Trench drain - Concrete vs Polymer

[AbodyMopar]

My contractor is recommending I use a concrete drain that he will make with a foam insert when he pours the concrete. I never heard of that, I've only seen polymer drains before.
Has anyone used either and what would be the good or bad for each ?

I would be afraid that the concrete one will crack or break.

 

[kwfloors]

How wide and does it have a cast iron grate for over it?

 

[jdwilson44]

I put a drain across the front doors of my garage to make sure I had a way of capturing run off coming down the driveway so it didn't make it's way into the garage doors. I used an Ako modular trench drain for my setup. And then I laid the whole thing in concrete. I found the Ako stuff pretty easy to work with. You figure out how long your run is going to be - and how you're going to end it - and then you build up the drain from modular parts. The version I got has cast iron drain grates. But they make grates in a number of different formats.

Here's the one I used: Ako K100 drain system

http://www.acodrain.us/k100.html


I bought the components from AH Harris :

http://www.ahharris.com/locations/

If there isn't an AH Harris near you - I'm pretty sure Ako has dealers around the country.

Mine's been installed for about 4 years now. It's survived just fine (outside right in front o the garage doors). I'm happy with them - I'd recommend them to anybody who asked.

 

[AbodyMopar]

The drain is 3" wide and it has cast iron grates over the top.
I think the drain will be around 25 ft long.

Thanks jdwilson44

 

[jdwilson44]

If you look at the Ako site they have a number of grate options available. I chose the cast iron ones that just have a slot - but they have stainless , plastic, fiberglass - and ornamental options. The thing that is nice about the Ako stuff is that there's a galvanized steel "edge" around where the grates go in - so they just drop in with nice crisp edge line - and the grates are pretty easy to get out if you need to do a clean out.

Plus they have traps and other accessories available that fit right in and make a complete system.

It's not the cheapest option - but it is a very nice one. If you're using them inside a garage the galvanized steel edges on the drain sections mean they could lay the concrete right up to the edge of the grate and it would make for a nice clean transition.