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Need suggestions for driveway drain ..

Lateapex911 | Posted in Construction Techniques on November 21, 2005 03:00am

Too bad we don’t have a landscaping section…maybe I should post this over on a sister site..

But…I need to add some drainage in front of my garage. I looked for some U shaped drain sections that have grates that fit in the top, and found a great system, that was from the west coast, but the pricing! Ouch! Well over $300 for a 22 ft setup with the trough, the grate an end cap and an exit adapter.

Driveway is gravel, and slopes down to the garage…uggg, yes, I know that major changes are needed, but this needs to be done regardless, and will go along way in averting the flooding IN the garage, LOL.

So, what options do you guys recommend?

Jake Gulick

[email protected]

CarriageHouse Design

Black Rock, CT

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  1. Danusan11 | Nov 21, 2005 04:16am | #1

    I've used the poly/concrete drains and they work great, pre determined pitch. Set them level and go.

    options

    form and pour, make grates

    cut 4or6"sch 40 in half,make grates

    spend the extra money and do it the quick and easy way

    1. Lateapex911 | Nov 21, 2005 05:53am | #2

      Agreed, can you provide a source? The pricing I ended up with seemed really high for such a small amount of materials, esp as it was all some form of PVC!Jake Gulick

      [email protected]

      CarriageHouse Design

      Black Rock, CT

      1. Rebeccah | Nov 22, 2005 12:47am | #5

        If you can get it locally, it's a lot cheaper than having it shipped from across the country.I did a lot of research before installing a trench drain in front of my garage. In the end, Home Depot and Lowes had plastic drain pieces for very cheap, but not enough of them in stock and not pre-sloped, and I didn't know how they'd hold up to vehicular traffic. White Cap, which was bought by Home Depot a couple of years ago, is more oriented toward contractors than homeowners, and had Aco brand precast polymer concrete modular drain systems. I think they had another brand, too, that was even more heavy duty than what I wanted. These were pre-sloped and have really served me well. They were less expensive at White Cap than over the Internet, plus I could pick them up in my pickup truck and didn't have to add shipping (which otherwise would have doubled the cost). For 16' including materials, concrete saw rental, and day laborers to help pouring the concrete, it cost me about $2000 total.I live in a warm climate and don't have to deal with freezing, but I do think that the presloped will make a difference there.RebeccahP.S. You can google White Cap to get to their web site, and they have a store finder.

        1. Lateapex911 | Nov 22, 2005 08:06am | #9

          I went to the White Cap site and eventually found a cool 4" plastic channel extrusion that comes in 4 foot lengths, has the couplings, the end and drain caps and the grate...but ouch...$360 before shipping....

          I would definately find a local store for that.

          Is this pricing about average? I was (stupidly, LOL) hoping for less...

          (Theres a guy in me that says that a  4 foot hunk of plastic (well the section of channel and the coupleing and the 2 required grates) shouldn't cost MORE than a DVD player! They are actually complicated and do cool things...this is simple. made form cheap stuff, and does nothing very interesting at all!)Jake Gulick

          [email protected]

          CarriageHouse Design

          Black Rock, CT

      2. Danusan11 | Nov 22, 2005 04:32am | #7

        ersco(sp)? They make alot of drain products, seen them mostly in my state,but fairly confident they are all over. If I have time Iwill see if I can find a link. The grates were of good quality, they also had them with locks, but that seemed like a real pain considering the locks probably would not work in 3 weeks anyway.

        Ersco Corparation.com

        Edited 11/21/2005 8:51 pm ET by Danusan11

      3. stinger | Nov 22, 2005 05:00pm | #12

        Have you sourced and priced this, from ACO?

        View Image

        Probably expensive, but hey, what isn't, when it's something you drive over in your Hummer.

        What is shown here is their "residential" quality stuff, non-presloped.

        Figuring the labor to trench, redimix and finish, backfill, dress up, pipe away to daylight, etc., your cost of these materials will just look like one of the line items.

  2. WayneL5 | Nov 21, 2005 05:58am | #3

    I've seen the trench drain systems in the big box stores.

    1. wane | Nov 21, 2005 04:13pm | #4

      Had to do this on our sloped lane, the trough was plastic, set in a form and then poured concrete, worked most of the time, but still froze up in winter, if I had to do it again I'ld put electric heating cord in the concrete ..

  3. BobKovacs | Nov 22, 2005 01:38am | #6

    Here's a website that has a product called Deco-Drain that we used to use on pool decks where they sloped toward the house.  It doesn't have the capacity of a full-on trench drain (which is also shown on the same website, but it's better than nothing. 

    http://verizonsupersite.com/sunpaverscom/accessories/

    Bob

    1. Lateapex911 | Nov 22, 2005 08:09am | #10

      THe big channel pictured is just the ticket...too bad they have no site functionality!Jake Gulick

      [email protected]

      CarriageHouse Design

      Black Rock, CT

  4. stinger | Nov 22, 2005 05:38am | #8

    I see you are in CT, and I presume there is some kind of frost depth in winter.

    Were you planning to do the kind of trenchdrain that is set with pin supports in an excavated trench, and then a concrete pour is made that encases it with the crete flush up to the top flanges?

    I have not seen trenchdrain products you can just encase in gravel.

    For a lesser cost, you might consider doing a curtain drain.  Excavate the trench about 16 inches deep by same width at the shallow end, then pitch it across at a slope of no less than 1/8" to the foot, then run to daylight with the trench.

    Put a couple inches of fine gravel in the bottom as a liner.

    Drape the trench with a sheet of filter fabric laid across the bottom and up the sides with a foot and a half of extra width to fold over the top.

    Then place a socked 4" perforated draintile line (black plastic corrugated type) in the trench atop the fabric.

    Fill the upholstered trench with sharpedge pea gravel to within two inches of grade. 

    Cover the top of the pea gravel with the hem you've left of the filter fabric.  Now cover the whole thing with golfball sized stones.

    That might catch all your water and divert it.

  5. NathanL | Nov 22, 2005 04:53pm | #11

    I have found a similar product at my local home depot. I know Menards also carries them I think it was about 17.00 per two foot piece made of pvc I used them on a brick driveway and they work great as long as you can find a good location to drain the water.

     

  6. joemic | Nov 22, 2005 09:52pm | #13

    Another option instead of a drain across the front of your garage would be to regrade the area in front, lets say 4' out from garage to pitch away and a slight swale to one side and put in a small yard drain and pipe it away to daylight.



    Edited 11/22/2005 2:21 pm ET by joemic

    1. Lateapex911 | Nov 23, 2005 08:35am | #14

      Thanks guys....

      More info...this is my house...LOL, so a line item approach, well, hmmm..

      The drive is gravel, so for now at least, it's: dig a trench, slide the channel in under the drip line from the roof (too low for gutters and trucks to get along), and drain to one side.... backfill the gravel....pop the grates on (no Hummers!) ....easy, LOL!

      Down the road I have fantasies of pavers....but for now I want my feet to stay dry every time I go to the garage!

      Looks like I'll just suck it up and write the check! Jake Gulick

      [email protected]

      CarriageHouse Design

      Black Rock, CT

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