Garden underwater
charlenetehan
Posts: 2
We moved into a new build house a few months ago. We have had turf laid to most of the garden and a flower bed to the back. The problem is the grass is permanently under water. It's not just a bit squelchy, there is s layer of water over the grass at all times even if it hasn't rained. The ground isn't great and seems to be full of builders rubble and clay.
The water smells and the grass is rotting and dying. We have had a French drain fitted that is linked into a manhole cover in our garden but this has had no effect, in some places it is now actually worse.
We have had the plans checked and been told there are no water pipes running under the garden that could be leaking.
Please if anybody has any ideas to what could be going on I would really appreciate it.
Posts
Sounds like a heavy clay compacted soil under the lawn. Ideal conditions for a pond. You are probably going to have to dig the lot up. My brother had a new build with turves turning up like old sandwiches. He took the lot up, rotavated a compost heap full of compost into it, removed all the rubble, and seeded. He now has a nice lawn.
You will be amazed at what is under the garden of a new build. Planks, breeze blocks, house bricks, cement, the lot. The builders just put some soil over it and call it a landscape garden.
Have you had it checked by the water board to make sure it is not sewage??
Thank you for the replies. I'm going to get into the builders about digging down to investigate the cause.
Im also going to speak to neighbours and see if they are having problems. It's so frustrating when j e spent a lot of time trying to make it nice.
If your new home is covered by one of the guarantee schemes you may well find that the groundwork/landscaping has to comply with certain standards.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My parents bought a new build and had the same problem with a water logged garden. Eventually after 18 months they discovered all the water from the sinks, dishwasher and washing machine was not connected to the main drainage properly but was just running off under the garden. After a lot of legal challenges and arguments the building company did eventually correct it and the whole garden was re done. It might be worth re checking where your waste water is going first. I do hope you get it sorted. My parents did end up with a beautiful garden eventually.