creating a culvert

[paulsharvey]

Can I throw another ghetto idea out? CMU "block" turned sideways, across the 6 ft creek; filter fabric, and then back fill. It's still not the right way to do it, and you still need good coverage as CMU aren't meant for side loads, but at least you won't have the corrosion issue. It's roughly 54 blocks to create an 8 ft wide , 6 ft long crossing, and I don't know what the creek bed looks like/how uniform it is. Might have 3 long at the bottom of creek bed, by 12 across, still, might narrow, and not the correct way to do it. The filter fabric would be 100% necessary, as your not going to mud up the gaps, and all.

Now, let me add, there is No way in heck I would do this if you had to purchase $150 worth of block and $100 worth of filter fabric... I would spend that money towards a proper pipe; but if you got a 6 dozen CMU in your bone yard....

 

[paulsharvey]

I think before I considered the CMU or barrels, I would probably just place a rubble layer, and slope that banks to allow a hard bottom Ford. Don't know if you have stacks of rock, but water will run threw a rip rap rubble or bank and shore stone. If you have the material, or can get it Cheap, place 12" of that, place a 4" pvc bleed down orifice, and then another 12" of rip rap or bank and shore; Maybe in a storm even, some minor damming happens...

Edit; none of the above would work locally; you'd probably go to jail for daming the stream; and rock is expensive, only mention it cause (I assume) yall got rock up there in Vermont

 

[paulsharvey]

On pipes, I got to say, the idea of super small, 6, 8, 12" pipes, that people miss, complete disregarding debris clogs; you see an 18" pipe with 2" of water flowing on a normal day. That's great, but remember, everything past 9" of water in that pipe is a rapidly diminishing curve line of capacity. It's dang near exponential to the mid point, and the inverse above the mid point. So, it's a 6" creek, during a non flood event; that gives very little room for additional capacity in even minor rain events.

I'm not trying to make a bigger deal than needed; just trying to provide background info to explain my general statement, of get an 18" pipe, or drive around the long way until your ready to get the 18".

 

[paulsharvey]

None of this is rocket science, and every road department, DOT, developer, deals with this a dozen times per week, across every possible environment, and some how, they all, independently, settled on the same solution, a 15-18" pipe of material that resists corrosion, with proper bedding, and sufficient cover.

Maybe that came out harsher than I really ment it, and I don't mean to be abrasive

 

[Torvy]

I think at this point you are arguing with yourself.

 

[paulsharvey]

I think at this point you are arguing with yourself.

Well, I'm torn on advice to our OP. Either do it right, or atleast give his bad idea the best chance of success possible. There is a right way to do it (and it sounds like he's not going to do that), and then about a dozen bad ideas, that may possibly offer a temp solution, that he might actually do...

 

[Torvy]

Understood. Sometimes we all find excellent ways to spend other people's money. Most of us are guilty of solving a problem posters didn't ask us to solve. Part of the culture here at TBN.

I am tuned into this thread because now that my house is basically done, I can move on to water management. We get 47+ inches of rain a year here, but only 83 rainy days...roughly 1/2 inch of rain average per rainy day. Yesterday there was enough condensation on my roof in the morning that the water puddled at the bottom of my downspouts. No creeks, ponds or lakes on the property, but all exist nearby.

 

[paulsharvey]

It's not uncommon for TBN to find a $30k solution to a $2k problem

 

[Eagle1]

We are guilty of overthinking a solution or redoing it multiple times. Lacking funds limits your option on the day and sometimes temporary is better than nothing. I've become pretty adept of making do until I get the right materials in hand. Keep your eyes open and a culvert (or similar) may drop into your lap.
I've got a couple of 20+ foot long 18" stand pipes (really thick and heavy) that I've re used several times to create temporary culverts, like to get a dozer across my creek, etc.

 

[Torvy]

It drives my wife crazy, but I hesitate to get rid of 'spare' parts and things that may be useful. I'm not a hoarder, I don't go get stuff and accumulate...you just never know when you might need something.