Drainage off driveway
Just bought a house. During the first very heavy rain I noticed that there was a lot of water rushing off of and along the back of the driveway, which directs it to one foundation wall, where it rushes off the back of the house like a river. One corner of the driveway is undercut about 6-12” in, and there is some scouring along the foundation. Nothing major now but it needs to be addressed. The driveway is very long and drains a lot of water. The whole driveway is sloped downs towards the end, and away from the house such that the edge of the driveway farthest from the house is almost like a gutter of water by the end of the driveway. The only place this isn’t true is the last square of driveway that is undercut, which slopes slightly towards the house. I double checked all this with a hose to confirm where water drains to from different parts of the driveway, and what I found is that, at the side of the driveway where the water drains (the right side in the photos), there is a lot of grass blocking its flow, and the water is directed sideways directly along the edge of the driveway and towards the house - the water has been eroding away the grass and dirt where it moves fastest (on the left in the photos). I also made a small channel through the grass barrier today, and it does a pretty good job of moving the water from the hose away from the driveway. I’ve been pondering how to address all this and just looking for some feedback. Fix the erosion: Dig out under the undercut driveway slightly, then build a small form and backfill with cement. Unsure if I should try to jack up this part of the driveway first or not. Jacking it up will aid with runoff but also complicates back-filling to prevent voids. Then I will fill the end of the driveway and along the side of the house with about 0.5 yd of topsoil and try to protect it as best I can until I can get some grass growing there. For the drainage…I am thinking of digging out the back of the driveway to prevent the rushing water from slamming into a barrier of dirt and grass, and digging a swale or digging a small sump with a drain running off of it farther down the yard (my yard slopes away from the house nicely). Basically, give the water a place to go the directs its momentum down the yard instead of stopping it dead in its tracks and directing it towards the house. I also considered pouring a small curb at the back of my driveway to direct the water to a drain, but I feel like this is overkill if I backfill the dirt correctly. I don’t have any experience managing water this way but I am very experienced with all kinds of stuff so nothing I need to do is really intimidating from a skills perspective, I’m just trying to avoid trial and error and looking for feedback. submitted by /u/MostEscape6543 [link] [comments]
| | Just bought a house. During the first very heavy rain I noticed that there was a lot of water rushing off of and along the back of the driveway, which directs it to one foundation wall, where it rushes off the back of the house like a river. One corner of the driveway is undercut about 6-12” in, and there is some scouring along the foundation. Nothing major now but it needs to be addressed. The driveway is very long and drains a lot of water. The whole driveway is sloped downs towards the end, and away from the house such that the edge of the driveway farthest from the house is almost like a gutter of water by the end of the driveway. The only place this isn’t true is the last square of driveway that is undercut, which slopes slightly towards the house. I double checked all this with a hose to confirm where water drains to from different parts of the driveway, and what I found is that, at the side of the driveway where the water drains (the right side in the photos), there is a lot of grass blocking its flow, and the water is directed sideways directly along the edge of the driveway and towards the house - the water has been eroding away the grass and dirt where it moves fastest (on the left in the photos). I also made a small channel through the grass barrier today, and it does a pretty good job of moving the water from the hose away from the driveway. I’ve been pondering how to address all this and just looking for some feedback. Fix the erosion: Dig out under the undercut driveway slightly, then build a small form and backfill with cement. Unsure if I should try to jack up this part of the driveway first or not. Jacking it up will aid with runoff but also complicates back-filling to prevent voids. Then I will fill the end of the driveway and along the side of the house with about 0.5 yd of topsoil and try to protect it as best I can until I can get some grass growing there. For the drainage…I am thinking of digging out the back of the driveway to prevent the rushing water from slamming into a barrier of dirt and grass, and digging a swale or digging a small sump with a drain running off of it farther down the yard (my yard slopes away from the house nicely). Basically, give the water a place to go the directs its momentum down the yard instead of stopping it dead in its tracks and directing it towards the house. I also considered pouring a small curb at the back of my driveway to direct the water to a drain, but I feel like this is overkill if I backfill the dirt correctly. I don’t have any experience managing water this way but I am very experienced with all kinds of stuff so nothing I need to do is really intimidating from a skills perspective, I’m just trying to avoid trial and error and looking for feedback. [link] [comments] |
