Drainage - How important is DrainageLandscape Drainage in your project is one of the most single important things that should be considered at the planning stage of your landscaping project. In Queensland and especially Southeast Queensland there is one thing that you can count on and that is you can guarantee and some stage you will get an average monthly rainfall deluge in one single night. The damage that can be caused by the lack of drainage in and around your house can be not only traumatic but rather expensive. Items and areas of consideration for drainage within your landscape project should be the following:
Drainage in Retaining Walls All Retaining Walls should contain some form of Drainage. The ideal construction method should be that the wall contains at the base a 100mm socked Ag pipe. The Ag pipe aids in removal of waste water and thus reduces the pressure placed on the wall. If drainage is not placed at the base of the wall there is a strong possibility that the wall can be jeopardised and weaken the wall structure and a "blow out" can occur resulting in the wall being buckled or even worst knocked over . Retaining walls should be lined with Geo textile fabric. Tests have shown that by placing Geo textile fabric on the rear of the wall it can reduce the pressure placed on the wall considerably. Geo textile fabric also directs the flow of water downward and toward the waiting socked Ag pipe to remove the water to storm-water catchment pits. All walls should be backfilled using 10mm -20mm Drainage stone. The placement of this layer of drainage stone behind the wall also aids in the drainage and reduces the amount of load placed on a wall during wet periods. Stone layers also aid in filtering and cleaning of the water that mixes with sand, silt and clay which can be detrimentally dangerous if drainage lines are blocked with this material. Blocked drains are useless drains and will achieve no results in moving water away from the area in question. Finally if a wall has a battered angle of soil leading away from the top of the wall it is important to place a plug or spoon drain on the top leading edge of the wall. If you can imagine water that is travelling down a hill and toward the top of your wall picking up pace as it travels along the ground. This kind of water surge in landscaping is one of the most damaging. The kind of Water Surge creates ruts in the soils and will travel quite fast in heavy rain periods. If this water hits your wall it can cause massive damage and even knock a wall right over. A Clay plug will eliminate the water making deep ruts and a spoon drain will lead the water away from the edge of the wall and save costly damage in the future.
Drainage around your house Drainage around your house is one of the most single important features to consider when planning your landscape design. Your house is one of the most single valuable assets you will ever own and it is extremely important that you maintain this asset. It is a building requirement that all land within 1m of a house must fall away from the house. This aids in the protection of the foundations and footings of the house. There would be nothing worst than having wet foundations around your house as this can cause the footings or slab to sink, subside or undermine. This kind of damage can cause the house to sink and the foundations to crack. There are several methods that can be used to protect your house and the following are a few suggestions:
Channel Drains are a great neat and tidy method of providing drainage of run off water on concrete or paved areas. The channel drain has a grated lid that can be removed for ease of cleaning. This method should be run into a yard pit and then into stormwater run off pipe. (see http://www.kglandscaping.com.au/gallery.html in the concrete section for an image in channel drains in a concrete path)
Drainage pits are important for several reasons. They provide a means to connect several points of drainage and change drainage directions. They also act as a means for surface water to drain into the pits, and most importantly it provides a way of cleaning waste and unwanted matter from drains. Leaves, soil ect can be cleaned from the bottom of the pit and allow water to run freely through drains.
Catchment areas for drainage water should ultimately be directed to storm water run off locations. Water from retaining walls and yard areas can be run directly into storm water drains that connect with council water run off, however driveway water run off must be run into special consolidation pits that collect the water and separate any unwanted fuel and oil waste ect. the clean water can then be collected and run into stormwater pipes. It is extremely important that any unwanted contaminants are not placed into the environment and all water run off is clean.
If there is anything else that i can assist you with in your Landscaping drainage requirements please don't hesitate in contacting me at any time on 0401 593 775 or email on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Jason Kay - KG Landscaping & Design
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Channel drains
Agricultural Pipe
Yard Gully/Drain Pits