Mr Hodgson's Flooded Cellar

24 June 2020

The Problem In the year 2010 Mr Hodgson approached Allerton with a problem. When it had been raining, water entered the cellar from the floor and walls, causing a flood 6 inches deep. The cause was a high water table in the Sleaford  area. Sleaford is built on the boundary of the Lincolnshire Edge. The River Slea starts 3 miles from Sleaford, from a  line of springs. It is not called Boiling Wells Farm for nothing. Sometimes it is dry, sometimes a raging torrent of beautifully clear water.

Solution

Back to the cellar; Jon Allerton had extensive knowledge of how water behaves under ground based on his experience draining farmers fields. This was a problem caused by the local water table being too high, affected by seasonal rains.

To solve the flooding, a hole was dug nearly a metre deep and a GRP pump chamber installed. A pump chamber is usually watertight but in this case we did the opposite. The chamber had holes drilled into the vertical side and was placed on a concrete base and surrounded with single sized gravel and then concreted flush with the floor.

Before the cover was placed a small pump was installed and connected to a pipe line fixed to the cellar wall going up to ground level and then into the nearby storm drains

Result

Ten years later it's still working well and Mr Hodgson has expressed great delight in the way his cellar is now always usable whatever the weather! No more damaged stores, and no more paddling!

Another job done!

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