Information on Council Regulations for Soakwells and Stormwater. The Department of Water encourages infiltration of rainfall events at or near source as a primary. Soakwells Easy to assemble, simple to install. Complete Product Range and Accessories. Clears unwanted water in sandy soil fast.
Installing a rainwater tank rather than soakwells. Stormwater must be retained on the vast majority of properties in WA and cannot be released onto the street or a neighbour's property. There is a standard formula for the sizing of soakwells to retain this water, and they are expensive to install. Give is the plan, we'll install the soakwells for you. Soakwells in clay areas and limited area lots can present complications which can expand project costs out of budget. We provide the assurance that as an experienced and mature stormwater company, we will keep your costs to a necessary minimum while closely adhering to your project deadlines.
DIY Polypropylene Installation This is a DIY guide to install Polypropylene soakwells. 1.0 - INTRODUCTION Soakwells are a requirement in Perth. By law in WA, homeowners must have soakwells installed to dispose of all their rainwater, and stormwater. A soakwell is an innovation whereby rain water travels to a designated area and seeps into the surrounding soil.
Soakwells are found near downpipes leading from gutters on practically most outdoor habitations. Typically soakwells are made of cement, PVC, or plastic and may be found with or without concrete pavers or lids which resist pressure from above. Soakwells are important in maintaining the integrity of a building’s foundation.
Fu Says: PVC Soakwell = You'll be doing the job twice Concrete Soakwell = crap Ag Drain = good Poly drainage tanks = bloody fantastic. These are the very best and most effective means to leach water back into the soil.
They handle enormous pressures from both cars and internal water pressure. 2.0 - DIY POLY SOAKWELL SUPPLIER I found a company in Perth that sells DIY Poly Soakwell kits at a pretty reasonable price. They sell soakwell in Kits, 1 Kit is required per downpipe.
Each Kit Contains: 1 x 135L Polypropylene Soakwell (400W x 740L x 450H) pre-wrapped in geo-textile fabric 1 x s Square Grate 2 x 90 degree Bends 2.5m x 90mm PVC Stormwater Pipe Cost of each kit is $65. For 9 soakwells i received 9 kits @ 65 each = $585 3.0 - WHAT YOU NEED Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share 01.
135L Poly Soakwell 135L (450H x 400W x 750L) units by Ausdrain 02. 90mm Stormwater Pipe Pipes come in 6m lengths 03. 500ml PVC Pipe Cement More than enough. I used about 200ml for 9 soakwells. Square Grate 05. 90 degree bend 06. 45 degree bend Optional, based on your routing requirements 07.
T Joint Optional, based on your routing requirements 08. Coupling Joint Optional, to join two pipes together to lengthen pipe 09. Shovel For digging soakwell hole 10. Trenching Shovel You guessed it, for trenching from soakwell to downpipe 11.
Hacksaw with spare blade For cutting Stormwater pipe to length 12. Tape Measure To help workout pipework lengths and measurements 13. Pair of scissors To cut hole in geofabric for pipe insertion. Pair of gloves Handy for digging, which you will be doing plenty of.
Lots of food and beer for helpers 4.0 - PLANNING Plan it out. Do a quick sketch of the house and plan your soakwell locations. It would be handy to note where you place them for future landscaping works etc.
Dont mind my fancy piping work, i was restricted by space (stacks of bricks on the front etc). Try and place soakwells at least 1.5m away from the house slab and away from any other walls If you are restricted by space, you can run the PVC pipe to an area where there is more space. 1 x Poly soakwell is adequate per downpipe, but if a downpipe typically expells more water than others, 2 soakwells can be used by spacing them apart and connecting via. Example shown further down.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share 5.0 - PROCEDURE Once you have planned all locations for soakwells and determined number of soakwell kits required, purchase all materials. Get a few mates together and pick a good day for installation. When soakwells are delivered, the guys at Soakwell Solutions will spend 20 mins showing you how its done. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Pick the first location for soakwell installation.
The best time for digging is after a good rainfall because the ground is nice and moist which means that sand wont keep falling back into the hole when you're digging. You can always run the hose over the digging area for a bit to moisten up the area. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Dig your hole. If you can, try and install soakwell at least 1500mm away from any walls.
The bottom of the soakwell should be at least 850-900mm below surface to allow for 400mm of soil cover over soakwells. The trench for piping does not need to be as deep, 350-400mm is sufficient.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Level out base of hole so that the soakwell can sit nice and flat, the flatter the better. Be careful and watch where you stand.
We had many freshly dug holes accidentally collapse. Digging the same hole 3 times is not fun!!! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Place the soakwell in the hole carefully. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Once the soakwell is in place, start piping. As shown in the diagram, you want to install the 'square grate' as high as possible (50mm below downpipe) so that the paving installer has freedom to choose floor levels. I found it easiest to measure to centrelines and then fabricate the pipe to suit, intermediately checking if its fits before gluing it all together. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Make a 'X' incision into the geofabric surrounding the soakwell and insert the pipe into place.
Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Once you are happy with it all, start filling up the hole and compacting as you go! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Enjoy! Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Share Top Tips 1. Do not connect soakwells directly the the downpipe. Thanks a bunch Wrexter for taking the time to post that guide.
I am trying to get my facts straight before I ring around for quotes. Is the 'Soakwell Solutions' product made by Ausdrain? The 'Soakwell Solutions' website links to a brochure for the Ausdrain product. I can only find reference to Ausdrain modules that have a volume of 108L, 100L of which is useable (measuring 600Lx400Wx450H). There is no reference to 135L tanks made by Ausdrain. This is pretty important as I am trying to estimate the total number of tanks required for our build. Thanks a bunch Wrexter for taking the time to post that guide.
I am trying to get my facts straight before I ring around for quotes. Is the 'Soakwell Solutions' product made by Ausdrain? The 'Soakwell Solutions' website links to a brochure for the Ausdrain product. I can only find reference to Ausdrain modules that have a volume of 108L, 100L of which is useable (measuring 600Lx400Wx450H). There is no reference to 135L tanks made by Ausdrain. This is pretty important as I am trying to estimate the total number of tanks required for our build. Hi Avion, I should of explained it a bit better in the post.
Soakwell Solutions website is incorrect and needs an update. Their website states 108L (600Lx400Wx450H) but they actually supply a 135L Module (750Lx400Wx450H). You need about one module per downpipe. For a normal 4x2 house you should have about 9-11 downpipes?
Hi Avion, I should of explained it a bit better in the post. Soakwell Solutions website is incorrect and needs an update. Their website states 108L (600Lx400Wx450H) but they actually supply a 135L Module (750Lx400Wx450H). You need about one module per downpipe. For a normal 4x2 house you should have about 9-11 downpipes? Thanks Wrexter.
We are building a 2-storey that will have 11 downpipes. Based the total roof area, we are going to install 14 of their 135L modules, with 5 being interconnected. This is overkill, but I'd rather dig once now, rather than revise things later in case the long range forecasts for Perth receiving more heavy rain (but less frequently) are accurate. Once again, great tutorial!
I should of explained it a bit better in the post. Soakwell Solutions website is incorrect and needs an update. Their website states 108L (600Lx400Wx450H) but they actually supply a 135L Module (750Lx400Wx450H). You need about one module per downpipe. For a normal 4x2 house you should have about 9-11 downpipes? Great install guide wrexter, but that might be a bit misleading as to total number of soakwells needed as councils specify the total size of you drainage or soakwells in cubic metres.
It is usually part of the building licence and there is a formula that takes into account roof space and hard paved surface.areas. To meet those regulations you will normally need much more than 1 x 135 litre soak per downpipe. If not then you don't comply with your building license and if found out can be forced to rectify down the track.
Check or call your council to confirm specs but I know both Bayswater and stirling have it online. Yep, based upon the formulas quoted by the City of Cockburn and Canning for our roof area., we would need 3 cubic metres (3000L) of concrete soakwell. By using 14 poly modules, we should be safe with 1890L. We are also interconnecting several in the higher-flow areas. Our roof has 11 downpipes for an area of 240sqm.Formula for calculating required concrete soakwell volume: V = A ÷ 80 Where A is the impervious area of a catchment measured in square metres; m2 And V is the required soakage volume of that catchment measured in cubic metres; m3. Hi docket rob, I have seen those standards and I too was concerned about total capacity, but those requirements are based on the use of concrete soakwells.
Poly soakwells are much more efficient. Based on Fu's advice and after talking to a few poly soakwells installers, they advised one module is suitable for one downpipe. I should mention though, if there are downpipes where you notice heavy flow during heavy rain you can double up on modules to be safe. Wrexter - I think you might want to check with your council on that and if what you have been led to believe is correct. In my dealings with various Councils, soakwell requirements are all based on capacity and not efficiency. (Efficiency is a very hard thing to measure and a lot of factors come into play, like if bluemetal is used, type of soil and many other things.) All of these requirements are designed to cope with a 1 in 5 year storm event hence volume is important.
As council set these standards (and most councils use similar standards) They are also the ones who have the power to enforce them. With all sincerity I would take their direction first over other peoples well meaning advice. Here is a link to a summary of some Perth Councils - In no document I have read does it ever mention about the type of soakwell used only volume that the soakwells have to be able to hold. PS: I have no link to that company, I just found their site links to many Council specification documents so is handy one to refer to. They also do both Poly and concrete soakwells and again everything in their guides is based on volume be it Concrete or Poly.
Polypropylene Soakwell Installation Service All About Soakwells offers the installation of 140 litre polypropylene soakwells using our 1 tonne micro excavator. This machine is tiny at only 720mm wide and can fit through garden gates and even household doors! This pricing is limited to installation of the polypropylene soakwells only, we can also provide a quote for installing the stormwater piping and excess spoil. All prices are based on the assumption the ground is sandy with no rocks or clay. We have a rock breaker available for hard digging but extra charges apply. All About Soakwells is a Perth based Western Australian (WA) business that specialises in all aspects of concrete and polypropylene soakwell installation for residential and commercial properties. Products and services include polypropylene soakwells, concrete soakwells, PVC piping, soakwell covers, trafficable soakwells, council formulas and council regulations (Joondalup, Swan, Canning, Wanneroo, Perth City, Cockburn, Western Australia etc.).
Servicing North of the river and South of the river. We work regulary with New Home Builders, pool back wash systems and plumbers. We clean out soakwells and repair grates and soakwell covers. Our ethos includes a guarantee of quality, a professional service and technical knowledge.
We conduct supply, installation, maintenance and repairs of soakwells and associated stormwater piping. Copyright © 2016 Polson & Brown Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
If you are building a new home or updating an existing house or patio, we will design and install a stormwater system to suit your individual requirements.
The two available soakwell options are:
NOTE: Each product has advantages depending on the job but both are comparable in quality and strength. Korg pa50 oriental styles download movies.
As a general rule of thumb once the catchment area reaches around 300m2 concrete soakwells become the most cost effective option, however access and available space also play a large part.
For installation of polyproplene soakwells our 1t excavator is only 720mm wide! For concrete soakwells the excavator size ranges from 2m wide for the 3.5t / 5t to 2.5m wide for the 9t excavator.
Tip! - When comparing quotes, make sure compaction is included to prevent sinking in the future.
We also can provide spoil removal by Bobcat and truck if required. To calculate the left over sand take the volume displaced by the soakwells and add 35%.
Email us your plans and using the correct formula we will determine your volume requirements and provide you with an online quote.
Tip! - Try to include an estimate of the total roof area in m2 and stage of construction you are at in your quote request.
If you plan on installing your own soakwells please visit the polypropylene soakwell calculator at www.soakwellcalculator.com.au or the Do It Yourself Soakwells™ website for more information.
More Information:
Office: 08 6406 2112