Stop washout

   / Stop washout #1  

mrlullabye

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Jun 23, 2009
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I have some property that has two real problem water paths. the lay of my property all slants downhill slightly to the south-west. on the north and east side of my property a culvert crosses both roads and there is no planned escape route for the masses of water coming out of those culverts.

The water has cut pretty far down already through the hard packed clay so there is some real doozy spots in a sort of Y shape. The tops of the Ys are the culvert and the bottom of the Y is where it dumps out on the west end of my property. my main problem is before the Ys converge. One leg of that particularly takes a tremendous amount of water and has some potential tractor flippers washed out.

I am thinking in the long run we will need a wider, but shallower water path. For the time being though I have a real hazard. I have dropped a few loads of dirt in it to see what happens and sure enough it just washed out. I am thinking I could dig in my wider ditch maybe 6 feet wide and 6 inches deep, then cut up some railroad ties and dig them in so their tops are at grade of where the bottom of my ditch will be. Then once they are in place slowly fill up to them with some dirt/clay. I am affraid that will also just wash though. I think if I filled all the way to the top of them in one go it would wash too fast but maybe if I just added 6 inches or so between rains it would build and keep some.

Do you guys think that would work?

The only thing more aggressive I can think of is to put hay bails in the really deep spots so that as the water washes, it will wash into the hay bails and eventually the bails will rot and the dirt they held might stay.
 
   / Stop washout #2  
Without pictures, this is just a guess. I believe you want to use rock riprap. It is too heavy to wash out (normaly) and the water flows over and through the rock, not cutting into the soil beneath.

Dave.
 
   / Stop washout #3  
I used rocks, and bricks gathered up around here to put in a wash, down below the dam on the pond. Always a good place to get rid of those pesky things..!! Of course it is in a wooded area, so the leaves help plug the holes some, to catch the dirt. Works great..!!

If you don't have that many rocks, you can try this. We made a log dam in a washout on a trail project. Seems to be working, but will take several years to fill I'd imagine. But again the leaves help catch the sediment. You can always add to it, as it fills, or make another downstream, and catch some of what the first didn't...
 

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   / Stop washout #4  
I've been hauling in broken up concrete from jobs I do to fill in places like that and also line the banks of my streams on the property. I'm sure if you'd contact some of the local contractors they might be glad to find a spot to get rid of concrete they jackhammer out of patios, driveways and sidewalks. Some break them up in nice size chunks and others have slabs they tear out with a hoe. Might be a cheap way to solve the problem and it really don't look that bad if you get the smaller pieces and create a small swell and lay it in somewhat neatly.

Topstrap
 
   / Stop washout #5  
Dirt will just keep washing out, not matter what. Large gravel or rip rap will be your best long term option.
 
   / Stop washout #6  
Depending on how long these washouts are you can go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy some 6 inch flexible ( accordion type ) drain hose and they sell mini drain covers..put a layer or large gravel or aka rip rap and they lay down the drain hose - put another layer of gravel on top of the drain hose and cover with dirt.then attach the mini drain cover at the hole at the beginning of each wash ..the water will flow down the drain and follow the pipe and disperse where you have it end. A bit hard to describe without drawing it out or being there but I have done that in the past with great success. Remember if the water wants to go there..no amount of dirt or other material will stand in its way so you just want to move the water out of your way under the turf.
 
   / Stop washout #7  
If this is a county road and culvert you should be talking to them as they have changed the natural drainage.:confused:
 
   / Stop washout
  • Thread Starter
#8  
the culverts were there for years before we brought the property and the washout only became a problem when we had the land "landscaped" so really it is just damage control until the grass picks up good.


I called my farmer neighbor and he is going to pitch in some round hay bales and scrap concrete if I feel like going to get it. I'll figure it out tomorrow when I am on the scene.
 
   / Stop washout #9  
The problem with chunks of concrete and other debris is it can concentrate the flow and still wash out the dirt underneath. The advatage of rip rap is that it is round and uniform and disperses the water over a larger area and doesn't wash out as easy.
 
   / Stop washout #10  
I've found that filling up the ditches with bricks, chunks of concrete and even cinder blocks works great. In a few places, I've laid entire sacks of concrete in the ditches to dam them up.

What happens is the material catches silt as it washes through the ditches. So instead of the dirt washing out, new dirt is brought in when it rains and creates it's own dam in the ditches, then begins to fill up. In a very short amount of time, with enough rip rap, the ditch will fill up and the water will spread out. In the places where I've totally filled up the ditches with rip rap, you cannot tell there was ever a drainage ditch/canyon there. I'm mowing right over that area and wondering where it was actually at as I pass by. In the areas that I'm still adding material, it's amazing to see where it's working and where I need to add more material. The best part is the ditches are filling up with dirt where I have the concrete in them.

Good luck,
Eddie
 
 
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