
digging up the whole lawn!
A.
robgraham
would achieve anything. It may be that the very surface of your lawn is
panned, in which case it might, but is the problem further down? You need to
investigate the soil type and whether proper drains might be necessary.
Rob Graham
--
Remove teeth to reply
Adrian Sims
>Unless the water can go somewhere when it enters the holes I doubt if this
>would achieve anything. It may be that the very surface of your lawn is
>panned, in which case it might, but is the problem further down? You need to
>investigate the soil type and whether proper drains might be necessary.
>
Each hole is like a mini soakaway and the water will go nowhere
particularly fast - however it will go to the bottom of the hole
rapidly and sit there until it drains through the clay. So the lawn
only gets waterlogged when the holes fill up - i.e. after LOTS of
rain!
Sounds like a good theory?
A.
Nick Nelson
> Each hole is like a mini soakaway and the water will go nowhere
> particularly fast - however it will go to the bottom of the hole
> rapidly and sit there until it drains through the clay. So the lawn
> only gets waterlogged when the holes fill up - i.e. after LOTS of
> rain!
>
> Sounds like a good theory?
Not to me I'm afraid,
If it really is clay, it won't drain away through it at all,
just evaporate. And if evaporation is indeed the only
mechanism for getting rid of the water, you would have done
better to have left it spread out on the lawn where the
larger surface area will evaporate it quicker.
Nick
robgraham
on their own. There seems to be some blind spot in some architect's minds
that when they design a house and there is no other suitable drainage for
the septic tank or gutters that they recommend a soakaway and leave it at
that. If the soakaway works it's because the soil is able to accept the
water regardless of the gravel. But if it's clay it won't do so to any great
degree and you can fill it with all the gravel you like but it won't affect
things. Imaging trying to pipe water into a large earthenware cup and, on
finding that it won't go anywhere, filling it with gravel in the hopes that
this will magically make everything better. Farmers have to lay drains in
their clay fields. They generally fill the trench with gravel to near the
top and water soaks from each side. But you're only talking of a few yards
between drains. If you've got a wet lawn you'll need to arrange for the
water to flow away every so often across the lawn and then maybe the water
would soak across to this drain.
It's a pain but you've got to be realistic.
Rob
cormaic
enriched all our lives with these words......:
>Would it help the drainage of my lawn if I bored some holes using one
>of those 2-man petrol powered post-hole borers you can hire for about
>30 quid a day to a depth of about 1.5 metres (diameter 8 inches) and
>then filling the whole (to within 6 inches of the surface) with
>gravel?
You'll be bloody lucky to get a hand-held auger to drill that
deep. They only work in soft topsoil: as soon as they hit clay, a
brick or anything remotely hard, they snap your wrists and go into a
sulk. :~(
The structure you are contemplating is known as a "Sand Drain"
and will only work if the bottom rests upon a highly permeable layer.
If it's on clay, then it's not a sand drain, it's a sump.
You need to investigate the structure of your topsoil and then
work out a strategy to improve the drainage. It may well be that
simple aeration and sanding will be sufficient, or you may need to
install a land drainage system, but until you know what's beneath the
turf, it's all guesswork.
--
cormaic Paving and Drainage Web Site
Culcheth http://www.pavingexpert.com/
Peoples' Republic of South Lancashire
cormaic CAN BE FOUND AT borlochshall.co.uk
Chris Hodges
Like everyone else, I doubt it. I've got clay soil on a serious layer of pan at
least a foot thick, hard work with a pickaxe to get through it. In pockets in
that, and below it - almost solid clay. Knowing that there was little I could
do to improve drainage (it didn't get too waterlogged anyway) I dug down to
around 2' below the soil surface, and put lime and gravel in the hole, before
putting the topsoil back. It does seem to help, but this was for beds rather
than a lawn.
Chris
Adrian Sims
<uk...@SODOFFSPAMcormaic.co.uk> wrote:
>Twas Mon, 10 Jun 2002 22:53:24 GMT, when a...@a.com (Adrian Sims)
>enriched all our lives with these words......:
>
>>Would it help the drainage of my lawn if I bored some holes using one
>>of those 2-man petrol powered post-hole borers you can hire for about
>>30 quid a day to a depth of about 1.5 metres (diameter 8 inches) and
>>then filling the whole (to within 6 inches of the surface) with
>>gravel?
>
> You'll be bloody lucky to get a hand-held auger to drill that
>deep. They only work in soft topsoil: as soon as they hit clay, a
>brick or anything remotely hard, they snap your wrists and go into a
>sulk. :~(
OK - but they do come with a one metre long extender bar! Perhaps it
would be interesting to drill one hole just to see what is down
there??
A.
Nick Nelson
> OK - but they do come with a one metre long extender bar! Perhaps it
> would be interesting to drill one hole just to see what is down
> there??
Absolutely. Since there is a problem, I'd regard it as
perfectly sensible, and hopefully a lot of fun, to explore
the sub-surface structure. This is the right scientific
approach and at only £30 for the hire of the power auger
I'd consider it money very well spent.
Nick
The Natural Philosopher
robgraham wrote:
I agree. I am on extremely heavy clay, and the soakaways just act as
temporary stores for the water...and teh ground gets waterlogged quickly
except, and this may be of interest, where I have substantial tree root
systems.
These don't work *that* well in winter (no leaves, no transpiration) but
in summer maples, polpars and willows - all quick growing stuff - are
pulling water out of the clay at top speed.
Conversely, the farmers 6 acre field next door, is land drained and mole
ploughed (every 6 years appx) and is always fully drained even in the wettest weather.
On clay, you cannot rely on rapid drainage to the water table. You have
to either get root systems above it, or lay land drains or something
down to whetevr run off systems are already in place.
Depending on the state of your lawn though, cutting trenches for
perforated pipe isn't that hard. Mini diggers are not expensive, and
great fun to drive, and provided you are careful to replace topsoil,
rough lawn will re-establish in a few months.
You really want to put them every 2-3 meters, and run them downhill - or
lsope the trenches - to your nearest ditch, or if there isn't one, do
what I did and dig a pond!
Damned willows are sucking water out of that tho.
cormaic
<nick....@man.ac.uk> enriched all our lives with these words......:
>Absolutely. Since there is a problem, I'd regard it as
>perfectly sensible, and hopefully a lot of fun, to explore
>the sub-surface structure. This is the right scientific
>approach and at only Ł30 for the hire of the power auger
>I'd consider it money very well spent.
>
For 30 quid, you can dig a hole 1 metre deep with a spade!
Have you ever used a hand-held power auger? They are a
bastard, there's no other word for them. I've seen big strong men
throw them to the ground in disgust - they are crap with a capital C
on anything but clean topsoil.
Now, a machine mounted auger, with a hydraulic drive and
proper anchorage is a *real* tool, but you're not going to get one of
those for 30 quid!
James Tayes
> Nick Nelson enriched all our lives with these words......:
> >Absolutely. Since there is a problem, I'd regard it as
> >perfectly sensible, and hopefully a lot of fun, to explore
> >the sub-surface structure. This is the right scientific
> >approach and at only Ł30 for the hire of the power auger
> >I'd consider it money very well spent.
> For 30 quid, you can dig a hole 1 metre deep with a spade!
Absolutely. Doesn't take that long, either - unfortunate if the
hole fills up with water while you're digging it!
> Have you ever used a hand-held power auger? They are a
> bastard, there's no other word for them. I've seen big strong men
> throw them to the ground in disgust - they are crap with a capital C
> on anything but clean topsoil.
>
> Now, a machine mounted auger, with a hydraulic drive and
> proper anchorage is a *real* tool, but you're not going to get one of
> those for 30 quid!
Nah. What *he* wants is a Banka drill. I've used one of these before,
and, with a few other people in the team who are moderately fit and
strong, they're great fun to use - he should have no trouble at all
in reaching the required depth. Can go anywhere, too, and even operate
in a few feet of water, should he experience a real downpour in his
area which floods his lawn.
Here's a URL for you:
http://supercode.com/tools/index.html
There's another picture of this wonderful tool in action at:
http://supercode.com/tools/banka_hand.html
N.B. swap the drill crew and the baler crew every so ofthen 'cos
operating the baler is knackering.
It may be wise to set up a barbecue and lay on a barrel of beer for
your team of workers after they've finished their exertions on this
crazy magic-roundabout drilling machine.
N. Thornton
Sometimes the sump holes you describe do the job, but by no means
always. The way to work out if they will is to calculate the volume of
water flood you get on the lawn surface. Calcualte the total sump
volumes, and divide by three due to gravel filling. Now, if your total
sump water capacity exceeds the amount of water you get lying on the
surface, the sumps may take that water away from the surface.
But...
if water is running onto the lawn from somehwere else and running off
the other side, the chances are it wont work. And it will only work if
the sump water drains out before the next deluge.
So the short answer is sometimes it works at clearing surface water,
sometimes it wont. It certainly doesnt compare to proper drains, but
might be adequate.
Regards, NT
cormaic
<Use-Author-Address-Header@[127.1]> enriched all our lives with these
words......:
>Nah. What *he* wants is a Banka drill.
But these aren't available for general hire in the UK. I've
only ever seen one, and that was back in my uni days on a geology
course.
Where are you? Canada-land?
James Tayes
> "James Tayes" wrote:
>
> >Nah. What *he* wants is a Banka drill.
>
> But these aren't available for general hire in the UK. I've
> only ever seen one, and that was back in my uni days on a geology
> course.
>
> Where are you? Canada-land?
No, I'm somewhat closer to you than that! When you saw one, did you
use it, I wonder? *What* a performance it can be, especially if you
hit something hard! The suggestion wasn't entirely serious, you know!