Services for Groundwork
Hi, we have for each category of service, compiled relevant information that you may find useful.
Please note: All information contained within this section is for guidance only. It is best that you check current sources of information.
If you would like to contribute or make a suggestion, please click here.
Please note: All information contained within this section is for guidance only. It is best that you check current sources of information.
If you would like to contribute or make a suggestion, please click here.
Groundwork
Services
Useful Links
Products
Jargon Buster
Areas covered under this Category are as follows:
- Excavations
- Formwork & Shuttering
- Kerb Laying
- Septic Tank
- Sewerage
- Soak away
- Underpinning
- I am looking for an expert - Register to Request a Service
- I am an expert - Register to Provide a Service
National Sewerage Association - www.sewerage.org
Land Drainage Contractors Association - www.ldca.org
- Screwfix
- B&Q
- Wickes
- Homebase
- Plumbase
- Plumb Centre
- Marley Plumbing & Drainage
- Buildbase
A to B
- Auger Underpinning: the underpinning of foundations by drilling a series of auger holes under the foundations. By part filling with concrete it is possible to lift the foundation with hydraulic jacks, before totally filling with concret.
C to D
- Cess pit: a holding tank for wastewater storage. No treatment of the wastewater occurs in the cess pit..
- Cesspool: a simple method of drain comprising a holding tank that needs frequent emptying.
- Communication pipe: that part of the pipe which conveys water from the main to the customer's house and which is in the road.
- Concrete Formwork: the materials that are used to keep wet concrete in the correct position until it has set.
- Concrete Grout: mixtures of gravel, sand, cement and water which is poured into the cells of concrete-block walls to reinforce them.
- Concrete Plain: Concrete either without reinforcement, or reinforced only for shrinkage or temperature changes.
- Discharge consent: a legal document which gives permission to discharge and sets out the terms under which the discharge occurs.
- Drain rodding: to unblock drains with steel rods.
E to F
- Electro-mechanical drainage cleaning: flexible steel cables fitted with blades and cutters cut through debris, hardened drainage deposits or tree roots.
- Footing: underground support for a foundation or support post.
- Form: Temporary structure erected to contain concrete during placing and initial hardening.
- Foul flooding: flooding from a sewer.
- Foul sewer: a sewer conveying sewage excluding rainwater or surface water.
- Foundation: The supporting portion of a structure below the first floor construction, or below grade, including the footings.
G to H
- Ground heave: swelling of clay sub-soil due to the presence of moisture:.
- Groundwater: water occurring in permeable underground strata, e.g. Chalk and sandstone.
- Groundworks: movement of soils or rock by excavation and / or placement to create a platform for building, trenches, hollows, wells, shafts or tunnels.
- Gulley: is an opening into which rain is collected which then enters a drain.
- Hardcore: the sub-base material for concrete work, usually made of broken brick or ston.
- Hardness: characteristic of waters containing dissolved calcium and magnesium salts that makes lathering difficult.
- High pressure water jetting: water jets converts water into cutting jets which strip deposits from pipe walls. Used to flush out drainage waste and restore flow.
I to J
- Inspection chamber: also called a man hole. Access to a drain comprising a chamber with the drainage channel at its base and a removable cover at ground level.
K to L
- Leakage: the water which leaks out of a water company's underground pipes or the private water supply pipes.
M to N
- Mains: pipes which carry treated drinking water.
O to P
- Outfall: the site of discharge of a water (may contain other materials) from a pipe.
- Ponding: the collection of water at the soil surface when there is no room available for it to infiltrate to the soil.
Q to R
- Rainwater harvesting: a system which collects rainwater from the roof of a building and stores it for reuse.
- Rodding eye: opening in a drainage pipe through which rods can enter to clear a blockag.
S to T
- Sedimentation: the process by where solids are removed from sewage by passing it through a tank at a rate that allows the solids to settle to the floor to form sludge.
- Septic tank: a type of tank in which the sludge is retained long enough for the organic content to undergo anaerobic digestion. On removed to a sewage treatment works, some is left in the tank to initiate further digestion. Used in houses which are too isolated for connection to a foul sewer.
- Sewage (or wastewater): water-borne wastes from domestic uses of water, derived from households or similar uses in trade and industr.
- Sewage sludge: a by-product arising from the treatment of sewage or from septic tanks or similar installations.
- Sewer: a pipe carrying wastewater or sewage discharged into it from house drains.
- Shore Frames: shoring systems for formwork to support suspended slabs.
- Shutter: a made up reusable section of formwork or shuttering that typically consist of timber and ply, or steel and ply.
- Soakaway: a below ground aggregate channel to disperse water.
- Soil quality: the capacity of soil to function within ecosystem boundaries to sustain biological productivity, maintain environmental quality, and promote plant and animal health.
- Sub-soil: soil lying immediately below the top-soil.
- Supply pipe: that portion of pipe which carries water from the mains to a house.
- Surface water: the run-off from paved and unpaved roads, buildings and land.
- Tanker jetting: when cleaning larger drainage sewers and culverts.
- Topsoil: upper layer of a soil profile, usually darker in colour and more fertile than the layer below (subsoil), and which is a product of natural biological and processes.
- Trunk sewer: a sewer which receives many tributary branches or discharges from other large sewers.
- Trunk water main: the water mains that are usually found crossing fields to serve the distribution mains.
U to V
- Underpinning Pressure Grout: to add new support to weakened foundations. This is done by pumping at high pressure a grout mixture under the footing to fill up voids.
- Underpinning: a stronger foundation is built beneath the original when it becomes weak, in order to strengthen it and offset the risks of unstable foundations.
W to X
- Water drainage search: this records whether the property is connected to a public or private water supply; how the property is billed for the water and wastewater charges; it is connected to a public sewer or septic tank or other private disposal facilities and whether the property is close to or is affected by water mains or public sewer.
- Water table: upper surface of the saturated zone in the ground.
- Water transfer: system where drinking water or raw water is moved around a region.
- Wet rot: a fugal decay commonly affecting external timbers which have not been kept well painted or otherwise maintained, whereby the timber becomes soft.
Y to Z