Driveway Drainage

[Rusty105]

Hi Everyone !

I have an interesting problem. I am trying to help my father with his driveway, and thought you guy, and girls may be able to help. Here is the story:

New driveway was put in about 5 years ago, but contractor did not follow suggestions from me, who was working for a civil engineer designing drainage solutions for subdivisions at the time. I had suggested the driveway be pitched 2 ways, basically cutting the driveway in 1/2. One half would drain to the road, the other half drain back to a retaining wall, where a small catch basin, or 4" trough drain would pick it up. Yes this would require him to do more work, so we can guess what happened. The contractor put a catch basin on one side, near the middle, and had the whole driveway pitch to this 1 catch basin. The portion of the driveway leading in from the road is VERY flat, and as a result water pools on the edge of the driveway, where it butts up to the grass. Now the grass is slightly higher then the driveway and prevents the water from completely running off the driveway. It would take a lot of grading to get the grass lower, and not have a 'bump' in the front yard. by looking at the way water was pooling, I figured if the driveway had a narrow drain running along the edge connected to the catch basin it would solve most of the issue. BUT I haven't been able to find a drain that I like. I have seen bunches of 4"-5" trough drains that work if the driveway was 100% straight, but it is not, it has a small radius right near the catch basin, as it opens up to the garage. With all the building knowledge here I figured it would be a good place to stir up some ideas.

Any Ideas???

Thanks !!

 

[fefarms]

Dig a 6 inch wide by 6 to 12 inch deep trench at the edge of the driveway, pitch it towards the catch basin, and put 3 inch perforated polyethylene drain pipe at the bottom. Cover the drain pipe with a fabric sock. Backfill the trench with 3/4 inch washed drain rock. Compact the backfill with a vibratory plate compactor to reduce the amount of rock that "escapes" onto the driveway. (this last step is optional) .

Alternatively, put in a few trough drains along the tangents to the driveway and leave gaps to form the curves. Connect the gaps between troughs with 1.5 inch schedule 40 PVC (or whatever size fits the ends of them). You shouldn't need a continuous trough to get the excess water off the driveway.

 

[boiler7904]

Can you put a clean gravel (no fines) border along that side with a piece of perforated drain tile wrapped in a filter fabric sock below the surface? Tie it into the catch basin and all is good.

 

[bmwpower]

subscribing to this....

 

[Rusty105]

We thought about the perf pipe drain and decorative rocks to border the driveway, but with multiple young grand children, who like to play with rocks, might not be the best solution with cars in driveway. BUT it should work... However... If there exists a small 1" to 2" wide "slot" type drain, that would probably be ideal.

 

[bmwpower]

We thought about the perf pipe drain and decorative rocks to border the driveway, but with multiple young grand children, who like to play with rocks, might not be the best solution with cars in driveway. BUT it should work... However... If there exists a small 1" to 2" wide "slot" type drain, that would probably be ideal.

How about some wire mesh to put overtop of the stones? Similar to what you see under overpasses to keep large areas of stone in place.

This way they couldn't pick up the stones and chuck them, but the stone would still serve it's purpose.

 

[kbs2244]

You can put sod over the rocks that are above the pipe.
If you have enough water to pool, then you have enough so that it will perk through the 3 inchs of dirt to get to the pipe.
I doubt the kids will dig that deep.

 

[Steve in Mi]

To bad the drive contractor didn't heed your request and to bad you didn't catch the discrepancy between what you asked for and what was formed up before the pour. It's also to bad that the drive wasn't landscaped properly. Grass doesn't hold much water back but dirt does and was filled too high to start with. 5 years is not a long enough period for thatch decay to build soil height to achieve what you describe. If the catch basin is actually in the drive (not beside it) it looks as though this statement is not quite correct either, " The contractor put a catch basin on one side, near the middle, and had the whole driveway pitch to this 1 catch basin. ". It doesn't take much pitch for water runoff. I don't intend to be negative or uncaring to your situation - I'm only analyzing the problem using my problem solving approach (but out loud). Okay, Huston, we have a problem.

I'm in the dark about your clement and the ability of your catch basins to function if freezing occurs. Not much point in directing water to them if they freeze, right?

Seems the easier fix at this point short of a limestone edging each side of the drive (a real temptation for rock throwers, lawnmowers and snowplows) or even a buried stone and perf tile could be limited to re-landscaping alone. Lower the grass height 1.5 to 2.5" below the drives edge and taper it away from the drive edge where it will drain the runoff to a slight ravine running parallel to the edge of the drive on each side sloping this manmade hollow in a direction most effective to solving the problem. Could be this remedy will follow your original suggestion. A little surveying of the elevations involved will help you achieve this. In the absence of a crown down the centerline of the drive maybe the fix I suggest will only be necessary along one edge.

 

[rodnok1]

I agree that the dirt was too high to begin with, I would regrade the area so the driveway is the highpoint and ground slopes away. The situation will just get worse over the years. Drains are great, but they clog up, especially if the have grated openings. My neighbor has a slotted drain and 2-3 times a year he has to clean it out to keep it working properly.

 

[snorvet]

A friend of mine has the drain system you're thinking about. Its about 1-2 inches wide and his is between slabs of concrete patio next to an in ground pool.

A driveway situation is somewhat different. Being only 1-2" wide, it will only take so much water and drain slowly. Also, these types of drains could easily be blocked by dirt and other debris. I'll see if I can dig up a spec that might work.

 

[Rusty105]

We are not talking about the Nile River here, just some standing water that can't get to the catch basin, but does moke it to the edge of the driveway, so it doesn't have to flow a ton of water, Thanks for looking

 

[snorvet]

Our engineers suggested slotted drain. Take a look at Contech or DuMoore

http://www.contech-cpi.com/drainage/products_materials/metal/slotted_versa/150

http://www.dumooresystems.com/

Hope this helps

 

[Rusty105]

I havent forgoten this one. I hope this weekend to take some pictures to show what I am talking about. If it doesn't rain I'll just get the hose out

 

[boiler7904]

I havent forgoten this one. I hope this weekend to take some pictures to show what I am talking about. If it doesn't rain I'll just get the hose out

Lack of rain wouldn't be a problem here. 3 inches of snow this morning. Rain at noon. Thunderstorms this evening. Come to NW Indiana / the Chicago area and you can have all the water you want. Did I mention it was 80 and sunny this time last week?

 

[Rusty105]

Well it's doesn't look like rain will be an issue here this weekend either. Expecting a possible Nor-Easter to sweep through Sunday to Monday. Great... just what I want

 

[snorvet]

well - you don't want a drainage system like this one

 

[wilbilt]

well - you don't want a drainage system like this one

....friggin' engineers...

 

[rt66jt]

Any drain you install should be installed in concrete, meaning that you cut/dig out 4-6" on both sides and the bottom of the drain, and pour cement around the drain. If you don't do this, cars driving over the drain will eventually break it. The small drain that was mentioned as being around a pool is just that-pool drain. It will not hold up to vehicular traffic. Although there are other alternatives, yhe drain we recommend for vehicle traffic runs about $38/ lineal foot, not including concrete or labor.

 

[Junkman]

If you under cut the edges of the driveway, then the driveway will start to crack on the edges. The reason that the driveway was built up along the edges with loam/grass is to support the driveway edge if a car drives off the side. You might be best off having a paving contractor come over and give you a price for putting another coating on the existing driveway, and have that tapered from the center to the edge, so the water will run off. The fellow that did my driveway does about 25% of his work, fixing driveways that were improperly installed the first time by others.

 

[bmwpower]

well - you don't want a drainage system like this one

OMG, I'm dying over here! That's some funny stuff.

 

[Rusty105]

well - you don't want a drainage system like this one

That is just funny

Anyway, here at last are the pictures I promised:

 

[Junkman]

From the pictures, it appears that the driveway wasn't properly installed using a paving machine that would have put down the asphalt evenly and flat. The puddling that you have is a result of high and low spots along the edge of the driveway. I don't see any cure for this other than to have the driveway dug out and redone, which I wouldn't recommend. Some driveway installers can lay the pavement without a dip in it for 2500 feet, and others can't put down 30 feet without having high and low spots. You might say that doing a driveway properly is as much an "art" as it is a job. You might be able to find someone to put a 2" top coat on and have them pitch it from the center to the edges, to remedy the problem. Other than those two suggestions, I can't think of anything else to do with it.

 

[snorvet]

I doesnt look like a slotted drain next to the drive will help the current situation that much since most of the ponding is in the middle of the drive. You first have to get the water off the pavement. You may want to consider another layer of asphalt with more pitch to sides to get the pavement to drain, and then you may need some type of edge draining system to drain the edges

 

[29bowtie]

well - you don't want a drainage system like this one

THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS!!!

 

[gorcyn]

Catch Basin

You can tell by my questions here that I have no clue how this stuff is supposed to work, but here goes! I had someone install a 12x12 catch basin in the lowest part of my yard, attach a 6" black corrugated pipe to it, and run it downhill (we live high on a hill) to a stone berm we had made a couple of years ago. I just had this done on Wednesday of this week. We had a really good rain yesterday and I heard the way you can tell if the pipe is taking the water down is if the next morning there is not much water in the basin (except about 1" or so below the opening of the pipe). However, shouldn't there be some residual water in the pipe after a rain? Also, the catch basin has 2 openings. I'm assuming that the inverted opening in the basin takes in ground water, and the flat side of the opening inside the basin is where the pipe fits and takes the water out. When the water goes in the inverted opening (when I say inverted, I mean you can see a tube inside the box on that side), how is the water supposed to stay in the box and not go back out that same opening? Does any of this sound correct? All I'm trying to figure out is if this guy did what he was supposed to do. Also, it is not very wet at the end of the pipe. Shouldn't it be? By the way, there is fabric stapled to the pipe at the end with the edges of the fabric spread out some on each side. Does this sound correct?

 

[Junkman]

well - you don't want a drainage system like this one

This video has been removed by the user.

 

[HacksawsGarage]

any mention of how wide this driveway is? chances are the contractor didnt have the skill or equipment to pave a crowned driveway if it was somewhat narrow. i am not sure why you have a CB in the drive either. where does that pipe to?
anyways, in reality, i would think the easiest deal would be to cut back the sod, regrade a square area maybe twice the size of the largest typical ponding, at about the same depth, and let it leak off.

overlay could also work, but can get pricey since you should mill out and the **** the overlay where it meets the existing pavement.

edge drains seem overkill, and where would these drains empty to?

 

[HacksawsGarage]

is that one continuous pond?
it looks like the CB is installed to high and they paved to it anyways. that basin top is going to have to be dropped a couple of inches. that should get rid of maybe 80% of what i see. maybe more if they can mill a small strip down the side of the drive adjacent to the grass. i dont know you can rid yourself of all the shallower ponds near the street with out repaving.


QUOTE=Rusty105;102053]That is just funny

Anyway, here at last are the pictures I promised:[/QUOTE]\\

 

[HacksawsGarage]

Re: Catch Basin

a filter fabric is used to keep sediment out of drainage sytems. it doesnt sound right to me, that fabric is stapled at the outlet.

i dont quite get what your other inlet is. an underdrain of sorts?
basicly it sounds as though your catch basin is supposed to be collecting surface water thru its top grate, and discharging thru the 6" corregated.

normal catch basins have a sump lower than the outlet which provides some protection against filing up with silt and blocking the outlet pipe. the outlet should be lower than any inlets. there should be water in the catch basin sump after a rain. 6" pipe isnt very big for a main line. usually it underdrain. i dont know how many square feet your catch basin is suppose to be providing runoff for. you are gonna have to go out there with an umbrella and watch next downfall.

You can tell by my questions here that I have no clue how this stuff is supposed to work, but here goes! I had someone install a 12x12 catch basin in the lowest part of my yard, attach a 6" black corrugated pipe to it, and run it downhill (we live high on a hill) to a stone berm we had made a couple of years ago. I just had this done on Wednesday of this week. We had a really good rain yesterday and I heard the way you can tell if the pipe is taking the water down is if the next morning there is not much water in the basin (except about 1" or so below the opening of the pipe). However, shouldn't there be some residual water in the pipe after a rain? Also, the catch basin has 2 openings. I'm assuming that the inverted opening in the basin takes in ground water, and the flat side of the opening inside the basin is where the pipe fits and takes the water out. When the water goes in the inverted opening (when I say inverted, I mean you can see a tube inside the box on that side), how is the water supposed to stay in the box and not go back out that same opening? Does any of this sound correct? All I'm trying to figure out is if this guy did what he was supposed to do. Also, it is not very wet at the end of the pipe. Shouldn't it be? By the way, there is fabric stapled to the pipe at the end with the edges of the fabric spread out some on each side. Does this sound correct?