A soakaway is a fundamental component of drainage systems designed to manage surface water effectively. Typically the water taken from your roof and guttering. It consists of a hole dug into the ground, typically filled with coarse stone, rubble, or ideally plastic crates. This structure allows water to filter through it, facilitating its absorption into the surrounding soil. Soakaways are integral for controlling surface water at source, offering an alternative to directing runoff into streams or sewer systems.
At Flush Drainage we provide a soakaway cleaning service utilising high-pressure water jets to backwash pipes leading into the soakaway. This process effectively removes silt and debris out of the pipes. Which our team of drainage engineers then go on to clean up and remove. This process is always our first recommendation if you believe you’re needing a new soak-away, as your issue could likely be resolved for a fraction of the price.
Installing a new soakaway requires the expertise of trained professionals equipped with the appropriate machinery and insurance. Engaging substandard contractors for this task can result in significant costs and property damage as well as not fully resolving your drainage issue.
In instances where a soakaway is severely clogged and restoring its efficiency proves challenging, alternative solutions may be required. This could involve excavating a new soakaway in a different area or re-excavating the existing one. It’s essential to adhere to regulations stipulating minimum distances between soakaways and buildings. Necessitating the excavation of new soakaways further from clients’ properties.
During drainage system redesigns, the installation of a new soakaway or manhole may also be necessary. Further signs to look out for highlighting that your existing soak-away may need replacing, include overflowing gulley’s following heavy rainfall. This often indicates issues with the existing soakaway, such as being under-sized or even collapsed. To pinpoint the problem accurately and ensure the correct solution is carried out, a CCTV drainage survey is conducted to explore all potential cost-effective solutions before soak-away replacement.
Here at Flush Drainage, we pride ourselves on planning and calculating the perfect size soakaway for your property. Using a specific calculation, our drainage engineers work out the correct size soakaway required. Taking into account the volume of water running off your roof and other water outlets, we ensure that you aren’t spending too much of your hard-earned money on a soak-away which is unnecessarily big, or one which is undersized and will inevitably clog up in the future.
Once we have calculated the size of the soak-away away required, we then bring in the machinery to excavate the exact area required, whilst protecting the rest of the property during the works, particularly the surrounding grounds from heavy plant and machinery.
We favour the plastic crate soakaway system, with a permeable membrane that covers the crates to allow any water to dissipate into the surrounding area, which doesn’t allow debris to enter the crate system which prevents blockages and keeps the soak-away running optimally. This is a key step to ensuring a longer lifespan for your new soak-away. Once your new Soak-away has been installed, we then go onto the stage where we backfill the excavated area and reinstate any turf, slabs, or blocks to the highest standard.
In summary, a soakaway plays a crucial role in managing surface water and preventing flooding around your property. Proper installation and maintenance are vital to ensure its effectiveness, and at Flush Drainage, we offer comprehensive services to address soak-away-related issues promptly and efficiently.
