Drainage is one of the least glamorous parts of a garden-room build and one of the most important. Every roof sheds water; every roof needs somewhere for that water to go; and every square metre of impermeable surface in your garden potentially adds to the load on your existing drainage. Getting it right at design stage saves years of soggy grass and standing puddles.
The three components
- Gutters — matched to roof size and pitch, either aluminium (crisp architectural look) or seamless steel (traditional)
- Downpipes — routed to a discreet corner, either surface-mounted or hidden inside the cladding cavity
- Discharge — soakaway crate in the garden, connection to existing surface-water drain, or a raingarden feature bed
Soakaways in a UK garden
Most UK gardens accept a soakaway easily — a large open-plastic crate wrapped in geotextile fabric, buried 500-800 mm deep in gravel. Water discharges into the crate and drains slowly into the surrounding soil. Sizing depends on your roof area and local rainfall — we calculate this as part of the design.