Whats the best way to dry out a partially flooded garden?

JLJ · 29 Mar 2016 at 10:51

the entrance to my garage is a step down from the garden and got flooded out as I was in the process of replacing the gutters.
Now I have a little pond infront of the garage door and water in the garage.
I was thinking surely in this day and age there is some sort of compound I can throw down that will absorb the water.
Somebody mentioned dry crystal beads might be a possibility, but I can't see anything on the internet of using it in this manner.
I was thinking maybe getting some sawdust and throwing it down and shovelling it up after it sucks it up the water.
Anybody got any experience with this?

Felix · 29 Mar 2016 at 10:55

Kitty litter or sand

PhillyDee · 29 Mar 2016 at 11:07

TheCrow · 29 Mar 2016 at 11:09

Giant sponge?

Siliconslave · 29 Mar 2016 at 11:22

Not much you can do beyond digging a sump and putting a pump in - that or wait for it to dry out.

Sure there are absorbents but then you'd have to remove the weight of the water and whatever you've used to soak it up with...

tom_e · 29 Mar 2016 at 11:24

Hair dryer, the best way is just going to be to let it dry naturally to be honest.

Lt_Red · 29 Mar 2016 at 11:51

What material is in front of your garage? Concrete? Tarmac?

You can hire/borrow a water hoover to get rid of the initial flood.

I would break through it, dig a small but deep hole and fill it with shingle then make good with a paving slab and concrete cover and a little drain cover in the middle with a run off down to the cover. It should act as a small soakaway and prevent it happening again in the future.

But thats a bit of a bodge so better still install a slot drain in front of your garage door and connect it to the drainage system if you can find a way to input to it, or dig a bigger soakaway nearby. Garage will never flood again.

JLJ · 29 Mar 2016 at 12:22

Sounds like I should just bucket it out and mop up the rest.
I recently leveled out the garden and the builders made the small square infront of the garage as it was lower then the garden.
Its just soil under the gravel/membrane.

TheCrow · 29 Mar 2016 at 13:09

If its just soil (no drains etc) then you could try forking it a bit to help but the ground will probably already be saturated and compressed.

panthro · 29 Mar 2016 at 13:14

Does it ever flood even when the drains are installed? If so I'd build a soakaway.

A fork should be fine though if it's just soil, and just wait for it to drain naturally.

JLJ · 29 Mar 2016 at 14:21

never had the problem before. Ground and turf was done about 10 days ago, and the gutters on the garage removed, before it went into a water bin on the side.
Hoping once I get some new gutters in place, this wont happen again.
I suppose I could remove the part of the membrane and dig a hole.
Worried the standing water might damage the garage foundation/ flooring, or is it ok for a few days?

panthro · 29 Mar 2016 at 14:28

JLJ said:
never had the problem before. Ground and turf was done about 10 days ago, and the gutters on the garage removed, before it went into a water bin on the side.
Hoping once I get some new gutters in place, this wont happen again.
I suppose I could remove the part of the membrane and dig a hole.
Worried the standing water might damage the garage foundation/ flooring, or is it ok for a few days?

Don't worry about that it'll be fine.

JLJ · 29 Mar 2016 at 15:19

missus reports that water has nearly drained away on its own with some residual water inside the garage to be mopped up.
Might look into something for the door to stop water getting in.
Thanks for the replies, helped put my mind at ease.