driveway culvert

[1wheeldrive]

My gravel driveway was put in over a ditch with no pipe or way to connect the ditch on either side of the drive. Water is ponding on the uphill side until it runs over the top of the driveway.

I want to install a small culvert under the driveway to reconnect the ditch that is already there. The problem is, I will not be able to bury the pipe very deep, probably less than 1 foot due to grade/ditch depth. This is a private drive on a private road so I am told there are no code issues. I don't need to move a lot of water, or drain a large area, just need to give the big puddle somewhere to trickle off to.

So here's the question - what kind of pipe should I use? I am thinking I only need 8" pipe or so, could probably even go smaller...I was thinking iron pipe would be best but it's $$ and heavy. Will the plastic or corrugated pipe hold up to occasional heavy truck traffic, considering the pipe will not be buried very deep? Any other ideas?

 

[JimVonBaden]

IMHO I would go with a concrete pipe. They are heavy, but strong and do not rust. Make sure you put a grate over the openings that you can remove if needed.

That should allow you to put a minimal amount of gravel over top, and still keep it strong.

You could also use some concrete over the pipe to strengthen it more.

Jim

 

[volvo]

....
Check around, some city shops have used or old green plastic water pipe (12" & up) for cheap salvage cost. Pretty strong stuff. A pipe dealer may have a damaged section or one with missing o-ring that could be had for less than other popular materials.

 

[snorky18]

Corrugated Metal Pipe is probably best, unless you're going to be running heavy loads / equipment over it.

 

[toolcan]

And remember to burry the bottom edge at least a bit below the ditch bottom to ensure drainage. CMP is probably the best, Concrete is good, the Water pipe I dont believe is UV stabilized so it might degrade faster. .... though 50 years is 50 years.

 

[Zeke]

Yes, do look for salvage and don't let the type defer you too much. Properly seated in gravel should hold up to a lot of momentary weight.

 

[Lippyp]

I did something very similar over at my place in France in a small stream that crosses my land, before we had an access road we had to drive through the stream which whilst very small ended up making a large area very boggy. I dug out as deep as I could and dropped a 8" diameter concrete pipe in the holeand back-filled with soil and stone. It stood up well to a good sized 4x4 driving over it once the fill had compressed and is still there four or five years later although we no longer need to drive over it as we have a proper road. It might be worth borrowing/renting a small backhoe and deepening the ditch for a ways each direction so you can bury it a bit deeper though, for a while ours tended to move around until it bedded down. It might also be worth shuttering up (formwork I think you call it!) around each end and casting a concrete pier into the bank to stop the water bypassing the pipe and also to stop the fill spreading off the end of the pipe. Only other issue we have is occasionally over winter it will block up with silt on top of autumn leaves after heavy rain but thats more because I'm not there all the time to clean it out as its a holiday home but a larger diameter pipe would also help.

Thses are the only couple of pictures I have

 

[kbs2244]

All the ditches around here have the corrugated steel pipes in them.
I figure there must be a reason.

 

[Kevin54]

They make a double wall corrugated plastic pipe if you don't want to use the metal corrugated pipe. You aren't suppose to use the single wall which looks almost the same but it is not as strong. Usually for drives it's one or the other. Area may dictate what is used, but in my area, no one uses concrete unless you are going large diameter for the drive.

If there are no codes as to what you can and can't use, is filling in the ditch a possibility? The reason I ask is that the way a few are laid out around here, there would be less water standing if there were no ditches. If yours is filled in it may possibly redirect the water a different direction

 

[1wheeldrive]

Sounds like double wall corrugated plastic may be ok? Probably a lot easier to handle I imagine. My concern is how well it will hold up, it's a 250ft gravel drive so there will be loaded gravel trucks on it from time to time. Plus the septic pumper truck comes over occasionally. And I'm planning to call in some concrete trucks for another project in the future...

Not sure about deepening the ditch much either as it has a buried power line in it...

Anyway, there won't be much digging involved luckily, the swampiness there has made a big dip from driving in/out already, a few passes with box scraper angled, drop the pipe in, and dump a bunch of gravel on top to bring the level up to the rest of the drive. My only real concern is making sure it won't be crushed under the heavy trucks.

 

[1wheeldrive]

I don't really want to fill the ditch because it runs the entire length of our road and I think it would look silly to do so. Really it might work though because I am at the top of a small hill and the road slopes down in both directions.

I had a couple contractors stop by just to get their take on it, both said they could do it in a few hours work no problem, but neither one called back afterward. Maybe too small a job to be worth their time? Really it should be no prob to do myself but I wanted to get some "pro" opinions...

 

[buening]

My two cents, be aware that a small pipe will plug easier and cause you headaches of unclogging it while it is flooded. Go as big as you can and you may look into elliptical pipe or a couple pipes, that way if one pipe gets plugged hopefully the other one will handle most of the flow.

Also, if you determine the diameter of pipe you want to use, typically a supplier for the pipe will help you determine the type of pipe (double wall/wall thickness/corrugation spacing) with the amount of fill over the pipe, assuming you go with corrugated plastic pipe. There may be some charts online too.

 

[BD1]

I have a 12 foot drive with 2- 4" and 1-6" Schedule forty PVC that works fine.
I drive over it with a 10,000 pound tractor , no problem.

 

[Deltarat]

The county here has gone from metal corrugated pipe to single wall plastic corrugated pipe. It is crossed all the time with 80,000# grain trucks all the time without any trouble. I am sure it will hold anything that you would cross it with.

 

[93L#3008]

20' 18" corrugated plastic will cost ~$250. Put about 12"-18" of 53's on top of it and you should be good. The more the better.

 

[rasit]

I say your best bet would be a 6" or 8" ductile iron water pipe. These come in 20' lenghts, will stand up to any traffic, and will not rust out over time. You might keep your eye out for contractors running the stuff as there is usually left overs at the end of the job that could be had for scrap prices. Being that shallow, any pipe you install is going to move eventually, so the bedding around and under the pipe is key. Might also consider encasing in concrete.

 

[Kevin54]

Sounds like double wall corrugated plastic may be ok? Probably a lot easier to handle I imagine. My concern is how well it will hold up, it's a 250ft gravel drive so there will be loaded gravel trucks on it from time to time. Plus the septic pumper truck comes over occasionally. And I'm planning to call in some concrete trucks for another project in the future...

Not sure about deepening the ditch much either as it has a buried power line in it...

Anyway, there won't be much digging involved luckily, the swampiness there has made a big dip from driving in/out already, a few passes with box scraper angled, drop the pipe in, and dump a bunch of gravel on top to bring the level up to the rest of the drive. My only real concern is making sure it won't be crushed under the heavy trucks.

The double walled corrugated plastic pipe is made for culverts. I have had all types of large trucks over mine. And you want the double wall. At least around here. The single wall will not pass if a County or Township guy sees you putting it in. It has to be metal or double walled plastic.

 

[PurdueSD]

Double wall corrogated... no brainer.

 

[Kevin54]

One thing nice about the double wall corrugated, it's absolutely smooth on the inside. In the fall if leaves have made there way in, one quick blast with the leaf blower and it's all cleaned out again.

 

[WNYflyer]

Plastic and Corrugated Metal Pipe (CMP) are flexible pipes while iron, concrete, steel pipes are rigid pipes.

Thus for rigid pipes the backfill/bedding on the bottom of the pipe is critical. With these pipes at shallow depths much of the strength against crushing comes from the strength of the pipe itself.

For the flexible pipes the backfill along the sides is very critical since this keeps the pipe from ovalizing/deflecting when loaded by traffic and backfill. The majority of the resistance to crushing for this type of pipe comes from the proper backfill on the sides.

Really depends on the price of the different pipes as well as how closely watched and how well the pipe needs to backfilled.

For the flexible pipe and its installation/backfilling requirements you can look at the following site

http://www.conteches.com/

For concrete and iron or even the flexible you can probably call an actual supply house and describe your conditions and they can probably look in a book and get you close to what you need based on your conditions.

More information than you probably need for a home driveway but always good to be educated and thus make educated decisions.

 

[Zeke]

^^^^winner, winner.

 

[pop pop]

Bury the pipe about 1/2 to 1/3 on the bottom. That will allow you more cover and be less likely to crush whatever you choose. The bottom will fill with sediment and flow well. With good bedding and cover, most any plastic will work for ya.

 

[Sureshot]

You can always use square tubing as well. Depends on your cover.

You don't have a location but if you are anywhere near an oil or gas field got to a scrapper and check it out. That is where I would look anyway. You must have some kind of industry around that uses piping for something.