Anyone have water on driveway problems?

[Johndeere3720]

well this morning, I went out on the 3720 to try and tackle the water issue we have on our driveway. It tends to run strait down the middle, snaking its wat to the bottom of the driveway. So I tried using the middle buster to make a small trench down the side. The small trench filled up really quick until it over flowed and went back onto the driveway. In the last week, we have had several inches of rain, and with a small natural spring on our property, our driveway turns into a mess. Thinking hard, I put the left tires into my small trench and used the bucket to make a larger ditch running down the driveway. It was really muddy the whole time, making it hard for the tractor not to get stuck. I got half way down and had to find a spot for all this extra dirt. It is along the driveway, in small piles now. I went to the bottom, and turned sideways so I could use the bucket to make a ditch to the creek. It worked up the driveway until It got to tippy from the incline. I still havent finished, as I need to use the skidsteer to make the ditch larger, and I also need to bring a shovel down and dig a bit. I atleast got most of the water tackled. I was just wondering if anyone else has water troubles on their driveway. The whole time I wished I had a backhoe and my rear blade.

 

[Tig]

My lane (600m) does get into trouble in some spots. Large drainage area, some not so lagre culverts. I am working towards little improvements everywhere. Keeping culverts and ditches clear, raising low spots, creating swales. Water is the enemy. Every little bit helps.

 

[Ezlivn]

I have had problems with water in my driveway for a very long time. I have a huge hill in my backyard and have problems with runoff. I really need to dig a trench and refill with rocks. I also seem to have a spring of some kind right in the middle as water seems to just bubble up from the ground. I just wish it was oil rather than water

It's a nasty problem when it runs and freezes over and over. Some years are worse than others. I'm looking at a couple grand worth of excavator work and I'm trying to convince myself that I absolutely need to get that done. A couple grand would look a heck of alot better on a new garage that I desperately need as well.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Here are a few pictures of the process. This morning I put the furrow head on the middle buster and made 2 nice ditches, 1 was from the middle buster, the other is from the left tires on the soft wet ground. The picture may not show it but from the bottom of the driveway to the top is a gain of 100 feet of elevation. I dug sideways as far as I could until the tractor got tippy. You can see in one of the pictures that most of the driveway was covered in water. The last picture is of me this morning using the middle buster to make a ditch. Atleast I got the water off of the driveway.

 

[dave1949]

It's difficult to get a sense the grade in the photos. It looks like in some stretches your driveway is the lowest grade with higher ground on each side?

In any case, to prevent the water from running down the drive rather than off the drive, you could use those metal water bars that are set into the surface of the drive and angled slightly downhill. They catch the running water in their channel and divert it off to the side. You need to install them where the water can exit the channel to a lower grade than the driveway.

The net effect is to limit the amount of water running down any given stretch of driveway, reducing overall erosion.

Yes, a backhoe would be a real blessing for ditching along the sides.
Dave.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

My driveway is much shorter, but I did have water problems until I brought in some sandy gravel and put a crown on the driveway. Now it's the first place to dry out, and the grass on either side gets the water rather than the pot holes.

 

[CowwFace]

Here are a few pictures of the process. This morning I put the furrow head on the middle buster and made 2 nice ditches, 1 was from the middle buster, the other is from the left tires on the soft wet ground. The picture may not show it but from the bottom of the driveway to the top is a gain of 100 feet of elevation. I dug sideways as far as I could until the tractor got tippy. You can see in one of the pictures that most of the driveway was covered in water. The last picture is of me this morning using the middle buster to make a ditch. Atleast I got the water off of the driveway.

Hey JD,

Have you tried to make the ditch on the other side of the road.. I agree that from the pictures it appears the road grade is on the oppside side that your tractor bucket is on. (Could be an illusion). The best advice I got was to use top cover that has lots of angled stone in it, and avoid rounded stone/sand. The angular stuff is compacted down and forms hard top. We ended up using reclaimed asphalt .. and so far (4 months) it's been very good.

Carry on

 

[tommu56]

To keep from water washing out road you have to keep it's speed down so cut some water bars across the road every 200ft or so.
Google water bar to see what I mean.




tom

 

[teg]

You need water bars (mounded up gravel) to divert water into the ditch. You can make these out of crusher run, just mound up some 2-3" high about 10-12" wide and angle them down hill, off to one side (like speed bumps at a 30-45* angle). You can use more of a crown on that road (it's pretty flat across). Make it so the water will slope off to the side of the road and into the ditch. Make your ditch as wide a possible to keep them from filling up.

 

[tommu56]

something like this http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/7359

I dont know why photo wouldt post.


tom

 

[MMagis]

Over the years I've worked mine to slant toward the ditch. That way it immediately flows to the ditch instead of down the driveway.

 

[3RRL]

I too fight the water run-off each year so I feel your pain.
I've used the backhoe to dig around culverts and used rocks in the trenches/ditches to slow the water down. I cut gutters with my boxblade tilted. I start at a culvert and drag away from it. I pile the dirt where I exit and fix that up later. Other places without culverts, I drag the boxblade into a recess which dumps into a meadow or some other place besides the road. I know I've shared these photos many times, but here they are again.
Rob-

 

[/pine]

It is hard to tell from the pictures but looking at the runn-off it appears there is zero crown to the road?

 

[Dargo]

Over the years I've worked mine to slant toward the ditch. That way it immediately flows to the ditch instead of down the driveway.

For about 15 years I had a constant battle with my roughly 1/4 mile long driveway, especially in late winter and early spring. If I could keep a good crown to the driveway it really helped. My problem was that I'd constantly put my box blade on and get rid of my pot holes (that also got mushy if they were allowed to hold water). The problem was that my 7' wide box blade cut the center crown out of my driveway as it filled the pot holes. For a short while it would be really nice, smooth and flat. Then it would get mushy after snow melts or a few days of rain. The only way to keep it solid was to get the water away from the drive surface.

It took me a while to realize where all my gravel was going, but I finally figured it out with the help of someone telling me. You know all that dust that flies off of your drive when it's dry? That's what's left of your gravel after it's ground against itself by vehicles driving on the surface. Your gravel turns to powder, it doesn't get pushed deeper into the ground as I thought. Duh! The end result was that I'd need at least a tri-axle or two of gravel added each year. At about $250 to $300 per load out to my place, that was really starting to add up and there was no end in sight.

After a lot of hand wringing and mental anguish as to how to best remedy the situation, I finally bit the bullet and came up with what I hope lasts my lifetime. This solution was really more complicated than normal since I own some relatively heavy equipment and I knew that I'd have dozens of concrete trucks running up and down my drive over the years as I finished my new barn and parking areas along with the upcoming project of digging a footer around the edge of about half of my lake and installing a retaining wall. Anyway, here is my solution in the pictures.

 

[beenthere]

Three things:

Put a crown in the roadway (drive) so the water runs to the side.

Put a ditch along both sides for the water to drain down hill to a culvert at the lowest spot so it can cross the road in the culvert.

Do this work when it is dry and not a mud bowl.

Three simple things that take care of the simple thing about water....it runs downhill seeking the lowest spot. If the low spot is your drive, that is where it will go. All that, but again, the roof doesn't leak until it rains.

 

[Johndeere3720]

Thanks everyone for your help. Yesterday I went down the driveway to see how my ditch was doing. I make one go down the right side as there is a fork in the road and we didnt want the water to run across the driveway and onto the neighbors driveway. Yeah, the crown on our driveway has dissapeard partially from grading it with a large cat last summer and the skidsteer. My ditch so far has preformed well, keeping the water to the right side. We also have a natural spring running throught the pasture and it dumps its water into my ditch as well. The ditch runs off at the bottom and into a stream. Since the water is off the driveway, i used my rear blade to get the gravel loose and level then my 6' harrow to get the finished product. I believe I graded at the right time as in the summer the driveway is harder than pavement and in the winter it is really soft. I did notice a little runoff coming down fron the road so i used the blade to make a small ditch to the right side for water to run down. The left side already has a ditch. So, now that the water is pretty much contained and the road is smooth, all I have to do is wait and see what happens in 2 weeks. It was 2 weeks ago I dug my original ditch, so far, its worked and I got to play with my middle buster. This morning, I loaded up my rear blade for my job next weekend. I can wait!

 

[beenthere]

jd3720
In your pics just posted, I don't detect any crown. The last pic seems to show a flat graded road bed that has sides to it that will contain any water in the road, and not let it drain to the sides.
The crown I maintained when I had the gravel drive had at least 10" of height to it in the center, realative to the edges of the 10-12' wide bed, and then dropped off into the ditch on each side. Even then, I had to watch carefully that the car traffic didn't pack the two wheel tracks down enough to cause water to start following (and eroding) those tracks. If the water doesn't run off the drive, it will either run the tracks or soak into the drive and make it unstable.
You will learn these things in time, and it was something I had to learn over time. Good luck, as there is fun in the learning, as it means tractor time.

 

[dave1949]

I think you are making progress, but as beenthere pointed out, more crown may be in order.

Can you offset the rear blade to reach over and pull the edges into the driveway? Then make another pass and move that toward the middle? Then repeat on the other side of the drive. You will get some leaves and dirt, that will wash out as long as it is not too much dirt.
Dave.

 

[Egon]

jd3720:

Put some Gauge wheels on the back blade. That will make a big difference in what you can do with it. It makes it possible to crown and properly lay out material on the road.

As suggested off setting to one side would really help in getting a ditch established.

Can't really tell but would a culvert or two in the right places help?

 

[nhkabotab7800]

i was in my drive the other day and all of a sudden....i also thought it would be better if it was oil.

i'm still pondering how i am going to fix my driveway water issue it freezes every winter. i'm thinking about putting in some perferated pipe surrounded with gravel...

i have a friend that got some real thick rope ( like 3 or 4 inches ) that he lays out on his drive in the spring to control driveway washout. he removes it for the winter when he needs to plow.