Drainage - The Final Chapter

[HawkinsHollow]

The last pipe I priced,, there was little difference in price of corrugated and plastic sewer pipe.
(That was comparing 4 inch)

I have switched to the smooth interior pipe
WHY??
The corrugations catch and hold leaves, and sticks.

You will get clogs 20X as often with corrugated.

I had a guy re-do culverts on my driveway, 15" and 18"
He REFUSED to install the corrugated pipe,
The pipe we used is corrugated on the outside, but, it is double wall
The second wall inside is smooth,

He said he had too many complaints about clogs, with pipe that is corrugated inside.

Yeah, I totally get it. I can get rigid 6". But that stuff is EXPENSIVE as are the T's. I think they are $70 just for a T. But that might be a better way to do this. And I don't need a ton of it.

I feel like with the strainer and the short underground run clogs won't be as much of an issue. But I could see how a regular culvert exposed to all the leaves and sticks it can eat would have much greater issues more frequently.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Oh yeah, also I was thinking of using concrete to fill the closed end of the T I am not using. It is hard to see from the pic but the 90 I am using to turn the vertical to horizontal has that closed end of the T pointed down allowing a place for water to pool. I plan on filling that void with concrete so water cannot accumulate there. I supposed I could do that where it turns the corners too.

Is in front of the screen house won't be backfilled like behind the wall from where you are standing from the picture ? .. if it will be backfilled I would be tempted to use the end of the second T (by the wall) as a clean out, so you have a straight thought access to it, if it not going to be backfill and you can access right up to the T by the wall by hands then its a other story but I think you will have trouble getting through the first 90 with a snake in order to make it to the underground part... going through a 90 from vertical to horizontal is pretty much impossible with a snake.. better to be safe then sorry.

Also put a screen at the offtake end so critter doesn't nest in it during the dry seasons.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Is in front of the screen house won't be backfilled like behind the wall from where you are standing from the picture ? .. if it will be backfilled I would be tempted to use the end of the second T (by the wall) as a clean out, so you have a straight thought access to it, if it not going to be backfill and you can access right up to the T by the wall by hands then its a other story but I think you will have trouble getting through the first 90 with a snake in order to make it to the underground part... going through a 90 from vertical to horizontal is pretty much impossible with a snake.. better to be safe then sorry.

Also put a screen at the offtake end so critter doesn't nest in it during the dry seasons.

Yessir! The T that is to the right of the cinderblock will be accessible, that is where I plan on putting a clean out. As far as the vertical to the horizontal I will easily be able to reach my arm down there to make that turn. I am not super worried about that underground section clogging at all, it's short, very accessible and it will have a decent slope to it. Oh and yes most of that pipe running along the back of the house will be partially/mostly exposed.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Yessir! The T that is to the right of the cinderblock will be accessible, that is where I plan on putting a clean out. As far as the vertical to the horizontal I will easily be able to reach my arm down there to make that turn. I am not super worried about that underground section clogging at all, it's short, very accessible and it will have a decent slope to it. Oh and yes most of that pipe running along the back of the house will be partially/mostly exposed.

if that's the case there is no problem

 

[texas42]

Unfortunately the 6" is corrugated. I already had it, and I am not sure where to get the smooth walled corrugated locally. Can you tell me the disadvantage of using corrugated?

Corrugated is the least efficent pipe type

 

[Snobdds]

So one thing I learned while putting in my heated driveway...you need a large surface area to act as a catch to dump water into a drain. If you just try and catch all the water in a drain, a lot will just overspill in a heavy rain and run off in a direction you don't want. Where your yellow line is, put in a gutter drain (channel drain) that is about 6 feet long, and then dumps into your pipe. This will catch a lot more water than just that pipe.

I would also put a French drain below the cinder block wall to catch run-off in that small area. That is a lot of hydrostatic pressure on the wall if there is no way to get the water from above, out past the wall. Then just tie it into the main drain.

I wish I had a better picture, but you can see where the snow is on my driveway, is where the gutter drains are. I have zero issues with water when the snow melts. It's all captured by the drains and put into the forrest where it drains to the creek.

 

[BleedingOrange]

Snobdds, I love the look of your mansion. Did you have it built, or did you buy it from a previous owner ?

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Excellent info @Snobdds!
I guess that is why there is such thing as a catch basin huh? A place for water to accumulate as it is moved out. A gutter drain is a great idea but there is one snafu. I will eventually resurface my driveway, and when I do the level of it will raise by 4-6 inches in that spot. It will be hard (but not impossible) to raise the level of that gutter drain. I was just planning on creating a deeper basin around the 6” vertical drain when that happened. Definitely food for thought though.

I appreciate you bringing up a French drain against cinder block wall. But 2 things are in my favor there. The ground slopes naturally towards the wall opening in the corner. And I will have ample gravel there to allow water movement. And I plan on sloping pad so water runs off the back so I don’t think it will catch a lot of water. But I have the perf. 4” so I might throw it in there for good measure anyways.

 

[JJT]

Unfortunately the 6" is corrugated. I already had it, and I am not sure where to get the smooth walled corrugated locally. Can you tell me the disadvantage of using corrugated?

Corrugated interior is a bunch of riffles just waiting to get filled up with silt, sand, leaves, water, etc. Smooth wall interior is better at keeping everything moving and has a higher crush rating. I'd run a pair of four inch smooth wall lines before using a single corrugated 6". The price of pipe is small considering your labor.

Will this ever freeze? If so, there's another reason not to use corrugated.

 

[Snobdds]

Snobdds, I love the look of your mansion. Did you have it built, or did you buy it from a previous owner ?

That is my house in Steamboat. We use it mainly in the winter, as I like to Snowboard.

We built it about 10 years ago now. I wanted a non maintenance house. I don't want to rely upon unreliable contractors to remove the snow in the winter. I had too many times when I arrived on a Friday night and then proceed to be out there until midnight removing snow. I solved that problem.