Do i need to lay ag pipe??

PULSSSAR · Jul 12, 2006 11:51 am

I am a complete novice when in comes to landscaping to please bare with
me

I have recently built a new house and need to landscape down the side.
The side is about 1.2m wide and gets hardly any sun at all. The dirt
also slants towards the house. When it rains it stays wet down the side
(up against the house) for a few days as the water has no where to run.

I have decided to level out the side using the existing dirt, lay some
weed mat and get some fill sand delivered (and compact it using a plate
compactor), then lay some stepping stones and river pebbles (I will
make the level slope towards the fence line and not the house).

Now my questions are:
1) Does this sound like a reasonable idea (as well as cost effective)??

2) Will i need to lay ag pipe to get rid of water when it rains, or
will the water run off towards the fence line once the level slopes
towards the fence?? Or because i just have compacted fill sand will the
water soak straight through and still stay wet up against the house??

I hope i have made sense with these questions, and hopefully someone
can help.

Thanks,
Matt

DeKa · Jun 08, 2007 10:40 am

PULSSSAR

Now my questions are:
1) Does this sound like a reasonable idea (as well as cost effective)??

2) Will i need to lay ag pipe to get rid of water when it rains, or
will the water run off towards the fence line once the level slopes
towards the fence?? Or because i just have compacted fill sand will the
water soak straight through and still stay wet up against the house??

Matt,

Very late... but...

1) - Yes it is a reasonable idea
2) - You can buy "socked" agpipe which will stop the fines entering it. I would always recommend putting agpipe in as it is very cheap (under $100 for a 10m length). You should use blue metal on top of the agpipe, to further isolate the agpipe from the sand.

Solid Thinking · Jun 14, 2007 8:28 am

G'day,

This is for anyone reading this post and thinking of doing something similar......

It's highly dependent on the exact situation but i suggest building up soil/sand against your house is not a good idea. Even when compacted sand will allow water to seep through, in fact very little water will run off at all. Building up against a house, in most cases will compound the problem because you are adding "sponge" to hold the water near the house for longer. I would suggest a few of the options below:

1. Yes, use AG pipe, easy to lay and very effective. Put a small retainer about 150mm from your house wall to stop soil building up against it, lay your pipe and back fill leaving the 150mm gap (or you can fill it with drainage gravel).

2. Pour a slab and tile the area

3. Lower the fence side so the soil slopes away.

4. Put in a strip drain on the house side, this is better than AG pipe.

I hope this helps (and its not to late),

Cheers,
John
Solid thinking landscapers
http://www.solidthinking.com.au

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Shagsy · Jun 14, 2007 10:17 am

Hi, Just a query on AG pipe, is it safe to drive over if it's only covered by gravel, or do you need to reinforce it in some way or make sure it's at an adequate depth?
Cheers, Shannon.

Solid Thinking · Jun 15, 2007 7:32 am

Driving over AG pipe depands if you are driving along (down the side of a driveway) or over it (across a driveway).

If you drive over it and it's at least 200mm below the groung it *should* be ok. A safer option would be to install the pipe and backfill around it, only so the gravel is level with the top of the pipe. Then put a 200X50 treated pine sleeper over the pipe and cover the sleeper with more gravel.

Cheers,

John