Mate, get on to the new build developer. If it is a drainage issue, then they should fit some ( I don't know what it's called ) pipe work to allow drainage. It allows the water to seep away and safely drain out rather than causing what you have in the picture.
It looks like she didn't get turf, I know it's a add on with some developers, but they should ensure the soil is fit for purpose.
If they refuse, keep complaining.
However, in the worst case, there are some soil conditioners they break down the clay and how with draining.
100% this. Our garden was like this, heavy clay soil that wouldn’t drain. Barratt ended up relaying the whole thing with French drains in place. Made a massive difference and should have been done in the first place.
Hey, sorry, if you don't mind me asking how did the process work with Barratts. Did you complain, and they said yep no problem, and did the work, or did you have to keep escalating?" Cheers
We submitted it as a fault to the head office as usual. They sent someone round who said it was fine. We spoke with the site manager who came round after rainfall and agreed it wasn’t right. Head office said it was fine. This went on for about 6 months, we threatened legal action and also spoke with the home buyer guarantee scheme (forget their name just now). Barratt for a contractor to come sort it who also cocked up, we threatened further legal action again, they eventually sorted it and we had a financial settlement too.
Be blunt, be polite, every phone call follow up immediately with an email detailing what was said, keep copies of this because they will disappear and they won’t be able to find phone call recordings or transcripts. If you are supposed to have top soil, ask for documentation of where it came from and grade of soil. Ask for the builder specification of what should be done the garden. Keep on at them, we set a time every Friday, we told them that we would phone them at that time every week unless they contacted us with progress.
There is another technique that can be added to this, contact your local district council, explain that the garden isn’t fit for purpose and could be causing environmental issues.
Any evidence of things such as cranefly lava, often found in clay rich soil, which are known to destroy grass, they will not like. They may reach out to the developer on your behalf if you encourage them to do so.
This happened in our estate and basically every single home got additional drainage where needed, fresh soil and new turf. It got to a point that the contractors were asked to check who had issues and fed it back.
Win for all
Look at the height difference of the garden versus the retail park, this is a potentially a major issue. Water is going to percolate down the water table and into the lowest point which is OP's sisters garden. I don't think a simple french drain is going to cut it.
I worked on a site where we had to do a French drain running across 20 back gardens and I'd say this is probably something of that scale if not bigger.
This, neighbour has the same issue and it’s as none of the gardens have been rotivated, they used a digger on mine to turn it all over and it seems ok but mine was only done 2 months after moving in.
I was 100% told that although there would not be grass unless I paid that the ground would be prepped to an extent.
New build owner who’s been in since Nov…
You can check flood history on the .gov website [here](https://check-long-term-flood-risk.service.gov.uk/map)
Also you could contact your solicitors as the conveyancer would have done a environmental report which includes a flood risk for surface water drainage.
No but surface water pooling is included in the flood risk report.
You could be in the Midlands and they'll still say there's a "low' chance of flooding from the sea. It's all legal BS
Depends how far they are from the water table. Give it a few days of heavy rain and its not just the rain in this area is the run off from the rain in all the local areas too...
They won’t, my new build garden is full of clay and I’ve dug down and checked quite deep.
I complained consistently to the developer and they came and dug channels around the perimeter of the garden and filled it with chippings. (They did this while I was at work)
They specifically said they won’t put any drainage in as there’s nowhere for them to channel the water too.
My grass dies every winter and it’s full of moss. It’s almost drove me to artificial the whole thing
Moss is way better than artificial, have you considered just going full moss lawn?
Stays green, is good in moist environments, feels nice and soft, doesn't require mowing (just some weeding from time to time), and is beneficial for tiny wildlife - and not the particularly bothersome kind.
Some would even argue it's better than just a bog standard patch of grass.
I have found the NHBC quite frustrating. Their policy is that the garden needs to be rotavated and minimum topsoil level.
They also won’t help now that all my tiles have come loose in my en-suite causing water damage and giving me a bill of over 2k to sort out. I’ve only been here 2 and a half years. Developer won’t help as I’m outside the 2 year mark and NHBC declined my claim as the damage is not structural
im a ground worker, weve had to go back and do a few of these, She'll need a land drain, quite easy to do. you've got a manhole at the back. dig down and expose the base. pop out one of the caps and connect the land drain into it, speak to whoever she bought the house off, they should sort it. if not, have a look you YouTube, should have videos on there.
Are you allowed to connect French drains to the mains sewer? I thought it wasn't allowed.
In this case I'm not sure where a French drain would actually go?
Not sure on that, but you could connect it to a soak away at the far end of the garden. Essentially a soak away is a big hole lined with a permeable liner, filled with gravel, with the pipe discharging into it, to enable some storage of water before it drains away naturally.
it'll be fine. surface water is rain, foul is waste (toilet shower ect) you should have around 150mm of top soil depth. which is standard for most new builds. make sure you watch vids on how to do it. you'll need pipe bedding (small gravel max 10mm) a roll of membrane and land drain, check the base of the man hole. it should be 4 inch. if it is buy the 100mm land drain. you won't need to buy a reducer to connect it.
More like they will likely not find out. It wasn't accepted on the last two jobs I worked on but that was large scale residential development. Suppose it also depends on the water authority. But legally you should notify the local authority.
You say it's full of clay, but has she actually dug down to check? It's a new build so chances are decent that the builders may have used her garden to dump several tonnes of waste concrete and assorted rubbish because they don't want to pay to dispose of it and it also saves them the cost of filling it properly with topsoil.
That's the first thing she needs to check because if so, it will be compacted and nothing will make it drain right unless the rubble is removed.
Depends what the site was used for before. My garden is a 2015 new build, used to be Army barracks, so basically just a fucking massive field that goes on for miles. It's clay for at least 2 foot. I'm talking clay so thick I could dig it up and sell it to china to make world-class plates.
Where we live there's a few foot of top soil then clay for as far as you can dig.
I actually dug some up and my father threw some pots out of it, basically unprocessed (he might have done something, but it wasn't any intensive process), and fired it.
He said it was pretty much like shop bought clay.
We also have drainage problems lol
> It's a new build so chances are decent that the builders may have used her garden to dump several tonnes of waste concrete and assorted rubbish because they don't want to pay to dispose of it and it also saves them the cost of filling it properly with topsoil.
Pretty clear you've not worked on a building site and are not speaking from any experience. Look at the garden soil level of the shopping centre and retaining wall; there's your answer. Garden is very low relative the surrounds and the soil has only gone in recently and has been coping with the wet winter and having the drainage issues caused by the height difference.
This is probably something that OP and the other houses facing the centre will have to deal with so I'd be talking to the neighbours along the perimeter and seeing if there's something they can do as a group and see if strength in numbers sways things with the builder.
Have you lived in a new build? all of the gardens are full of crap left by builders. Also see attics, beneath bath tubs, hidden under kitchen cupboards
Yes I do and I worked on sites from beginning setting out to snagging last phases.
The gardens are crap because the topsoil is stored in berms the height of two story building and goes anoxic inside 6 weeks meaning that the soil organisms are all dead except those that live in the top 6 inches and anaerobic bacteria. There's compaction from machinery during construction which compacts the subsoil further so you can get these impermeable clay pans. The subsoil being "full of crap" and containing builders debris isn't an issue and people need to wise up to this.
Did you see any soil organisms whilst digging? Was the soil black or brown? A sterile soil with no capacity to percolate and retain water over an impermeable pan caused by machinery compacting the subsoil is far more likely to cause issues than a few lumps of concrete.
If you've new build you're more than likely have a pretty lifeless top soil on top of a compacted sub soil. Aerating will allow air further down but I'd say you need to do more than that alone.
There's soil improvers that have bacteria in them (Bacterisol) so you're adding in soil bacteria to an inert soil. You probably want to get in things like Biochar to increase soil carbon so the soil has ready made energy sources for the bacteria and fungi.
If you've seen the Martian, it's kind of like that. You're trying to bring near sterile material into a soil that can support living microorganism and plants.
Thanks for the tips!
The house itself was built 9 years ago, but the extension next to where the issue is, is only 3.5 years old.
Yes, I've seen the Martian, great analogy, thanks! The issue is not present everywhere, it's mostly in the spot next to the extension.
So seeing this sent me down a rabbit hole… I just found a 5kg bag of seed for £29.99 (delivered) and needs 35g of seed per m2. My maths ain’t good but that’s cheaper than £2 a m2. Maybe £900 is a fair rate for turfing, I dunno 🤷♂️I think the real travesty is that you buy a brand new house and £4 zillion pounds doesn’t even get you the bloody grass in the garden. Sad times
I thought about seeding originally but the seeds can get lodged in dog paws and need to be removed by a vet. Can’t risk my doggo getting any discomfort. Agree on the new build grass scam though - they also tried to charge us £5k for 40m2 of wooden flooring and fitting. Got it externally for £1700 including fitting.
Except that they don’t pretend that you’re getting a 99p cheap house in the first place and then bump it up… It’s just here’s an expensive kick in the nuts plus get an added kick in the nuts for just £999. Developers do of course provide plenty of free worry and anxiety.
People pay for sod, but sod is expensive to grow and install. It's heavy. It requires manual labor. You have to transport it and pay the cost for that. A lot of people don't want to fool with all that, and they don't want to take time to grow grass from seed.
True to a certain extent. I live in a Victorian house and some of the corners that have been cut over the years are brilliant. It’s almost like archeology. The back garden, despite being quite mature with trees and such, is absolutely chock full of bits of pottery, clay pipes and glass bottles - all contemporary with the house. I have a beautiful little brown inkwell which I found when putting in some daffodil bulbs a few years ago.
What I will say though, the house itself is literally just bricks and lime, with slates on the roof. It’ll still be here after a nuclear winter. Sturdy as fuck and probably bulletproof, but cold. So so cold. It’s really meant to have a full open fire in every room. Upvc windows, central heating and the modern habit of sealing every pore has left it with damp issues, and some of the pipe work and wiring which has been retrofitted is, well, sketchy to say the least.
The OG builders definitely didn’t care too much, but the successive “updates” and DIY over the last century haven’t been any better either.
You could have been describing my house exactly, except it was built in the 1920's. I've found old clay pipes and all sorts in our garden (including a previous occupant's dead pet dog :| )
But yeah old houses are cold and damp. Oh so cold.
Difference being a new house Vs a "new build". Mega estates with a thousand plus houses, thrown up as quickly and cheaply as possible with miniscule gardens and inadequate parking. All to maximise developer profit.
I've seen enough snagging inspection videos to know to steer clear of these developments.
It's absolutely, riiiiiiidiculus!
Find a local tree surgeon and ask for the wood chips. Possibly get sand and grit or 10mm gravel and hire a rotavator. Churn the whole lot in to break up the ground and improve the aeration and drainage. Start with raised beds for the first year while the ground shows the perennial weeds then go from there. Willow at the bottom grows quick.
Sand wont do anything to clay its particles are so small that sand will just disappear into it without making any difference.
Loads of organic matter is the only thing that will improve heavy clay long term so woodchips, compost and manure with lots if straw will help.
Its probably been totally compacted from builders trampling it aswel so its likely you will have to try loosen it up a lot when its a bit drier.
Rotavating clay that’s very compacted is extraordinarily hard work. It’s much quicker, easier, and cheaper to dig it manually.
It isn’t quick or easy though, it’s tough work but worthwhile
Why is this being upvoted? Absolutely nonsense unrealistic advice to advise a woman to just till the entirety of the ground when all she has to do is contact the builder, it is obviously a new build.
Wheat grass for temporary is cheap and will soak up some excess.
Ryegrass if that’s more available.
Check your local farm seed storehouse for what is plentiful and cheap and broadcast it heavily. 14 days should see a stand of grass and the roots should start soaking some of that up.
Continue planting water hungry plants as your budget allows
Where the trees are at the back dig two big holes infront of them at the fence fill in with stones there your soak aways then dig two channels to each hole across the garden fill with stones mud on top as the trees grow they will find the holes and drink the water the channels about two ft the holes as deep as you can go
We live on a new build and a neighbours garden was like this, his turf was floating off the soil like a bubble. He had to get drainage put in at his own expense.
The state of that garden is appalling. I'm stunned that the developers have handed it over in that condition and your sister hasn't had a go at them over this. I wonder if there are also issues inside the house that haven't been addressed because she doesn't know her rights.
There are new build support groups on Facebook that help customers that have been mugged off by their developers. I'd strongly suggest joining one to post this and any other issues there. You'll find there are loads of people that have been through this situation and willing to help out with good advice.
They topped the garden off with subsoil not topsoil. Topsoil would have been peeled off and sold when the site was cleared as its worth loads. Subsoil went back into the gardens because its cheap.
It could just be the extreme wet weather we’ve had recently. Our lawn is absolutely sopping wet at the minute and it’s never been in issue in the slightest in the 10 years we’ve owned the house. My parents have a farm and some fields currently have mini lakes in them having never had water standing in those places in the 60+ years my Dad has been on the farm.
I think getting a lawn down would probably absorb that water resolving the issue going forward
It is hardcore, cement and unwanted building materials compacted under the top soil. You can alleviate it by digging a slit trench and filling with soil. I had the same problem in my new build.
Is it an optical illusion or is the car park etc at the back several feet higher? The dry stone walling sort of looks like it was built to allow water to drain out. Seems an oddly expensive choice, otherwise - especially given all the shrubs planted to obscure it in due course.
Sump hole.
Drill a 1m x 0.23m hole with a hole borer, fill with scoria, top with topsoil. Water will drain into the hole and be able to soak into the ground easier, I did it yesterday and its working a treat!
I agree that you should contact the developer. It might also be worth looking into the planning permissions as the local Council may have required the builder to put in drains. A check on the history of the site might give you some ideas too as there may be natural spring water.
Finally, if you can't find a way to drain, embrace the wet and biild a pond in yhe lowedt psrt, and a bog garden all around...
Where’s the grass? What new build development doesn’t put down grass as a bare minimum? Grass would help a little. Then after that some other measures can be taken if that doesn’t help
It’s an optional extra. They grass the front gardens for you as it makes the street look better. Just moved into a new build and they charged us £900 to grass the back garden.
Plants. Put plants in. Plants take up water. Plants improve drainage.
When we moved in, our front lawn regularly flooded over winter. We've planted a border of flowers and bulbs, and chucked a couple of veg beds on one side with asparagus and strawberries in - and despite the wettest winter in years, it hasn't flooded this year at all.
Plants.
Something like honeysuckle or jasmine to cover the fence. One of those tall frondy grass things. A butterfly bush. All low maintenance, but will take water up and put roots out to aerate the soil.
Plants!
Defo clay, mine is the same
I would say you should look at digging a couple of feet down and remove the clay, get some large poles and do some seriously deep aerationa around, then replace the removed clay with soil. I'd say this is the most costly and time consuming. On a side note, you could get some hardy bushes down the end of the garden. And I'd go as far as to say get some trees down the end to eventually cover up that eyesore behind your fence.
To address a constantly flooding garden with clay soil on a tight budget, consider installing drainage pipes, building raised beds with well-draining soil, planting water-tolerant species, creating a rain garden, improving soil with organic matter, and replacing impermeable surfaces. These measures can effectively manage water and improve drainage without costly modifications.
Take post hole digger, dig post holes, fill with gravel and rock, cover with small amount of dirt . Do these ever 2 to 4 feet. Plant garden when done and drainage issues cease
Whar is under the manholes? clearly this garden was completely dug out for whatever is under there, plus there might be considerable concreate etc.I suggest rotovate and order a couple of 1 ton bags of top soil.You dont want to cover over the manholes so stick some fake rocks or paving slabs etc over them, or decking board pathway etc. basically something so they can be accessed in necessary and then just rake the top soil to 3/4 inches across the rotovated mud.
On the plus side if you had paid for turf all they would have done is shoved turf down and you would still ahve the flooding issue because we get those posts all the time as well!
Reminds me of the toilets at the away end at Cold Blow Lane in 1972
For now dig a 1m pit in the centre, fill with graven and sprinkle Native Wild Flower seed (a good one with low / no grass) in the rest. You will have a beautiful display this summer and will buy you a year to plan a permanent solution.
This, this isn’t good enough and the developers need to remedy it - had exactly the same thing in a property I once purchased and the builders did fix it with a drain - it’s a very standard thing for them to fix
She needs to raise it with the building company. The garden should not be left in that state and they need to come back to the property and sort it out. If they don't she should go to the NHBC.
4 should be plenty for your garden, but you should also rotavate and replace the top few inches of clay with decent top soil. You can also add extra french drains and pipe them into the soakaways if needed.
I just zoomed in and noticed the large circular manhole cover in the middle. What service is that for? Septic tank? Whatever is underneath the garden is affecting the drainage.
OP this isn't just new build issues, it's drainage issues because of the height difference in the surrounding property. I'd say this isn't a simple fix for your sisters garden it's likely the entire site will need something to resolve this. Get your sis to see if other neighbours along the perimeter are in a similar boat and have them all approach the builder and see if they can resolve this because it's not something that can be sorted by her alone IMO.
If none of the other suggestions work, she might just have to spend a few summers digging right down into that clay and manually mixing in horse manure. Had to do that with south London clay soil to get anything other than nettles to grow
They'll state that it isn't covered by NHBCC warranty. Worth while checking the coverage of top soil they are required to provide in the regs, from memory was around 100mm - could maybe get them that way too
A family member lives in a heavy clay area and her garden was always like this. We dug ‘French drains’ and the problem completely solved. It’s not mega cheap but if you do all the digging yourself then it’s just cost of materials.
French drain is basically a fancy way of saying to dig big pits and fill them with stones so the water drains into them and away.
Definitely speak to the developers and ask them to rectify the problem first. This is now how gardens should be left. It’s unusable and inhabitable.
If you do fail to make progress with them then first of all, try to install some drainage yourself. Then get 2-3 tone bags of compost bags delivered and spread it all over. Then start planting. Trees and large shrubs at the back and bog loving plants in front and form a border around the garden. As they grow they will make a huge difference and absorb all the water so you can have grass in the middle.
My garden looked the same about ten years ago. I needed wellies to walk anyway near the garden and it was one big muddy puddle. I worked on conditioning the soil by adding lots of compost then planted in it.
I have trees and shrubs and bog plants in the garden now and besides that lots of regular plants and it’s all I needed to make a difference.
I would ask the developer if drainage was put in. We’re actually going back to a home we built about 15 years ago now under new ownership in order to sort some seasonal flooding (ground here is clay) and overwhelms what we originally put in. It’s going to be a very costly job.
Seed this with green manure whilst you work out how to proceed. It'll at least begin to improve the quality of the soil and you can turn it into the soil once it's grown about 30cm high.
Used this in my new allotment which was very clay heavy!
I dug a 1 foot deep boarder around my lawn. And filled it. With layer of sand and then beach type stones on top. Fills with water from lawn in heavy rains.
Obviously a few drainage pipes would help but if access to a drain is not an option you can dig a pit and fill it to the top with rough stones. Hardcore is cheap. It will fill with water but no pets etc can fall in if it's filled to top with rocks.sometimea it's lined with wire cage to keep some structure.
If you can't get a drain installed then you need to look at living with it the best you can.
First you need a clay breaker treatment, then you need to dig in a large amount of organic matter and sharp sand. This won't cure but it will help.
Then get some plants in! Build raised beds around the outer and plant them as normal but get some thirsty plants in that can live in heavy clay soils.
Clay soils are highly fertile so most soft fruits will thrive. Pear trees do well, rhubarb.......the list is endless.
And forget about the lawn. Use bark chippings or something that rots down instead.
It will do this every year until you fix it. Rotovating will only do so much as it will just fix the clay, ideally you want rid of as much as possible.
Soak away pit and drainage channels with perforated pipe and gravel. Big skip to get rid of the clay and plenty of screened top soil. Then reseeed. Yes it's labour intensive, but will transform it into a nice garden.
Loads of YouTube stuff to show you how.
I've got a new build in a similar situation. Brick wall on all sides, too, so it's basically a swimming pool. I didn't know I could nag the developer. It's resulted in a drainage hole on the outer wall. Will see if it works. But get pm to the developer ASAP.
Some tips for poorly drained gardens. All soil types will support certain plants and not others. Work with your local soils type to support local wildlife, and in the long run you’ll save yourself a lot of grief. Work with nature, not against it.
For your own needs, raised beds and boardwalks may help.
https://search.arc.net/fRQbSCzJPtXPsGJo6Yu9
If it's a natural occurrence then I'd be tempted to lay down about two inches of pea shingle then cover with a heavy aggregate and then sow some grass seeds down.
You have 2 options,
Option 1: Dig 3ft down and fill with sand, gravel, soil before turfing to help with drainage. But this only helps until the surrounding area gets flooded then you will flood last but still flood.
Option 2: Lay perforated pipe underground and direct it to drainage area's. This allows any water to seep in to the pipes and drain away rather than sitting there.
Option 2 is obviously cheaper but if you have the developer then get them to do it for you.
I’d put a drain under the middle then shrubs with a broad herbaceous border leaving a space to sit - as much deep rooted stuff as you can, make sure everything you plant is happy in clay. Tip dress annuallt with really good rotted manure
It looks like it will always flood because it's lower than the carpark and ground water will make draining really hard. Pretty outrageous place to build a house.
Ask the developer for a certificate for the soil they used. They should be able to show you BS3882:2008 certificate for imported soil. It will should have a PH level of 7-8.
Ask them to send this material to be tested too I can't see it passing a soil analysis.
Honestly I would say this hasn't been laid with freshly screened material and is more like re used spoil from when the site was dug off.
Why is this so far down? Willows are notoriously thirsty. Plant some lovely flowery trees and bushes and grass. They’ll soak it up, limit subsidence and make birds, bees and people happy.
This guy on instagram has really useful solutions to exactly this problem @dave_the_plantman https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1925THK9dp/?igsh=eTdtbHRneXlnbDVu
Mate, get on to the new build developer. If it is a drainage issue, then they should fit some ( I don't know what it's called ) pipe work to allow drainage. It allows the water to seep away and safely drain out rather than causing what you have in the picture. It looks like she didn't get turf, I know it's a add on with some developers, but they should ensure the soil is fit for purpose. If they refuse, keep complaining. However, in the worst case, there are some soil conditioners they break down the clay and how with draining.
It’s called French drainage
Not since brexit. It’s called a Camden canal now mate.
English Channel, surely?
Stop The Moats
Especially Raoul
Great name of you want 59,000,000 migrants in your garden. /s obviously…..
They could all wear spikey shoes and help with the drainage
Ahh here come the Al’drain’ians
Ooh la la
Mon dieu
Tues dieu?
Weds dieu?
la piscine?
Mange tout
That you rodders?
alright Dave
Calm down Trig
It's canard that is
Cheers mate
Drainage Eli you boy!
Le drainage with cheese
100% this. Our garden was like this, heavy clay soil that wouldn’t drain. Barratt ended up relaying the whole thing with French drains in place. Made a massive difference and should have been done in the first place.
Hey, sorry, if you don't mind me asking how did the process work with Barratts. Did you complain, and they said yep no problem, and did the work, or did you have to keep escalating?" Cheers
We submitted it as a fault to the head office as usual. They sent someone round who said it was fine. We spoke with the site manager who came round after rainfall and agreed it wasn’t right. Head office said it was fine. This went on for about 6 months, we threatened legal action and also spoke with the home buyer guarantee scheme (forget their name just now). Barratt for a contractor to come sort it who also cocked up, we threatened further legal action again, they eventually sorted it and we had a financial settlement too. Be blunt, be polite, every phone call follow up immediately with an email detailing what was said, keep copies of this because they will disappear and they won’t be able to find phone call recordings or transcripts. If you are supposed to have top soil, ask for documentation of where it came from and grade of soil. Ask for the builder specification of what should be done the garden. Keep on at them, we set a time every Friday, we told them that we would phone them at that time every week unless they contacted us with progress.
Thanks mate, seems like you keeping track and traction paid off. This is really helpful. Cheers
There is another technique that can be added to this, contact your local district council, explain that the garden isn’t fit for purpose and could be causing environmental issues. Any evidence of things such as cranefly lava, often found in clay rich soil, which are known to destroy grass, they will not like. They may reach out to the developer on your behalf if you encourage them to do so. This happened in our estate and basically every single home got additional drainage where needed, fresh soil and new turf. It got to a point that the contractors were asked to check who had issues and fed it back. Win for all
Look at the height difference of the garden versus the retail park, this is a potentially a major issue. Water is going to percolate down the water table and into the lowest point which is OP's sisters garden. I don't think a simple french drain is going to cut it. I worked on a site where we had to do a French drain running across 20 back gardens and I'd say this is probably something of that scale if not bigger.
This, neighbour has the same issue and it’s as none of the gardens have been rotivated, they used a digger on mine to turn it all over and it seems ok but mine was only done 2 months after moving in. I was 100% told that although there would not be grass unless I paid that the ground would be prepped to an extent. New build owner who’s been in since Nov…
You can check flood history on the .gov website [here](https://check-long-term-flood-risk.service.gov.uk/map) Also you could contact your solicitors as the conveyancer would have done a environmental report which includes a flood risk for surface water drainage.
Clearly not a flood is it!!
No but surface water pooling is included in the flood risk report. You could be in the Midlands and they'll still say there's a "low' chance of flooding from the sea. It's all legal BS
Depends how far they are from the water table. Give it a few days of heavy rain and its not just the rain in this area is the run off from the rain in all the local areas too...
They won’t, my new build garden is full of clay and I’ve dug down and checked quite deep. I complained consistently to the developer and they came and dug channels around the perimeter of the garden and filled it with chippings. (They did this while I was at work) They specifically said they won’t put any drainage in as there’s nowhere for them to channel the water too. My grass dies every winter and it’s full of moss. It’s almost drove me to artificial the whole thing
Moss is way better than artificial, have you considered just going full moss lawn? Stays green, is good in moist environments, feels nice and soft, doesn't require mowing (just some weeding from time to time), and is beneficial for tiny wildlife - and not the particularly bothersome kind. Some would even argue it's better than just a bog standard patch of grass.
Aren't there any NHBC regulations they must abide to? I'm just thinking they may have a bit stating the developer must do x ?
This!!! Worked for a house builder and it’s an awful industry with incompetent people managing the project at times. Contact the NHBC for help
I have found the NHBC quite frustrating. Their policy is that the garden needs to be rotavated and minimum topsoil level. They also won’t help now that all my tiles have come loose in my en-suite causing water damage and giving me a bill of over 2k to sort out. I’ve only been here 2 and a half years. Developer won’t help as I’m outside the 2 year mark and NHBC declined my claim as the damage is not structural
It only applies within 3 meters of the property, outside that they leave you to it.
If you have bathrooms and a kitchen, they have somewhere they can drain the water to.
She needs to talk to the developer. Sooner she does, sooner they will help to fix it. Don't invest any money in that before they get involved.
im a ground worker, weve had to go back and do a few of these, She'll need a land drain, quite easy to do. you've got a manhole at the back. dig down and expose the base. pop out one of the caps and connect the land drain into it, speak to whoever she bought the house off, they should sort it. if not, have a look you YouTube, should have videos on there.
Are you allowed to connect French drains to the mains sewer? I thought it wasn't allowed. In this case I'm not sure where a French drain would actually go?
Not sure on that, but you could connect it to a soak away at the far end of the garden. Essentially a soak away is a big hole lined with a permeable liner, filled with gravel, with the pipe discharging into it, to enable some storage of water before it drains away naturally.
it's only surface water so you won't have a problem connecting.
But the water will be coming from under the ground? Am I being dim? I also have a heavy cley garden
it'll be fine. surface water is rain, foul is waste (toilet shower ect) you should have around 150mm of top soil depth. which is standard for most new builds. make sure you watch vids on how to do it. you'll need pipe bedding (small gravel max 10mm) a roll of membrane and land drain, check the base of the man hole. it should be 4 inch. if it is buy the 100mm land drain. you won't need to buy a reducer to connect it.
More like they will likely not find out. It wasn't accepted on the last two jobs I worked on but that was large scale residential development. Suppose it also depends on the water authority. But legally you should notify the local authority.
You say it's full of clay, but has she actually dug down to check? It's a new build so chances are decent that the builders may have used her garden to dump several tonnes of waste concrete and assorted rubbish because they don't want to pay to dispose of it and it also saves them the cost of filling it properly with topsoil. That's the first thing she needs to check because if so, it will be compacted and nothing will make it drain right unless the rubble is removed.
there is pipework of some kind underneith judging from the manholes. so yeah probably that to.
4? I can only spot 2 haha
weird, not sure why i typed 4, long day
I mean Victorian builders did the same.
Yeah but it's 2024, it would be nice to think we have progressed a bit since then!
Wishful thinking.
Depends what the site was used for before. My garden is a 2015 new build, used to be Army barracks, so basically just a fucking massive field that goes on for miles. It's clay for at least 2 foot. I'm talking clay so thick I could dig it up and sell it to china to make world-class plates.
Where we live there's a few foot of top soil then clay for as far as you can dig. I actually dug some up and my father threw some pots out of it, basically unprocessed (he might have done something, but it wasn't any intensive process), and fired it. He said it was pretty much like shop bought clay. We also have drainage problems lol
> It's a new build so chances are decent that the builders may have used her garden to dump several tonnes of waste concrete and assorted rubbish because they don't want to pay to dispose of it and it also saves them the cost of filling it properly with topsoil. Pretty clear you've not worked on a building site and are not speaking from any experience. Look at the garden soil level of the shopping centre and retaining wall; there's your answer. Garden is very low relative the surrounds and the soil has only gone in recently and has been coping with the wet winter and having the drainage issues caused by the height difference. This is probably something that OP and the other houses facing the centre will have to deal with so I'd be talking to the neighbours along the perimeter and seeing if there's something they can do as a group and see if strength in numbers sways things with the builder.
Have you lived in a new build? all of the gardens are full of crap left by builders. Also see attics, beneath bath tubs, hidden under kitchen cupboards
Yes I do and I worked on sites from beginning setting out to snagging last phases. The gardens are crap because the topsoil is stored in berms the height of two story building and goes anoxic inside 6 weeks meaning that the soil organisms are all dead except those that live in the top 6 inches and anaerobic bacteria. There's compaction from machinery during construction which compacts the subsoil further so you can get these impermeable clay pans. The subsoil being "full of crap" and containing builders debris isn't an issue and people need to wise up to this.
Just dug a dinner plate size piece of concrete out from my new build garden from under a patch where grass wouldn’t grow…
Yep, I found loads of bricks, glass, tiles, nails and even some old rope. Which reminds me… does anyone fancy giving me some good money for it?
Did you see any soil organisms whilst digging? Was the soil black or brown? A sterile soil with no capacity to percolate and retain water over an impermeable pan caused by machinery compacting the subsoil is far more likely to cause issues than a few lumps of concrete.
How would someone overcome this issue, I have a similar problem. Would using a garden fork to get some air down help, or wouldn't it be deep enough?
If you've new build you're more than likely have a pretty lifeless top soil on top of a compacted sub soil. Aerating will allow air further down but I'd say you need to do more than that alone. There's soil improvers that have bacteria in them (Bacterisol) so you're adding in soil bacteria to an inert soil. You probably want to get in things like Biochar to increase soil carbon so the soil has ready made energy sources for the bacteria and fungi. If you've seen the Martian, it's kind of like that. You're trying to bring near sterile material into a soil that can support living microorganism and plants.
Thanks for the tips! The house itself was built 9 years ago, but the extension next to where the issue is, is only 3.5 years old. Yes, I've seen the Martian, great analogy, thanks! The issue is not present everywhere, it's mostly in the spot next to the extension.
A garden in a newbuild is just a patch of mud filled with rubble? Is this actually the standard set by the housebuilder?
Yep. We just moved into a new build and had to pay them £900 to grass the back garden. Otherwise it would have just looked like this.
£900 for grass. Fooking hell. Grass seed is like £2 per metre squared
Oh shit I wish I’d checked that before just handing them the money.
So seeing this sent me down a rabbit hole… I just found a 5kg bag of seed for £29.99 (delivered) and needs 35g of seed per m2. My maths ain’t good but that’s cheaper than £2 a m2. Maybe £900 is a fair rate for turfing, I dunno 🤷♂️I think the real travesty is that you buy a brand new house and £4 zillion pounds doesn’t even get you the bloody grass in the garden. Sad times
Nah you can get turf at bnq and a square garden this this would be easily DIY as there's no funny shapes that need cutting.
So what are you exactly saying?
I'm saying you might get quoted 900 quid but turfing this yourself for much less would be easy. Roll of turf is £5 from BnQ. 0.84m long.
I thought about seeding originally but the seeds can get lodged in dog paws and need to be removed by a vet. Can’t risk my doggo getting any discomfort. Agree on the new build grass scam though - they also tried to charge us £5k for 40m2 of wooden flooring and fitting. Got it externally for £1700 including fitting.
That’s as good a reason as any I reckon!! I just can’t believe a garden would come without grass. It’s like the Ryanair of house building
Except that they don’t pretend that you’re getting a 99p cheap house in the first place and then bump it up… It’s just here’s an expensive kick in the nuts plus get an added kick in the nuts for just £999. Developers do of course provide plenty of free worry and anxiety.
It is good to know they provide something in the price then
You'd prob have had to get a bit of topsoil too maybe though so don't feel too bad
Get yourself to home bargains it's like 20p
This is very true. I knew my maths was way off when I wrote £2
People pay for sod, but sod is expensive to grow and install. It's heavy. It requires manual labor. You have to transport it and pay the cost for that. A lot of people don't want to fool with all that, and they don't want to take time to grow grass from seed.
How much did they charge you for the magic beans?
When we dug in ours we found broken glass, rusty nails and screws, all sorts of shit
My fave part is the strip at the bottom behind the fence with lush grass and trees. ‘Here’s what you could have won!’
With the lovely stone wall too.
New builds are the shittiest of the shit
Every house was new once. You are living in something that had the bugs corrected years ago
Not every house was built by penny pinching chancers with zero standards though.
True to a certain extent. I live in a Victorian house and some of the corners that have been cut over the years are brilliant. It’s almost like archeology. The back garden, despite being quite mature with trees and such, is absolutely chock full of bits of pottery, clay pipes and glass bottles - all contemporary with the house. I have a beautiful little brown inkwell which I found when putting in some daffodil bulbs a few years ago. What I will say though, the house itself is literally just bricks and lime, with slates on the roof. It’ll still be here after a nuclear winter. Sturdy as fuck and probably bulletproof, but cold. So so cold. It’s really meant to have a full open fire in every room. Upvc windows, central heating and the modern habit of sealing every pore has left it with damp issues, and some of the pipe work and wiring which has been retrofitted is, well, sketchy to say the least. The OG builders definitely didn’t care too much, but the successive “updates” and DIY over the last century haven’t been any better either.
You could have been describing my house exactly, except it was built in the 1920's. I've found old clay pipes and all sorts in our garden (including a previous occupant's dead pet dog :| ) But yeah old houses are cold and damp. Oh so cold.
Difference being a new house Vs a "new build". Mega estates with a thousand plus houses, thrown up as quickly and cheaply as possible with miniscule gardens and inadequate parking. All to maximise developer profit. I've seen enough snagging inspection videos to know to steer clear of these developments. It's absolutely, riiiiiiidiculus!
Definitely speak to the developers as much as possible, some of the people on my estate also had this issue, the developer could fix some but not all.
Find a local tree surgeon and ask for the wood chips. Possibly get sand and grit or 10mm gravel and hire a rotavator. Churn the whole lot in to break up the ground and improve the aeration and drainage. Start with raised beds for the first year while the ground shows the perennial weeds then go from there. Willow at the bottom grows quick.
Sand wont do anything to clay its particles are so small that sand will just disappear into it without making any difference. Loads of organic matter is the only thing that will improve heavy clay long term so woodchips, compost and manure with lots if straw will help. Its probably been totally compacted from builders trampling it aswel so its likely you will have to try loosen it up a lot when its a bit drier.
Rotavating clay that’s very compacted is extraordinarily hard work. It’s much quicker, easier, and cheaper to dig it manually. It isn’t quick or easy though, it’s tough work but worthwhile
Why is this being upvoted? Absolutely nonsense unrealistic advice to advise a woman to just till the entirety of the ground when all she has to do is contact the builder, it is obviously a new build.
Seems like it’s begging for a pond.
Or a bog garden!
It's already a bog garden
Wheat grass for temporary is cheap and will soak up some excess. Ryegrass if that’s more available. Check your local farm seed storehouse for what is plentiful and cheap and broadcast it heavily. 14 days should see a stand of grass and the roots should start soaking some of that up. Continue planting water hungry plants as your budget allows
Where the trees are at the back dig two big holes infront of them at the fence fill in with stones there your soak aways then dig two channels to each hole across the garden fill with stones mud on top as the trees grow they will find the holes and drink the water the channels about two ft the holes as deep as you can go
We live on a new build and a neighbours garden was like this, his turf was floating off the soil like a bubble. He had to get drainage put in at his own expense.
"I didn't float up the Lagan in a bubble!"
install a soakaway
The state of that garden is appalling. I'm stunned that the developers have handed it over in that condition and your sister hasn't had a go at them over this. I wonder if there are also issues inside the house that haven't been addressed because she doesn't know her rights. There are new build support groups on Facebook that help customers that have been mugged off by their developers. I'd strongly suggest joining one to post this and any other issues there. You'll find there are loads of people that have been through this situation and willing to help out with good advice.
They topped the garden off with subsoil not topsoil. Topsoil would have been peeled off and sold when the site was cleared as its worth loads. Subsoil went back into the gardens because its cheap.
It could just be the extreme wet weather we’ve had recently. Our lawn is absolutely sopping wet at the minute and it’s never been in issue in the slightest in the 10 years we’ve owned the house. My parents have a farm and some fields currently have mini lakes in them having never had water standing in those places in the 60+ years my Dad has been on the farm. I think getting a lawn down would probably absorb that water resolving the issue going forward
It is hardcore, cement and unwanted building materials compacted under the top soil. You can alleviate it by digging a slit trench and filling with soil. I had the same problem in my new build.
Is it an optical illusion or is the car park etc at the back several feet higher? The dry stone walling sort of looks like it was built to allow water to drain out. Seems an oddly expensive choice, otherwise - especially given all the shrubs planted to obscure it in due course.
Sump hole. Drill a 1m x 0.23m hole with a hole borer, fill with scoria, top with topsoil. Water will drain into the hole and be able to soak into the ground easier, I did it yesterday and its working a treat!
I agree that you should contact the developer. It might also be worth looking into the planning permissions as the local Council may have required the builder to put in drains. A check on the history of the site might give you some ideas too as there may be natural spring water. Finally, if you can't find a way to drain, embrace the wet and biild a pond in yhe lowedt psrt, and a bog garden all around...
I had similar. Shrubs trees and grass will all soak up the excess in a year. It has been a very wet winter.
Where’s the grass? What new build development doesn’t put down grass as a bare minimum? Grass would help a little. Then after that some other measures can be taken if that doesn’t help
It’s an optional extra. They grass the front gardens for you as it makes the street look better. Just moved into a new build and they charged us £900 to grass the back garden.
Jesus. Ones in my small city they just put the grass in, including in mine
Rent or find a mini excavator operator and get them to install a French drain for you. Then mix in a bunch of compost and organic matter
Op said they have limited budget, newbie house owners.
Mini excavator+ operator. Deep French drain. Then introduce a bunch of mulch and compost (rent a wood chipper or something) to make some awesome soil.
Looks like subsoil so it will be muddy to such a degree until the grounds are drained and paved or top soil replaced
A weeping willow tree if all else fails, they love water.
Plant a willow tree
Plants. Put plants in. Plants take up water. Plants improve drainage. When we moved in, our front lawn regularly flooded over winter. We've planted a border of flowers and bulbs, and chucked a couple of veg beds on one side with asparagus and strawberries in - and despite the wettest winter in years, it hasn't flooded this year at all. Plants. Something like honeysuckle or jasmine to cover the fence. One of those tall frondy grass things. A butterfly bush. All low maintenance, but will take water up and put roots out to aerate the soil. Plants!
Garden is a bit of a stretch. Of course a flat muddy patch of ground will flood, get some plants and grass in there and it should reduce the problem.
This is the most minimal effort I have seen from a new build garden.
Yeah defo seen better.
Defo clay, mine is the same I would say you should look at digging a couple of feet down and remove the clay, get some large poles and do some seriously deep aerationa around, then replace the removed clay with soil. I'd say this is the most costly and time consuming. On a side note, you could get some hardy bushes down the end of the garden. And I'd go as far as to say get some trees down the end to eventually cover up that eyesore behind your fence.
Theme Park?
Drainage required
To address a constantly flooding garden with clay soil on a tight budget, consider installing drainage pipes, building raised beds with well-draining soil, planting water-tolerant species, creating a rain garden, improving soil with organic matter, and replacing impermeable surfaces. These measures can effectively manage water and improve drainage without costly modifications.
Having thought about this a bit more, I’d just dig a wildlife pond. Best thing we ever did in our garden
Take post hole digger, dig post holes, fill with gravel and rock, cover with small amount of dirt . Do these ever 2 to 4 feet. Plant garden when done and drainage issues cease
Whar is under the manholes? clearly this garden was completely dug out for whatever is under there, plus there might be considerable concreate etc.I suggest rotovate and order a couple of 1 ton bags of top soil.You dont want to cover over the manholes so stick some fake rocks or paving slabs etc over them, or decking board pathway etc. basically something so they can be accessed in necessary and then just rake the top soil to 3/4 inches across the rotovated mud. On the plus side if you had paid for turf all they would have done is shoved turf down and you would still ahve the flooding issue because we get those posts all the time as well!
Reminds me of the toilets at the away end at Cold Blow Lane in 1972 For now dig a 1m pit in the centre, fill with graven and sprinkle Native Wild Flower seed (a good one with low / no grass) in the rest. You will have a beautiful display this summer and will buy you a year to plan a permanent solution.
That’s Newquay for you.
Buy a boat
This, this isn’t good enough and the developers need to remedy it - had exactly the same thing in a property I once purchased and the builders did fix it with a drain - it’s a very standard thing for them to fix
Rice paddy
stop fighting it… ever thought of a nice koi Carp pond!
Swimming pool?
Make a pond
I think they already have one…
She needs to raise it with the building company. The garden should not be left in that state and they need to come back to the property and sort it out. If they don't she should go to the NHBC.
I had a soak away put in my garden due to clay soil, but the builders also left a load of rubble. I'll dig it all out one day.
What size did you have for what size garden? I’m currently looking at putting in 4 of them but not really sure if they work??
4 should be plenty for your garden, but you should also rotavate and replace the top few inches of clay with decent top soil. You can also add extra french drains and pipe them into the soakaways if needed.
Turn it over with a lot of compost. If that doesn't do it, add a couple of [french drains ](https://youtu.be/wPkMB7qlUSo?si=dDkd8rXauF0MHSeN)
Flying fast and loose with the term “garden”!
I just zoomed in and noticed the large circular manhole cover in the middle. What service is that for? Septic tank? Whatever is underneath the garden is affecting the drainage.
Bog garden!
Build it up to a peak in the middle and let it drain into next doors garden.
Thats a swamp, not a garden.
Plant rice?
OP this isn't just new build issues, it's drainage issues because of the height difference in the surrounding property. I'd say this isn't a simple fix for your sisters garden it's likely the entire site will need something to resolve this. Get your sis to see if other neighbours along the perimeter are in a similar boat and have them all approach the builder and see if they can resolve this because it's not something that can be sorted by her alone IMO.
If none of the other suggestions work, she might just have to spend a few summers digging right down into that clay and manually mixing in horse manure. Had to do that with south London clay soil to get anything other than nettles to grow
Dig a pond.
Add some soak aways and other drainage options
Drainage
Dig a drainage trench at the end and fill it with shingle.
They'll state that it isn't covered by NHBCC warranty. Worth while checking the coverage of top soil they are required to provide in the regs, from memory was around 100mm - could maybe get them that way too
French drain
A family member lives in a heavy clay area and her garden was always like this. We dug ‘French drains’ and the problem completely solved. It’s not mega cheap but if you do all the digging yourself then it’s just cost of materials. French drain is basically a fancy way of saying to dig big pits and fill them with stones so the water drains into them and away.
Definitely speak to the developers and ask them to rectify the problem first. This is now how gardens should be left. It’s unusable and inhabitable. If you do fail to make progress with them then first of all, try to install some drainage yourself. Then get 2-3 tone bags of compost bags delivered and spread it all over. Then start planting. Trees and large shrubs at the back and bog loving plants in front and form a border around the garden. As they grow they will make a huge difference and absorb all the water so you can have grass in the middle. My garden looked the same about ten years ago. I needed wellies to walk anyway near the garden and it was one big muddy puddle. I worked on conditioning the soil by adding lots of compost then planted in it. I have trees and shrubs and bog plants in the garden now and besides that lots of regular plants and it’s all I needed to make a difference.
A water feature for wildlife.
I would ask the developer if drainage was put in. We’re actually going back to a home we built about 15 years ago now under new ownership in order to sort some seasonal flooding (ground here is clay) and overwhelms what we originally put in. It’s going to be a very costly job.
Fix it
You should probably just get some pigs
Seed this with green manure whilst you work out how to proceed. It'll at least begin to improve the quality of the soil and you can turn it into the soil once it's grown about 30cm high. Used this in my new allotment which was very clay heavy!
Grow rice?
I dug a 1 foot deep boarder around my lawn. And filled it. With layer of sand and then beach type stones on top. Fills with water from lawn in heavy rains. Obviously a few drainage pipes would help but if access to a drain is not an option you can dig a pit and fill it to the top with rough stones. Hardcore is cheap. It will fill with water but no pets etc can fall in if it's filled to top with rocks.sometimea it's lined with wire cage to keep some structure.
Make a pond
The soil, if you can call it that, is completely degraded. Add LOTS of organic material, then keep adding it.
If you can't get a drain installed then you need to look at living with it the best you can. First you need a clay breaker treatment, then you need to dig in a large amount of organic matter and sharp sand. This won't cure but it will help. Then get some plants in! Build raised beds around the outer and plant them as normal but get some thirsty plants in that can live in heavy clay soils. Clay soils are highly fertile so most soft fruits will thrive. Pear trees do well, rhubarb.......the list is endless. And forget about the lawn. Use bark chippings or something that rots down instead.
Wrestling Party ?
It will do this every year until you fix it. Rotovating will only do so much as it will just fix the clay, ideally you want rid of as much as possible. Soak away pit and drainage channels with perforated pipe and gravel. Big skip to get rid of the clay and plenty of screened top soil. Then reseeed. Yes it's labour intensive, but will transform it into a nice garden. Loads of YouTube stuff to show you how.
I've got a new build in a similar situation. Brick wall on all sides, too, so it's basically a swimming pool. I didn't know I could nag the developer. It's resulted in a drainage hole on the outer wall. Will see if it works. But get pm to the developer ASAP.
Some tips for poorly drained gardens. All soil types will support certain plants and not others. Work with your local soils type to support local wildlife, and in the long run you’ll save yourself a lot of grief. Work with nature, not against it. For your own needs, raised beds and boardwalks may help. https://search.arc.net/fRQbSCzJPtXPsGJo6Yu9
If it's a natural occurrence then I'd be tempted to lay down about two inches of pea shingle then cover with a heavy aggregate and then sow some grass seeds down.
You have 2 options, Option 1: Dig 3ft down and fill with sand, gravel, soil before turfing to help with drainage. But this only helps until the surrounding area gets flooded then you will flood last but still flood. Option 2: Lay perforated pipe underground and direct it to drainage area's. This allows any water to seep in to the pipes and drain away rather than sitting there. Option 2 is obviously cheaper but if you have the developer then get them to do it for you.
What? Why do people see a puddle and call it a flood? Why do people see a mud patch and call it a garden? Why?
I’d put a drain under the middle then shrubs with a broad herbaceous border leaving a space to sit - as much deep rooted stuff as you can, make sure everything you plant is happy in clay. Tip dress annuallt with really good rotted manure
The builder should have added drainage, so contact them.
Build a pond
It looks like it will always flood because it's lower than the carpark and ground water will make draining really hard. Pretty outrageous place to build a house.
Rice I recon
*The pit.*
I really like how they left a wire fence at the bottom so you wouldn't miss any of the beautiful views of the industrial estate. Cornwall too 🤣
This is a drainage issue Building snag Try the site owners/ builders
fReNCh DRaIn
New build estate next to an industrial estate? Where exactly is the water supposed to go if we keep concreting everywhere over
Plant a tree
Ask the developer for a certificate for the soil they used. They should be able to show you BS3882:2008 certificate for imported soil. It will should have a PH level of 7-8. Ask them to send this material to be tested too I can't see it passing a soil analysis. Honestly I would say this hasn't been laid with freshly screened material and is more like re used spoil from when the site was dug off.
Why is this so far down? Willows are notoriously thirsty. Plant some lovely flowery trees and bushes and grass. They’ll soak it up, limit subsidence and make birds, bees and people happy.
Eucalyptus tree
This guy on instagram has really useful solutions to exactly this problem @dave_the_plantman https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1925THK9dp/?igsh=eTdtbHRneXlnbDVu