Built a pole barn, have some water drainage issues, need help....

[rholmes69]

So we built a 20x20 pole barn with 2 foot over hangs. We had to cut into a small rise for purposes of placement on our property. Our soil is fairly dense mix of red and brown clay, with a little bit of healthy soil, but talking only a couple inches at best. With regular rain showers, the soil absorbs the water fine and our initial drainage system works fine. With half inch or more per hour rates, we get overwhelmed. and part of the barn floods. We initially trenched a small away from the sides of the barn to the back corner, laid a 5 in drain tube with a 6in water tile. We dug the trench a good 6-8in lower for the drain tubing than the afore mentioned trench that runs the perimeter where water issues exist. Last night we got easily a half inch of rain in a short period and it overwhelmed a portion of the barn floor. My thoughts on fixing the problem are to take the tractor and dig out about a 4-5 foot wide level area on the side of the barn pictured towards the drainage ditch we initially dug, hoping that the water runoff we get from that side will be more easily handled and not running through such a narrow run.

The rise that we built into was the old natural barrier between our farm and the neightbors. Our place use to be a soybean farm (40+ years back) and the neighbors is still actively used for various crops. The fence is darn close to the property line (about 2 feet off) and we drain out the water towards his field, which is a decent drop/depth below our property (about a 2-3 foot drop down towards that field). He said to give him all the water we want to drain towards him, so we are trying to!

Thoughts... suggestions?

left side is area of concern








Current drainage system

 

[roadhunter]

might consider some gutters to get the water coming off the roof away from the building.

 

[Paul Thornton]

In addition to the gutters consider some form of gutter guard to keep the leaves out of them.

L2800 w/FEL - 72" Land Pride rake

 

[newbury]

might consider some gutters to get the water coming off the roof away from the building.

In addition to the gutters consider some form of gutter guard to keep the leaves out of them.

L2800 w/FEL - 72" Land Pride rake

Both, and then get an IBC tote or two





And store hundreds of gallons of water easily.

 

[rholmes69]

Without dropping more money into gutters, etc, any grading or land changes are really what I am looking at. Water collection is not my desire, just not having a muddy half of a barn floor.

 

[dave1949]

Gutters would help, but I think you also need to cut down the rise to the left of the building so you get surface drainage away from the wall.

A building should be on the highest level of the surrounding area. As long as it's the lowest level, you will always have water running towards it and gutters won't fix that.

Your current drain is going to be a constant chore to keep it free of dirt, leaves and such. Get a good slope away from the wall and you won't need that drain. A slope of 1/2" to 3/4" drop per foot of distance should be enough.

 

[roadhunter]

Without dropping more money into gutters, etc, any grading or land changes are really what I am looking at. Water collection is not my desire, just not having a muddy half of a barn floor.

Installing gutters on that barn won't cost much at all. The mud is likely caused from the water falling off the roof and splashing dirt on the door.

 

[kenmac]

That Corrugated pipe you used has too much resistance. You need to replace it with 6'' smooth PVC, etc, pipe. Water will flow faster through a smooth pipe. . Also as mentioned. you need to slope the ground away from the bldg.

 

[s219]

You really need to maintain about 1/4" per foot grade for the first 6-8 feet away from a building to be on the safe side, though in some cases that's not enough. If you don't have that kind of slope, you will be fighting an uphill battle (no pun intended).

Is it too late to raise the floor level? Even if you lose a little headroom that might be your best option.

I put my pole barn on a slight downhill slope (no choice, that was the only spot). The sides and back have natural drainage grade down the slope, but the front (on the uphill side of the barn) is downhill from my driveway. I setup the grading and floor level so that I get that 1/4" per foot grade for about 6 feet from the front door, then the grade reverses back uphill to the driveway. So far no problems even when we have gotten gullywasher downpours. I'd hate to have to deal with it using drainage, ditches, etc. Really, proper grade is as close as you can get to convenient/bulletproof.

 

[farmer2009]

If you leave the trench alone and bring the bank down to where to water flows away from the building and not along side it. I would think you would have the results you are looking for. Or make that trench about 3-4 feet wide so it can handle the water. It looks as if it's just being over whelmed.