The lucky ones are summer residents who have a flat area with fertile permeable soils, which does not require significant work to improve it.
All you do is break flower beds, a vegetable garden and plant beautiful trees and shrubs. However, do not be discouraged if your piece of land every year is in the water in spring or autumn.
The device of drainage in the summer cottage will solve this problem, and you will also join the ranks of happy summer residents who do not know the problems of swampy gardens and gardens. To do this, consider how to do the work with your own hands, having previously selected a suitable drainage scheme.
The main types of drainage
When you see water on the site, you should not immediately panic and do drainage throughout the site. To begin with, it is necessary to determine whether it is really necessary and, if so, in what volumes.
The correct decision will be to determine the type of soil (geology of the site), and it is also worth observing how quickly the water leaves during the spring snowmelt and autumn showers.
If the soil is heavy clay, the site is located in a lowland, then drainage is necessary not only around the house, but throughout the site.
Having completed the drainage in the country with your own hands, you will spend money only on materials, but doing the work yourself requires some knowledge.
There are the following types of drainage:
- The drainage system is deep - horizontal, consists of drains that dig the earth into previously dug trenches (ditches) on a base prepared in advance. They converge to the collector pipe, and then the water enters the wells, the number of which depends on the configuration and size of the site.
- Wells form the following type - vertical, or wall drainage. With its construction, a lot of excavated soil will remain, the distribution of which over the site should be thought about in advance. Water from the well system is pumped out by a pump outside the suburban area.
- Surface, or storm - a horizontal drainage system in a summer cottage, which collects surface runoff (precipitation). It is subdivided into point and linear drainage.
Point involves the use of storm water inlets and wells. They are installed in places where water accumulates (gutters, court pits, etc.).
With a linear drainage principle, a system of trays and sand traps is used. They are laid in such a way that they do not intersect.
When digging a trench for laying the structure, a gravel cushion is made. The channels themselves are covered with storm gratings, which can be removed if necessary.
Proper drainage of the garden plot will help solve drainage problems for many years. If it is present, garden paths will not collapse from moisture, the foundation will not be exposed to the harmful effects of water, as it will be protected from destruction from dampness, and garden plants will not rot and will delight with their fresh greenery, healthy appearance and lush flowering.
How to make drainage on the site?
It is necessary to approach the performance of work with responsibility, since the structure will serve for more than one year, and the frequency of repairs will be proportional to how correctly the system is laid.
In order to properly make drainage, you first need to draw up a site plan with elevation marks applied to it, by which you will determine the highest and lowest places.
You also need to know the level of groundwater. Usually, surveyors and hydrogeologists are hired for this, who will make a topographic plan for you and take the appropriate measurements. As a result, if the groundwater level is less than 2.5 m, then drainage is definitely necessary. A plan is being made for laying the drainage system at their summer cottage.
First you need to purchase the appropriate materials: drainage pipes (plastic, polyethylene or PVC). They are corrugated, have holes (perforated) and stiffeners.
Polyethylene pipes are laid to a depth of no more than 3 m, and from PVC - up to 10 m. The service life of such pipes is more than 50 years, their diameter is 50-200 mm (100 mm are popular).
Pipes are laid before backfilling the foundation of the house from the outside, and it is necessary to waterproof it. According to the scheme, we drip trenches, the bottom of which we tamp and level with a mixture of coarse sand and gravel (layer 5 cm), then we lay pipes with a minimum slope in clay soils of -2 mm per 1 running meter, in sandy soils -3 mm.
However, it is better to take 5-10 mm per 1 running meter. Then we fill the pipes with permeable material (10-30 cm layer): first with crushed stone or gravel, then we lay geotextiles and put sand on it.
For observation and cleaning of pipes, we install manholes (diameter 400 mm and 700 mm, height - 0.5-2 m) made of reinforced concrete, but you can buy ready-made ones made of plastic. From the pipes, water will flow into the well, so it is installed at the lowest point of the site. This water can be used for irrigation or discharged off-site (eg into a ditch).
To flush pipes from sand and other inclusions, water is supplied under pressure through rotary wells, it is carried out every 5-10 years. Hatches can be decorated with sculptures, special stone lids, etc.
Useful video on creating drainage on the site:
