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Water Water Everywhere Severe Waterlogging If you think the waterlogging is severe, the builder would need to install drainage across the lawn. This involves looking carefully at any slope on the ground, however slight, and angling underground porous pipe diagonally across the fall of the lawn, so that as water travels across the surface it is trapped and soaks away into the pipes below.
These drains are called french drains. They need to be 18" below the surface of the lawn, laid on a bed of gravel and surrounded by gravel, and leading to a sump, or hole filled with gravel, which acts as a soakaway. You will need approximately one run of pipe every 3 metres of soil as a minimum.
If your lawn is absolutely flat, then the drains need to be installed on a slope underground. This can be done at any time, although bear in mind that walking over clay soils compacts them and makes the problem worse, so it's generally better to wait until warmer, dryer weather in the spring. If the water table in the garden is very high, the sump won't work. The water table means the level of water naturally found in the soil, and can be discovered by digging a hole in the garden and seeing if it fills up with water by itself over a few hours. For example, in low-lying areas near streams, there would be a lot of water in the soil, and a hole would fill up with water by itself from the surrounding soil, without you pouring any in! If the water table in your garden is high, then a sump would fill up with water from the surrounding soil and would be ineffective. You would then need to ensure that the drains led to a surface water drain near the house and ultimately into the sewer.
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