Water Keeps Washing Out My Gravel Driveway!!

[Anonymous Poster]

I am having trouble with my gravel driveway. Everytime we get a deceit amount of rain my driveway washes out. My house sits at the top of my driveway and then it goes down its slopes down and my 3 car garage sits down there. The slope is what washes out. I have a slight ditch dug to oneside and that helps carry the water down the driveway until it gets to the bottom where the garage is and then it just washes gravel away. I need to carry it all the way off my driveway into the woods. What is the best way in doing this. I have thought about putting a grate drain and then running pipe from that off to the sides. Or running a piece of corrogated draintile down the side of the driveway and covering it with gravel. Will this work?? Is there better ways?? Need HELP!!

~Dave~

 

[Hoeman00]

Check out this post, it is talking about same basic problems.
'Drainage around driveway '

Don't forget to check underground utilities before digging.

 

[beenthere]

Believe me, I know exactly what you are talking about. The only way to stop it (and you mentioned it) is to get the water off the gravel as soon as possible. Doing this needs to be well planned. First, a good crown to the drive so the water immediately runs to the side and into a good respectable ditch. Then down the ditch either to a culvert to divert it to the other side (if this ditch is on the uphill side) or away from the roadway.

Can't let water run for very long before it picks up enough volume and speed to move mountains of gravel, sand, dirt, and larger and larger rocks (and literally mountains) /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.

I had to learn not to be timid about making the crown and making the ditches. Good luck.

 

[Darren]

Control the volume and velocity of the water.

The steeper the slope the closer the diversionary structures. Your idea of using grated drains is correct. They need to be located close enough to remove the water before it gathers enough volume and velocity to move gravel.

This link to logging roads has some guidelines. A waterbar is a diagonal ditch across the road that intercepts and diverts water off to the side. http://www.wvu.edu/~agexten/forestry/bestprac.htm

A grated drain across the road would do the same thing if the road is such that a crown would create a problem in the winter.

 

[Rowski]

Dave

The grate drain with piping or corrogated drain tile would work well. Not sure how cold winters are down by you. But around here piping would eventaully freeze solid. The water would then stay on top and do what it wants /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif. Also keep in mind how much you maximum run off would/might be. Make it slightly larger than that (for mother natures unsuspected suprises /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif). Would be better in the long run to spend a little more time and money than to have to do it over again if it washes out.

Not know the lay out of drive, it sound like you would be better off just digging a ditch off into the woods away from the drive. Just make sure that the flow of water doesn't effect anything bellow /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Properly designed tile drainage should not freeze up. You run it all at a very slight slope, and as long as water is liquid, it will drain away. If the 'water' is solid, none drains into the tile. I have miles of drainage tile in my fields in Minnesota, you need to know how to install them. If you have a lowspot that holds water in the tile, when it freezes it will split your tile.

Now, the surface can freeze over, and you will get ponding in spring snow melt. But that's uncommon. Normally as soon as water flows, it goes through the tile & carries enough BTU's with it to keep moving.

--->Paul

 

[Rowski]

I agree that a drain tile should not freeze if properly installed as you mention. I was more thinking that if the grate would freeze over for what ever reason (ie coverd with snow and then turn to ice... freeze and thaw cycle) that the water wouldn't have a place to go. This may never be the case for Dave. I was just per say "brain storming" some ideas. I know around here culverts freeze up fairly easy. But that is different than drain tile.