drainage

[TEAK36]

I have just had a conservatory built, but am concerned about low level drainage.I live in a semi which has a shared concrete driveway between mine and my neighbours houses,but to the rear of the house, the concrete slopes towards the consevatory.Even tough a DPC has been fitted, I am still worried about dampness.We had to remove an old 'lean to' in order to build the new conservatory, and there was a small gulley which ran alongside the lean to,and into a drain,but the drain was not connected to any other pipes and the water just ran off into the lawn, which did not work very well because the lean to was horrendously damp.The gulley to the side is still there,but the drain had to be removed because the conservatory is bigger than the lean to.Please, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should deal with the drainage?

[RogerK]

You could dig a soak-away in your lawn. (A large hole filled with tennis ball sized rocks and a pipe flowing into it.) It will make a mess of your law to begin with but you can put a membrane over it to allow water to drain but stop the soil from silting it up too quickly. You can turf over the membrane to cover it up. You'll also need to dispose of the soil removed from the hole, its surprising how much you get from a relatively small looking hole!