Hello all,
I’ve got a question about drainage (not my sinuses). I live on a cul de sac which generally slopes downhill toward my house. And my driveway also slopes more steeply toward my house. So a lot of water heads toward my house. I put in a “speed bump” with the asphalt in a bag material at the top of my driveway, and it does a nice job of diverting the cul de sac water into a pre-existing ditch meant for drainage. I was very happy with that outcome.
But I still have a lot of driveway water which makes its way down my circular drive (asphalt). I think the original builders did a nice job of constructing it, because none of it goes into my garage or to the front door. Almost all of it drops off of the driveway in an 8 foot section. Part of this section is lawn, and this water heads toward a small drainage ditch (6 inches across, 6 inches deep) at the edge of a landscaped bed which extends out about 4 feet from the house. The rest of the 8 foot section (where water drops off of the driveway) goes directly into this drainage ditch.
I don’t think this was originally intended to be a drainage ditch, but rather has become one due to the substantial amounts of water that flow in it during rains. A lot of the water does follow the ditch to the side of the house where it can continue to flow downhill to the back yard. Could be worse. But I am pretty sure that a lot of the water still seeps down to my foundation and gets into the “moat” on the inside of my crawl space to the footers.
So, if I haven’t bored you out of your skull yet, this is my plan and I was hoping for some feedback before I throw my back out digging and attempting to fix this problem. Since almost all of the water can be collected in a relatively small area, I was going to add antoher mini speed bump on the outer edge of the 8 foot section to re-direct this water down to a 2 foot area where ALL of the water will flow off of the driveway. Then I would dig down and install a dry well at this location, filling back with pea gravel (all the way to ground level, maybe putting a potted plan on top). The bottom of the dry well would have an outflow corrugated drainage pipe/tubing (6″ flexible) that I would run in my current drainage ditch (taking advantage of the fact that it already is somewhat pre-dug). This pipe/tube would be solid since I’m not trying to collect any more water, just transport it. Then I could tie this into some pre-existing tubing which connects to a downspout on the corner of the house.
Am I going about this the right way? Do I need to line the dry well with anything so that I don’t miss any of the water and have it find its way to the house? Any other tips?
Thanks for reading all of this. I guess I could have made it shorter, but I read a lot of posts in which there are a lot of follow up questions.
hooswoody
Replies
Depends upon what your "perk" is at the area of the dry well. If the ground is saturated, it won't absorb much.
Not having a picture, I would think if you ditched across the asphalt drive at the low spot, installed a grated drain kicked to flow to your existing channel would take care of that problem. However, ice may become a problem if it freezes in the channel.
Perforated pipe covered with gravel would solve the ice problem, but it wouldn't divert enough runoff, IMHO.
Your speed bumps sound like a better solution, so all this was was just noise.
Work smarter, not harder.
Bump, and a simplification of my question.
I think I may be making this more complicated than it needs to be. What is the best way to collect water as it drains off of an asphalt driveway in a 1-2 foot length? I can dig down and put the equivalent of a sink drain, with all sides sloping toward it. I can even extend this partially under the driveway edge to make sure I get all of it. But if I do this, what material should I use so that I don't lose the water before it gets to the drain. If I just use the existing soil to form the "sink", won't a lot of the water just flow through the soil? Or am I just being too much "Type A"?
Thanks
You got any pictures? Of the driveway and associated problems, that is.
Worth a thousand words, a picture is.
There are two kinds of people who never amount to much:those who cannot do what they are told, and those who can do nothing else.
I'll take and post them tonight. But in the meantime..... it really is just a rather level (side to side) 1-2 foot section of my driveway with a minor pitch (just enough so that the water flows) where the water drains off. At the edge of the driveway in this spot is some lawn/grass . The good news is that this area also continues to have a slight slope downhill, so I don't have to fight gravity.
The problem I' having visualizing is somewher I read here that you were talking about a point to collect the water. I've preferred keeping the water moving as opposed to slowing it down. I'm surprised the waterbars (your speed bumps) haven't been completely succesful.
Looking fwd to pics
The one waterbar at the top of the driveway works well (on the cul de sac water), but now I'm working on the driveway water.
The other smaller waterbars I may have mentioned would only move about 15% of my water down to the 1-2 foot section where I would like to collect all of it in one spot. In the section where I may put these smaller waterbars, they don't have to do much - they would just prevent the water from dropping over the edge of the driveway but in this area the water can continue to go downhill, just staying on the driveway.
The "point" where I am trying to collect the water is in this 1-2 foot section I have mentioned. And 85% of the water at this point is where water from the rest of the driveway naturally flows.
My first thought was that you'll need a bigger drain than you think. You'll likely get more rain than you think - It sems like people tend to underestimate it. Also - rain water runoff generally has debris in it. A bigger pipe would be easier to keep clear.Personally, I'd go for a drain to daylight rather than a dry well. you'd have to have one heck of a dry well to handle much runoff.
The fish is killed by its open mouth
BossHog,
I agree and think I am going to ditch (pun intended) the dry well idea. Now I'm just trying to directly catch the water, then run it in a 6" corrugated pipe, and tie it into an existing pipe (with a clean out trap) that takes it away from the house.
Here are some photos.
I don't know the intricacies of the drain path there but I'd try to do almost opposite of what you're trying... is there anyway to get the water to drain into the grass along where you have draw in the proposed waterbar? I don't like the idea of routing water towards the house when it can be lost elsewhere.
I think you've given up on using a pipe, but I'd do what I could with keeping it on the surface and not consider the pipe. I worry that a pipe could introduce water to routes that'll put it up to the foundation
The problems with collection areas is that they promote erosion whereas if you can loose the water along the length of the drive you can get as much use out of the water feeding your lawn.
John,
Thanks for the response. But the problem is that I already have most of my water travelling off of the driveway in a small area (which happens to be right at the "drainage ditch"). In fact, I think it only looks like a ditch is because of years of water needing to go somewhere, and it has found a path between the landscaped area and the lawn. I would have to make this water go uphill to drain into the lawn.
Since I was going to come up with some method of collecting this water, I though I would go ahead and route the smaller amount of water (using the waterbar) to the same collection area. It may be that this smaller amount of water is not my main problem, and I would be better off holding off on the waterbar (after including the other fix) to see if in the future this water causes a problem.
Woodyhoos
Lowest maintainance solution would be to saw-cut a piece out of the drive, install a "field," or "drop" inlet with a grate and take a stratight run of pipe through the yard to an elevation that is lower than the foundation. The grate should be removeable so you can stick a pressure washer or garden house down and blow out the flow line.
If you increase the swale along the house it'll make mowing more difficult, and the water may migrate to the foundation anyway.
Or just put a stock tank there...
Tom,
Those sound like some options I need to consider. But I am not familar with those terms. Do you know of a site that may have descriptions, pictures, definitions that may get me edumucated.
Thanks
A "drop" or "field" inlet is nothing more than an inlet that allows water to enter from all four sides, with a grate or a slotted concrete cover. Visualize a concrete box with a hole in one side sunk in the ground with a removeable grate. The pipe runs from the flowline (bottom) of the box at a pitch that will allow the water to drain.
The pipe needs to be large enough to allow debris washed into the inlet to continue down the pipe without stoppage.
Home Depot sells some grate material and plastic boxes you may be able to use. You'd still have to pour the bottom which wouldn't be more than one sack of Quickcrete. Thihs doesn't have to be large, maybe 16"X18" square.
I don't know of any website that would offer you this info.