In ground arena watering system... no hard going at my yard

L

LynH

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No I haven't invented a fantastic new arena watering system, today we found a natural spring underneath my lovely brand new arena. I have spent much of today standing in disbelief looking at the mess my arena has become.

A couple of weeks ago I had a minor problem with my new arena (professionally built in Feb this year) where I raked back the Flexiride surface I found the equestrian grade silica sand base wasn't level. There were small ridges and bumps across the sand which weren't levelled by harrowing. This week the construction company came to pull back the Flexiride to level the sand and when they did there was stone coming up in several areas. As the week went on the problem escalated and today when they got down to ground level underneath the arena they found this...

The ground has peaks and troughs up to a foot deep
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This is how my expensive well cared for arena looked at the beginning of this week.
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Before having the arena installed I researched and got several quotes and ended up going with a highly recommended and the most expensive company on the basis that they added far more drainage than the other companies. I also spent a long time reviewing surfaces and finally decided on Flexiride on top of equestrian grade silica sand. I never expected that the ground underneath the arena, which appeared perfectly normal in February, would turn into a bog after this really nice dry weather.

A couple of months after my arena was completed I found there were 3 small areas which felt like walking on a waterbed. The construction company came back and dug these areas out and found patches of clay that had absorbed water and swollen up ripping the membrane and pushing stone up through the sand. This was fixed and I've been happily using the arena since.

The construction company have been amazing, they took full responsibility for rectifying the problem, it has turned from a 2 day job to what is likely to be several weeks of very expensive digging out and replacing the damaged surface. They need to dig out the clay, resolve the issue with the spring (no idea how) and then fill with stone and replace the membrane, clean stone layer and sand before finally replacing the Flexiride.

To brighten the mood a little, I had expected to spend this week full of excitement as another company have started to build my new stable yard. Here is a photo of my new stable yard which WILL NOT be affected by any unforeseen problems...

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How could you say that last sentence!?!? Do you know nothing about The Fates?? I hope you were lying on a big block of wood when you typed in.

Poor, poor arena. Do you think they could put a fountain in the middle of it? That would be quite cool!
 
It was more of a threat that there will not be any problems with the yard rather than wishful thinking, as far as The Fates, I'm jinxed no matter what. Fingers crossed, touch wood and every other fate thing possible that the stables will be ok.

If there was a fountain in the arena I suspect my big black mare would stay firmly outside the arena even if it meant climbing the fence to do so.
 
OMG! =-O
Work starts on my new arena on Monday, I wish I had not seen this! I hope that it can be sorted for you. What a nightmare.x
 
Oh goodness, I think I'd be in tears if that were me... Will keep fingers crossed that they can rectify it completely! It's great that they are being so good!
 
If the area was not wet before hand, and now groundworks have been carried out do you think there is any chance the contractors have cut across a water pipe which no one knew was there? I know when I had the farm we had pipes that did not appear on any ground plans. And my friend managed to mole plough through her water main as it was no where near where it was marked on her plans. It was actually about 700m from where it was marked. She did not know she had ploughed through it as no water came up immediately. It took a couple of weeks for a large pool to appear on the surface because the majority of the water soaked into the ground.
 
Bosworth said:
If the area was not wet before hand, and now groundworks have been carried out do you think there is any chance the contractors have cut across a water pipe which no one knew was there? I know when I had the farm we had pipes that did not appear on any ground plans. And my friend managed to mole plough through her water main as it was no where near where it was marked on her plans. It was actually about 700m from where it was marked. She did not know she had ploughed through it as no water came up immediately. It took a couple of weeks for a large pool to appear on the surface because the majority of the water soaked into the ground.
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I would be thinking along these lines too. If you had never had water there before, and why would you build your arena on a bog? Something has happened to make it one now, might not be under the arena but somewhere else someone has been digging since your problems started. I would be really surprised if it was a natural spring as you would have known it was there before - especially in Feb when you started the work.

Hope you fix it - I would just be crying!
 
dieseldog said:
I would be thinking along these lines too. If you had never had water there before, and why would you build your arena on a bog? Something has happened to make it one now, might not be under the arena but somewhere else someone has been digging since your problems started. I would be really surprised if it was a natural spring as you would have known it was there before - especially in Feb when you started the work.

Hope you fix it - I would just be crying!
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The field drained really well all last year so we didn't really expect any problems with drainage. The soil has clay patches in it and when they cleared the site in Feb they found some 1930s land drains all across the field. They added an additional drain to divert any water coming from the land drains into a ditch that runs parallel to the arena.

Several of our neighbours have lived here for a number of years, one in particular has lived here for 84 years! He has now informed us that there are a lot if underground springs in the area so the plan once the surface is up is to look for the source of the water be it a spring or a burst pipe. They won't be relaying the arena until they find the source but thanks for mentioning the possibility of the burst water pipe. We have a separate water supply to the field which is further down than the arena but as it is metered I should be able to find out from Thames Water if there is any usage from there.

I feel sick every time I look at it. If you looked at it on Monday you would never have believed it was this bad underneath. It's been draining really well whenever it has rained.
 
Oh I am SO sorry. What a disappointment. We were contracted to fence an arena close by and the same thing happened there. Their's wasn't a broken pipe though, they genuinely had an underground stream/spring that they knew nothing off. Everything was fine with their arena in the summer when it was built and fenced but come Fall half of the arena washed away. They have kind of fixed it, they got some land specialists in and they scraped back the arena footings and put some drains in to take the water away down the side of the arena rather than having it wash all through the middle of the arena but it does still get wet in one corner. I hope they find out what's going on with yours and fix it.
 
That's awful, I'd right p****d off, but good you got a reputable company to build it and they're going to fix it for you. Good luck!
 
Oh no poor you! Thank god you picked a good company who are trying to sort it!

Perhaps they will be able to divert the water away as SP described, I hope so anyway!
 
What a nightmare. Hope they can sort it.

We get random springs like that happening in our fields. The drains are old stone drains, and sometimes they collapse, then the water backs up and bubbles up to form a wet patch like that further up. Could be something like that?
 
I am so pleased with the company that built it. They have been so good about the repairs and this must be costing them a fortune but in front of me at least they haven't even mentioned how much it is costing them and have just reassured me not to worry they will ensure it is will get fixed no matter what.

Hopefully they will find the cause soon and that is something easily remedied. They are going to use the excess soil to make me a Derby style bank and will dig out an area where I have planning permission for a static field shelter and will use the stone damaged sand in there rather than binning it. There is a lot of sand with stone though that I can use if I can think of anything to do with it. The used stone is going in my gateways. I have to keep focusing on the end when I am able to use the arena again. It has rained today but I couldn't bring myself to look at it at all today so I'm not sure how it looks now.
 
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