To drain or not to drain

[jamiestephenson]

My wife and I have a back garden with terrible drainage, with the result that the lawn we laid last year is now just a mudbath. We have decided to put block paving down, and have had 2 conflicting opinions from the companies we have had quotes from. One is talking about installing channel drainage. The other says that, as we live halfway down a hill (our garden is unfortunately level), channel drainage is not necessary as the paving can be laid with a run-off to ensure that the rain continues on it's journey down the hill rather than settling in our garden. As you can imagine, the quote from the latter fellow is significantly lower. Much as I would love to save some money, I am concerned that, if we don't install the drainage, it will come back to haunt us later.

Both of the companies concerned seem very professional and come with good references so I am at a bit of a deadend here. Any advice would be much appreciated!

[thedoctor]

If the area can be laid to slabs or paving of any kind which can be sloped a suitable amount to take the surface water away to a suitable area where it will drain there is no need for drainage channels. In fact drainage channels are laid where its difficult to get the water away over a large area and they are installed to keep the water on the surface longer taking it to the channel or gulley which then drains away. A slope of 50mm over 4m is enough to ensure a dry surface providing the slope is constant and of course it has somewhere to go at the "low" end.