Driveway trench drain

[Kozmic]

Does anyone have experience with trench drains in a driveway?
First, I live in the desert outside of Las Vegas. We don't get much rain. But when we do there is considerable runoff.
My new addition to my shop had to have a reversed slope to the garage doors because of the grade, and the elevation of the existing shop floor.
I can keep most of the run off water from the property away from the reversed slope of the approach, and gutters on the shop to carry the roof run off elsewhere, but there is going to be about 20 feet of reverse slope toward a 40 foot shop wall with OHDs.
I figured I could put a trench drain in the approach concrete to divert the water to the drainage ditch a few feet away from the building.
But, you could go goofy looking at trench drains, and the cost is all over the place. I really need to keep the cost down as this project is so late and EVERY contractor managed to go way over budget.
So, I'm looking for real world experience. The traffic is home shop, cars and pickups, but I also have a single axle FLD120 Freightliner crawler hauler that will make it into the shop from time to time.
I was thinking if traffic rating was an issue I could leave a gap in the drains for tire travel.
And many of these have plastic grates. I don't know how long they last in this sun.

 

[dcg9381]

Does anyone have experience with trench drains in a driveway?

Neighbors did one. They had to come in and cut the driveway. It was necessarily because their GC planned poorly. It was very obvious to me that they were going to have a drainage problem based on their front yard slope. They have steel grates over them, so you can drive right over.

A gutter is a good idea too.

 

[Rusted Nut]

We use them in commercial projects all the time. You get both plastic or steel in traffic rated specs. Trench drains work really well, just be sure to have some slope on them. You could also put a slope/swale in the concrete and divert the water that way too.

 

[larry4406]

They also make trench drains where the top can be level since the bottom is sloped (vs pitching a stock unit).

Did a job where we had to special order a 40' long road rated trench drain that needed to be horizontal yet with an internal bottom slope.

 

[jack stand]

There's not going to be an inexpensive solution for this.

The problem started with the "siting" of the building, an easy but expensive mistake.
It's always easier to ease the appearance of a building that's a couple of feet too high, but natural drainage away from any building is rule #1.

 

[pcfithian]

Here’s an option: http://www.quick-trench.com/

 

[road_king]

Consider NDS Dura slope drain system.

 

[Kozmic]

There's not going to be an inexpensive solution for this.

The problem started with the "siting" of the building, an easy but expensive mistake.
It's always easier to ease the appearance of a building that's a couple of feet too high, but natural drainage away from any building is rule #1.

I expanded an existing building. If the new floor was not at the same elevation it would make transferring equipment and materials difficult from building to building.

 

[jack stand]

I'm not pointing fingers at you other than that first sentence.

The rest of that will hopefully be remembered by others with building dreams.

 

[inphx]

I didn't do continuous string of these but i have a few placed and plumbed. No issues with UV so far in AZ and its been about 7 years now.

 

[finn]

Not sure about the rains at your location, but here in the desert near Tucson we have a Monsoon season, where flash flooding is common. You’re going to need commercial trench drains, catch basins, and potentially large pumps to handle an event like that.

The little drains you see at Home Depot aren’t going to cut it.

Not an inexpensive proposition. Brace yourself.

 

[firebirdparts]

I was very dissatisfied with the commercial offerings, so I just formed up my own. I had to make grates which took a whole day, but later I decided there's a cheap ramp on the market that I might like to use for grates if I was doing it over. The nice thing about forming your own is that you're sloping the bottom however you like and it can be big as you like. My grates are made out of a piece of factory floor which I bought from metal supermarket in Knoxville, and that stuff is hard to work with in little tiny sections. You have to add reinforcement.



The hole is essentially free if you're pouring concrete. I made the form out of a bunch of junk I had lying around. You have to have a plan to dismantle it from inside, but it doesn't have to be a perfect plan. It can rot in there if you can just get the top part off where the grate sits. I did have to take a swipe across through there with a backhoe.

 

[firebirdparts]

This here is something I would consider for the grating. Mine were a lot of work. $/inch here is pretty low. https://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-steel-loading-ramps-44649.html

 

[firebirdparts]

So I think total cost of mine was 1 whole day and about $200 worth of material. I paid way over $100 for a piece of bar grating, which I am not proud of.

Engineering wise, again, do-it-yourself is extremely superior, even though it's the cheapest option. You can make gaps, slope, depth, width, elevation (BELOW the elevation of the shop floor) can all be whatever you want.

 

[Milton Shaw]

The trench drain I am using is a commercial one that is a 13" culvert with a slot drain on the top. I can be had with a 4" deep slot drain for concrete or a 1 1/2 " drain for asphalt. Works great and catches all the water and with the 13" culvert it will handle a lot of water and can be piped to other culvert at either end to give plenty of water flow. Sam's Club here has them throughout their parking lot.

 

[tarmy]

I used them to cut off sheet flow near a deck. This is before I added the final rock….

 

[Kozmic]

So I think total cost of mine was 1 whole day and about $200 worth of material. I paid way over $100 for a piece of bar grating, which I am not proud of.

Engineering wise, again, do-it-yourself is extremely superior, even though it's the cheapest option. You can make gaps, slope, depth, width, elevation (BELOW the elevation of the shop floor) can all be whatever you want.

Now this is something I would do! LOL Thanks for the idea.

 

[njc41980]

Shop around.

The prices on trench drains vary wildly.

You should be able to get a high quality commercial trench drain of that size for about $3-4K. Installation is just a matter of some labor and a little extra concrete.

 

[carlaisle]

Before you make any decisions, pay attention to the water flow. In your worst annual rain event, do you get 1/4" of water sheeting across the area or 1"? Keep in mind the required width and depth of the trench is a function of the fall available over the length of the trench. Your Freightliner dictates the required load rating for your grates. Also keep in mind what you have that might block the grates. Those 4" Home Depot jobs completely block up with nothing more than grass clippings. My experience has been anything with holes in it too small to put my entire hand in are small enough to easily clog up, but your location may give you more leeway. Grates with openings perpendicular to the flow of water are ideal. I ended up using about a yard of concrete to make a 12' wide one and formed it basically the same way as Firebirdparts described. About $100/linear foot in materials for a formed in place installation. Plus labor if you choose to avoid a good workout.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

A bit late but you could have built the building 6" higher and made the low spot of the drive a good distance in front of the door.

 

[The Bean]

It appears very level across the front of the garage. I wonder if you might consider two trench drains each pitched toward a box in the middle with a French drain below the box.

 

[Dig Doug]

I just helped a buddy w/ a track drain last year

Home Depot supply

they can configure the slope within the drain, you need to support the bottom side ( footing ) if you want to drive any type of weight over the top



buddy did pavers for his driveway, if your doing concrete add some dowels into the footing below the drain, so the the paving and drain all tie together

 

[Kozmic]

A bit late but you could have built the building 6" higher and made the low spot of the drive a good distance in front of the door.

Lifting the existing building that it is attached to was a bit more complex than building a drain.

 

[T444e]

I'd opt for an iron grate based in location and intended traffic. Comfirm allowable loading of the trench drain you chose as there are different load classifications. I belive you would need a heavy duty grate if you will be taking the FLD 120 across it.

 

[eviltwin]

Previously mentioned NDS has a ton of options and advertise a fire truck driving over it. looks like its about $300 every 4ft with the heavy duty iron grates.

NDS Dura Slope Channel Drain 094 (5.00" to 5.34")

Dura Slope Trench Drain

drainageproducts.us

NDS Dura Slope Iron Channel Grate

Dura Slope Trench Drain

drainageproducts.us

 

[housewolf]

I just helped a buddy w/ a track drain last year

Home Depot supply

they can configure the slope within the drain, you need to support the bottom side ( footing ) if you want to drive any type of weight over the top



buddy did pavers for his driveway, if your doing concrete add some dowels into the footing below the drain, so the the paving and drain all tie together

You guys did a nice job on that. I’ve done quite a few of those. One project I did had a dozen of those 100’ long. We put first one in with a laser and it was straight. Next morning there was a huge bow in it. It took a couple of days to figure it out but the sun would come up and shine on one side causing it to expand/bow. In the evening it would bow the other way. Solution was placing the concrete before sunrise.

 

[Dig Doug]

You guys did a nice job on that. I’ve done quite a few of those. One project I did had a dozen of those 100’ long. We put first one in with a laser and it was straight. Next morning there was a huge bow in it. It took a couple of days to figure it out but the sun would come up and shine on one side causing it to expand/bow. In the evening it would bow the other way. Solution was placing the concrete before sunrise.

Wow that’s good to know!

Didnt think it would heat up like that…

thank you !

 

[firebirdparts]

I just checked back to say I assumed that the form will float. If you do pour concrete around a drain form I presume you have to tie it down. My home-made form was basically rigid, and I dug only 3 post holes for concrete with a few sticks of rebar in there to tie my form to. I wasn't too sure it was enough to hold it down, but it turned out great. If you buy commercial, these little tiny sections are going to work you hard.

 

[firebirdparts]

Whole driveway is all one pour

 

[neverdone]

I generally specify aco drain on my projects. You’ll want to specify a higher load range because of the Freightliner. Also, if I recall aco will also size the drain but it’s been about 10 years since I’ve used it since we now design it ourselves.

 

[BurtEggley]

can't you just put a level on it and slope the grade near the door at a quarter bubble in the direction you want the water to flow away?