need drainage ideas... New carport

[airbiscuit]

All good advice. That building is not too heavy to raise. I would bring in 5-7 yards of gravel or recycled concrete and raise the floor or the carport about 4". Then shallow ditches and swales should move the water around it.

Gylford, do you have pics of the conveyor belt water bars?

 

[GLyford]

Full disclosure, I haven't made or used them myself. This is the first google hit:

Indiana Woodland Steward - Water Bar for Continuous Use Road

 

[airbiscuit]

Thanks, that is cool.

 

[GLyford]

This is the "3 boards" channel I also mentioned, I see they are also using chunks of all-thread to support the top edges of the boards. I hope this is during install, and they actually fill and pack it closer to the boards...? Either that, or this system is about to fail. So I suspect with any system you can expect some maintenance.

 

[deezler]

bartjoebob (I do hope thats your real name),

It's a shame that you didn't first make the pad under the carport taller than everything around it. I'm gonna get a carport like yours soon too, and plan to make sure my pad is higher than the surrounding area so nothing ever pools inside like that. All you really need is a couple inches of difference, and the water will simply flow elsewhere. If you don't mind loosing a few inches of headroom in your carport, just add a little fill and the problem will be solved.

 

[bcp]

Wooden water bar:

This has a good feature that some I've seen lack. The bottom board sticks out past the vertical boards a bit to resist liftout or up-down movement when crossed. One diagram showed about 1/2+ inch.

Bruce

 

[airbiscuit]

bartjoebob (I do hope thats your real name),

It's a shame that you didn't first make the pad under the carport taller than everything around it. I'm gonna get a carport like yours soon too, and plan to make sure my pad is higher than the surrounding area so nothing ever pools inside like that. All you really need is a couple inches of difference, and the water will simply flow elsewhere. If you don't mind loosing a few inches of headroom in your carport, just add a little fill and the problem will be solved.

I have a carport like that (upgraded with a-frame roof and vertical siding). I love it - great value. I did raise the pad before it was built. Even if the OP has earth anchors attached, it wouldn't be that hard to dig under it enough for a car jack and raise it 4" or so, and then bring in fill, gravel or recycled concrete. As you say, water problem goes away (especially with modest ditching here and there).

Again, these buildings are a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[deezler]

Again, these buildings are a lot of bang for the buck.

So it would seem! To get a sturdy 20'x21' roof for $1600, installed? Crazy affordable. Now I just have to convince the wife that it wont be quite as ugly as she fears, and that we really do need a better place to store and dry firewood.

 

[airbiscuit]

So it would seem! To get a sturdy 20'x21' roof for $1600, installed? Crazy affordable. Now I just have to convince the wife that it wont be quite as ugly as she fears, and that we really do need a better place to store and dry firewood.

And your next tractor!

 

[2manyrocks]

Those bars probably work better on slopes where the water has enough velocity to be diverted off into a ditch. I wouldn't expect them to move water on a flatter surface where the water tends to pond.

The OP's original picture almost looks like the water is flowing down his driveway to the carport and then exiting under the carport to the right hand side.

First step I would try is a shallow ditch/swale to move the water off to the side if the water would have a exit at the lowest point of the ditch.

If he has to raise the carport, it needs to be carefully raised so the metal roof doesn't get canned and start leaking. E.g., lift all of it uniformly as you possibly can.