Latest Discussions : Lawn & Garden

04:03AM | 07/23/03

Member Since: 05/12/03
13 lifetime posts

Drainage Problem

Tags: Lawn & Garden

Looking for advice/guidance on how to correct a drainage problem at the end of my driveway. My backyard lawn starts at the end of the driveway and runs down hill. Rain water (when it pours) runs down my driveway (which is pitched) and down the back yard hill. I have recently re-top soiled/filled my back yard hill w/ topsoil and seed, it's now all washing away and I have 8 inch ruts about 75 feet long running down my back yard, caused by the driveway run off. I am thinking about installing some draingage covers at the end of my driveway to re-route the water. HELP! Matt

Bob Jr

05:36PM | 07/23/03

Member Since: 01/19/03
44 lifetime posts

Try installing a curb on end of your driveway. Leave an opening for water to run thru and install some larger rock to form a run-off area.

If you want grass and not to see the stones, then install a channel somehow (curb) to send the water toward a catchment basin, then tile down the hill to the low area where it can dump out. Hopefully not onto your neighbors property. You can't stop normal rainfall and runoff, it is natural, but if you channel it toward his house you might have some liability.

You have several options depending on what you want the yard to look like and how much labor or ($$$) you want to put into it.

k smith

11:41AM | 07/24/03

Member Since: 07/09/03
71 lifetime posts

i see alot of this aroud our area. there are numerous options, some expensive and some not so expensive. first, you will never get seed established on a slope without erosion. you will need to sod it and use sod staples to hold it down until the roots take hold. i would create a drainage swell, a concave ditch that is smooth enough to mow and about four times as wide as it is deep, then sod it. an open ditch carries way more volume than pipe.

treebeard

02:13AM | 07/28/03

Member Since: 01/14/03
264 lifetime posts

A curb or berm about 6 inches high at the end of your driveway is a good idea. But that will only stop the water, not divert it elsewhere. From there, a stone lined channel across your yard to a point where the water can be positively drained may work, but it will always be a stone lined channel across your yard. Not the most appealing yard feature is you're looking for a continous lawn.

An option is pipe. The black HDPE (high density polyethylene) pipe that comes on a roll and is sold by many big box home improvement stores. They also sell pre-fabricated 'catch basins' made to install on one end of the pipe to collect the water. The basin can be installed on the 'driveway' side of your curb or (earthen) berm to catch the water that's stopped by the curb/berm, and direct it to a pipe. You already have the 'ruts' you spoke of. A little effort on your part to excavate those ruts more, to about 16" to 18", will allow for installation of the pipe across your yard to a point of discharge where you choose, lower than the driveway. The big box outlets (especially HD, the orange one) are pretty good at providing instructions on how to put things together. And it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg, either.

MLoehr

09:27AM | 07/29/03

Member Since: 05/12/03
13 lifetime posts

Thanks for the feedback. I put a drain in this past weekend. Dug a trench 2 feet by 2 feet, lined it w/ black plactic then covered it w/ 1 inch stone placing the black flexable drain pipe on top followed by more stone. Trench is routed to a wooded area. Entire hill has been re-loamed, raked and seeded. Hopefully everything will work out.