Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about to start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this. The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing the bill
for this myself ?

Thank for any guidance,
Keith

"Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know
what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the
question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland
and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain
results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about
to start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can
probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this.
The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the
developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should
the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing
the bill
for this myself ?

Thank for any guidance,
Keith

I don't know the answer to your question but one thing I do know is
make sure that you log this with the builder before 2 years since you
took the house is up. Any faults that occur before the 2 years is up
the builder has to put right.

Angela

"Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know
what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the
question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland
and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain
results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about
to start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can
probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this.
The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the
developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should
the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing
the bill
for this myself ?

Thank for any guidance,
Keith

I don't know the answer to your question but one thing I do know is
make sure that you log this with the builder before 2 years since you
took the house is up. Any faults that occur before the 2 years is up
the builder has to put right.

Angela

Take photo's of standing water etc, get a statement from the landscaper you
have spoken to then have a word with the solicitor that handled the sale for
you.
If the builder/developer laid the turf then you have a much better case.
If you laid it on badly prepared ground then it could be argued that you
accepted the state of the ground as being satisfactory.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the
question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about to
start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this. The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing the bill
for this myself ?

Thank for any guidance,
Keith


Keith you may have a problem here even bigger than you think and if it is
the case you need to take it up with the Planning Department of your local
Council. If you have a Parish Council take it up with them too, but in both
cases IN WRITING.

Your house may be built on a flood plain.

Your house may be built in an area where there are just too many houses, car
parks, roads, paved areas etc to take away the rain water which 'did' soak
into the ground, but now has to go into inadequate sewers.

It is this latter situation which has caused the pair of houses opposite me
to flood to above skirting board level, 4 times in the 16 years I have been
here. This always happened after torrential rain and the sewers could not
take any more. The village is downhill and once the drains were full, the
sewer backed up, water came OUT of the manhole in the road and into the
gardens, thence into the houses via the air bricks.

The Council came round after the water had gone. The Water Board came round
after the water had gone. Both said either "Nothing can be done" OR each
said "It was the other's responsibility". Both also said "We don't know why
it happens"

The last time it happened I videoed it. Called the Water people in, sat them
on the settee and pointed out the problem. Called the Council people in and
pointed out the problem. Result? The road has been re-aligned to take the
water away and DOWN INTO THE VILLAGE!!!! thereby adding to that problem, and
a promise of a new main sewer through the Village.

IF this is your problem, get yourself onto the Council and shout, and as it
is a new house, I fear that unless new drains 'have' been laid, not just
around the houses, but to increase the capacity 'down stream' so to speak,
it will be the house to flood next if they build any more houses or lay more
roads.

Our houses are about 100 years old and we have 2 neighbours who have lived
here for a very long time. One is about 90, maybe a bit younger, who was
born in the house and says that this flooding problem has 'only recently
started'. "Recently", like since a large field/orchard 'up' the road had a
development of Retired People's Homes built on it and the entire area paved,
but for a few little borders and a bit of lawn. The large houses 'up' the
road, now Seaside Boarding Houses, have turned their gardens into car parks
with tarmac and concrete. All of this water has to go somewhere, like across
the road into people's houses ;-{ ? "I think not"

If this is your case, watch EVERY planning permission and oppose it if
'virgin soil' is being built on. I do and have had planning applications
refused. In one case, the Council wanted to sell a piece of land with
planning permission to build, so applied for permission themselves. I
opposed it and it is now an open area, soon to be taken up by a Wildlife
Group.

Hope this is of help if it is the problem. If so I can give a lot more help
as to how to word the letter of opposition, who to copy it to and what sting
to add in the tail.

Mike

Take photo's of standing water etc, get a statement from the landscaper you
have spoken to then have a word with the solicitor that handled the sale for
you.
If the builder/developer laid the turf then you have a much better case.
If you laid it on badly prepared ground then it could be argued that you
accepted the state of the ground as being satisfactory.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

"Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the
question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about to
start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this. The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing the bill
for this myself ?

Thank for any guidance,
Keith


Keith you may have a problem here even bigger than you think and if it is
the case you need to take it up with the Planning Department of your local
Council. If you have a Parish Council take it up with them too, but in both
cases IN WRITING.

Your house may be built on a flood plain.

Your house may be built in an area where there are just too many houses, car
parks, roads, paved areas etc to take away the rain water which 'did' soak
into the ground, but now has to go into inadequate sewers.

It is this latter situation which has caused the pair of houses opposite me
to flood to above skirting board level, 4 times in the 16 years I have been
here. This always happened after torrential rain and the sewers could not
take any more. The village is downhill and once the drains were full, the
sewer backed up, water came OUT of the manhole in the road and into the
gardens, thence into the houses via the air bricks.

The Council came round after the water had gone. The Water Board came round
after the water had gone. Both said either "Nothing can be done" OR each
said "It was the other's responsibility". Both also said "We don't know why
it happens"

The last time it happened I videoed it. Called the Water people in, sat them
on the settee and pointed out the problem. Called the Council people in and
pointed out the problem. Result? The road has been re-aligned to take the
water away and DOWN INTO THE VILLAGE!!!! thereby adding to that problem, and
a promise of a new main sewer through the Village.

IF this is your problem, get yourself onto the Council and shout, and as it
is a new house, I fear that unless new drains 'have' been laid, not just
around the houses, but to increase the capacity 'down stream' so to speak,
it will be the house to flood next if they build any more houses or lay more
roads.

Our houses are about 100 years old and we have 2 neighbours who have lived
here for a very long time. One is about 90, maybe a bit younger, who was
born in the house and says that this flooding problem has 'only recently
started'. "Recently", like since a large field/orchard 'up' the road had a
development of Retired People's Homes built on it and the entire area paved,
but for a few little borders and a bit of lawn. The large houses 'up' the
road, now Seaside Boarding Houses, have turned their gardens into car parks
with tarmac and concrete. All of this water has to go somewhere, like across
the road into people's houses ;-{ ? "I think not"

If this is your case, watch EVERY planning permission and oppose it if
'virgin soil' is being built on. I do and have had planning applications
refused. In one case, the Council wanted to sell a piece of land with
planning permission to build, so applied for permission themselves. I
opposed it and it is now an open area, soon to be taken up by a Wildlife
Group.

Hope this is of help if it is the problem. If so I can give a lot more help
as to how to word the letter of opposition, who to copy it to and what sting
to add in the tail.

Mike

If your house is newly built then I think that the most likely cause of your
problem is soil compaction.
It is very common on new sites, esp. where the builders have had a lot of
machinery running back and fore over the same ground.
If you are part of a development and are towards the outside of the site
then you may have had the machines running back and for over your ground as
they built a lot of the other houses.
At the end what do the builders do?
They level with the bucket of a JCB and then dump a few inches of top soil
on top , level (Again often with the JCB) then get turf laid over the lot.
If the landscaper you spoke to says it can be rectified then I very much
doubt if you are on a flood plain..
if you can get a long iron bar then try to punch a hole into the ground and
see just how hard it is and at what depth, alternatively you could try just
with a fork or spade.
Try in several places, and I doubt if you will get it in more than a few
inches before you hit hard soil.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

The message
from "Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net contains these words:

Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about to start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this. The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing the bill
for this myself ?

We discussed the same thing last week, look in google's archive of
urg. It's the developer's responsibility.

Btw Scotland is one big standing pool of water this very wet winter.

Janet (Arran)

If your house is newly built then I think that the most likely cause of your
problem is soil compaction.
It is very common on new sites, esp. where the builders have had a lot of
machinery running back and fore over the same ground.
If you are part of a development and are towards the outside of the site
then you may have had the machines running back and for over your ground as
they built a lot of the other houses.
At the end what do the builders do?
They level with the bucket of a JCB and then dump a few inches of top soil
on top , level (Again often with the JCB) then get turf laid over the lot.
If the landscaper you spoke to says it can be rectified then I very much
doubt if you are on a flood plain..
if you can get a long iron bar then try to punch a hole into the ground and
see just how hard it is and at what depth, alternatively you could try just
with a fork or spade.
Try in several places, and I doubt if you will get it in more than a few
inches before you hit hard soil.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

The message
from "Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net contains these words:

Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about to start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this. The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing the bill
for this myself ?

We discussed the same thing last week, look in google's archive of
urg. It's the developer's responsibility.

Btw Scotland is one big standing pool of water this very wet winter.

Janet (Arran)

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
If your house is newly built then I think that the most likely cause of
your
problem is soil compaction.
It is very common on new sites, esp. where the builders have had a lot of
machinery running back and fore over the same ground.
If you are part of a development and are towards the outside of the site
then you may have had the machines running back and for over your ground
as
they built a lot of the other houses.
At the end what do the builders do?
They level with the bucket of a JCB and then dump a few inches of top soil
on top , level (Again often with the JCB) then get turf laid over the lot.
If the landscaper you spoke to says it can be rectified then I very much
doubt if you are on a flood plain..
if you can get a long iron bar then try to punch a hole into the ground
and
see just how hard it is and at what depth, alternatively you could try
just
with a fork or spade.
Try in several places, and I doubt if you will get it in more than a few
inches before you hit hard soil.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk




Firstly, apologies for conflicting user names on OE - I am reinstalling XP
on one machine and writing on another...

Hi David,
What you say sounds very similar to what the landscaper said -
compaction, compaction, compaction :-) In response to Angela (above) part
of the problem has already been mentioned in the first 'few' snagging lists.
I have had a good email rant at the builders over the weekend as they had
already promised to sort the problem out before they organised the laying of
half of the turf and promised to replace/sort out the ground before they did
it - they didn't :-( It was the same group of contractors who laid the
second half of the turf which is now effectively floating. I have received
an invoice from them for this and, to be honest, I am inclined to pay them
for this work since I did not specifically ask for the drainage to be sorted
first. I am fairly sure that I can get the replacement organised when the
builders fix the drainage. Although the ground gets very wet .. I am sure
that we are not on a flood plain as we are quite a way up a hill. There is
a local field drain that appears to have been partly covered by the
activites of tree planters on behalf of Scottish enterprise. As mentioned
we are right on the edge of the new estate and we have suffered from
repeated construction traffic. Lots of factors are affecting the drainage
and the main problem will be getting the builders to acknowledge that it is
their responsibility to fix it - we simply can't use the garden as it
stands/sinks. We have already had to abandon 3/4 of the planned jobs for
landscaping of the garden due to this waterlogging problem - I just hope
that it can be sorted out. Thanks for all the help so far.

Keith aka Sarah P aka KD

"David Hill" wrote in message
...
If your house is newly built then I think that the most likely cause of
your
problem is soil compaction.
It is very common on new sites, esp. where the builders have had a lot of
machinery running back and fore over the same ground.
If you are part of a development and are towards the outside of the site
then you may have had the machines running back and for over your ground
as
they built a lot of the other houses.
At the end what do the builders do?
They level with the bucket of a JCB and then dump a few inches of top soil
on top , level (Again often with the JCB) then get turf laid over the lot.
If the landscaper you spoke to says it can be rectified then I very much
doubt if you are on a flood plain..
if you can get a long iron bar then try to punch a hole into the ground
and
see just how hard it is and at what depth, alternatively you could try
just
with a fork or spade.
Try in several places, and I doubt if you will get it in more than a few
inches before you hit hard soil.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk




Firstly, apologies for conflicting user names on OE - I am reinstalling XP
on one machine and writing on another...

Hi David,
What you say sounds very similar to what the landscaper said -
compaction, compaction, compaction :-) In response to Angela (above) part
of the problem has already been mentioned in the first 'few' snagging lists.
I have had a good email rant at the builders over the weekend as they had
already promised to sort the problem out before they organised the laying of
half of the turf and promised to replace/sort out the ground before they did
it - they didn't :-( It was the same group of contractors who laid the
second half of the turf which is now effectively floating. I have received
an invoice from them for this and, to be honest, I am inclined to pay them
for this work since I did not specifically ask for the drainage to be sorted
first. I am fairly sure that I can get the replacement organised when the
builders fix the drainage. Although the ground gets very wet .. I am sure
that we are not on a flood plain as we are quite a way up a hill. There is
a local field drain that appears to have been partly covered by the
activites of tree planters on behalf of Scottish enterprise. As mentioned
we are right on the edge of the new estate and we have suffered from
repeated construction traffic. Lots of factors are affecting the drainage
and the main problem will be getting the builders to acknowledge that it is
their responsibility to fix it - we simply can't use the garden as it
stands/sinks. We have already had to abandon 3/4 of the planned jobs for
landscaping of the garden due to this waterlogging problem - I just hope
that it can be sorted out. Thanks for all the help so far.

Keith aka Sarah P aka KD

"Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the
question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about to
start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this. The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing the bill
for this myself ?

Thank for any guidance,
Keith

Sounds like a lot of clay. The developer should sort it. It may mean
taking off the top soil and adding a deeper layer and and some gravel under
and maybe a French drain.

"Sarah P" munged @ nospam.net wrote in message
...
Hi all,
Apologies for the X-post but the d.i.y guys always seem to know what's
going on with regard to 'building' regs but the real domain of the
question
is my 'garden'. Basically, I've bought a new house up in Scotland and the
garden is a bit of a nightmare. The slightest amount of rain results in
pools of standing water and the newly laid turf is apparently about to
start
rotting. Now a local landscaper has said that the problem can probably be
rectified but I don't think it should be up to me to pay for this. The
landscaper also mentioned that standing water should be the developer's
consideration. How do you think I should approach this - should the
developer be sorting out the drainage or am I stuck with footing the bill
for this myself ?

Thank for any guidance,
Keith

Sounds like a lot of clay. The developer should sort it. It may mean
taking off the top soil and adding a deeper layer and and some gravel under
and maybe a French drain.