Soakaway crates play a critical role in avoiding flooding by maintaining water levels in your drains. When it comes to the setup of your system, we have put together a guide for smaller soakaway systems.
For commercial or larger soakaway projects, we recommend seeking the assistance of specialist installers, we can help find help within our installer network.
What are Soakaway Crates?
Water from roofs, drives, drainage channels, that can cause problems for you and your home if left to filter through your communal pipes.
Excessive water can lead to burst pipes, or worse – flooding – both leading to extensive repair work being required. Building your own personal soakaway can prevent these problems from occurring.
Soakaway crates are designed in a similar way and are perfect for groundwater infiltration. They permit up to 95% of their used space to fill with water, so are a very effective way to capture excess water, and can even withstand vehicles parking on top of them up to 60-tonne. They are a lower-volume solution that is quick and easy to set up, economical and basically maintenance-free.
When should you use Soakaway Crates?
Soakaway crates are best used in areas where the ground is covered by impermeable materials, such as paving blocks, tarmac and concrete (i.e. roads, car parks and roofed areas). As such, they are a legal requirement for construction projects.
Crates must be in loamy or sandy soil to maximise effectiveness. It’s not best practice you install them in clay soil as the clay doesn’t allow water to drain through it.
Before installing soakaway crates, you will need to perform a ‘percolation test’ to establish whether the soil is suitable and to reduce any impending problems. It involves 3 test digs, ideally to the depth that the soakaway system will be installed and where you intend to place it, and is completed within 2 days.
Ideally, the perfect spot is in the ground – at a lower level than the building – at least 5 metres away from the building itself to eliminate any structural damage.
To summarise, here are some of the do’s and don’ts for installing and using soakaway crates.
Do:
- Use soakaways for surface water drainage issues.
- Install soakaways on land lower than your property (or at least at the same level) to help water flow into the system and away from your home.
- Choose a soakaway that is big enough to accommodate maximum rainfall, with the correct loading concerning where it will be installed (i.e. gardens are usually 20 tonnes whilst driveways tend to be 40 tonnes).
- Make sure that the sides and bottom of the trench are as straight and square as possible to simplify backfilling and side filling.
Don’t:
- Use soakaways for waste or foul water as this can only clog them up and damage your soil.
- Install a soakaway crate if the area that you live in is heavily polluted and prone to smog.
- Dig a trench for soakaways within 5 metres of your home or a road.
- Install a soakaway in heavy clay soil.
Is planning permission needed?
Planning permission is not required to replace a soakaway within the grounds of your property. However, when installing a new system, it’s best practice to inform your local planning office beforehand just to be on the safe side.
It will depend on the type of soakaway – with the building regulations requesting that you seek approval before installing a septic soakaway, drain field or sewage treatment plant soakaway system.
How to install Soakaway Crates
For the DIY experts, fancying installing a soakaway system? Follow these 6 simple steps to install soakaway crates – both quickly and correctly:
Step 1 – Prepare the space
Excavate the area, making a hole that is the right size for the crates and the top, side and base fillers of gravel and sand.
Step 2 – Prepare the crates
You should receive some clips or ties with the crates. These are used to hook up the crates to prevent movement while the side-filling materials are added.
Always wrap the soakaway crates with a geotextile membrane to maintain the performance of the system.
Step 3 – Prepare the base
A layer of sharp sand or pea gravel should be put into place before the crates are lowered, then the geotextile membrane should be fitted inside the hole, ready for the soakaway crates to sit on top of.
Step 4 – Connect to the drainage system
Some soakaway crates have a separate section in place for the stormwater pipe to be connected. If not, it can be placed next to the crates and held in place by the side fill. We can provide fabricated inlets for our crate systems.
Step 5 – Cover the crates
To secure the crates, remember to add side and back-fill to the crates. This can be done using sand or pea shingle, which needs at least six inches to be placed around the sides and on the top of your crates.
Step 6 – Replace any ground that was removed
The last step is to replace any ground and turf that was removed or any other relevant surface topping.
Your soakaway crate system is now ready for action!
