trench/channel drain in gravel driveway

   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #1  

s219

Super Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2011
Messages
8,608
Location
Virginia USA
Tractor
Kubota L3200, Deere X380, Kubota RTV-X
Anybody have a good solution for a trench or channel drain across a gravel (crusher run) driveway? Right now I have a very shallow swale in the driveway in front of my barn door, which helps divert water that flows down the driveway towards the barn. Works well, but I have to scrape it out periodically since it fills with pine needles, loose gravel, dirt/mud from tractor tires, etc. Over time, the swale tends to fill and flatten back out.

I was thinking about putting in one of those pre-fab channel drains, but they are plastic with a sheet-metal top grate, and I don't think they would hold up under the tractor tires for an extended time. And the grate openings are pretty small, so I suspect gravel will plug them up.

The cleverest solution I saw was recommended by the US Forest Service -- they use metal guardrail (which has a sort of flat "W" shape) bedded down into the gravel to make a permanent swale that is easy to scrape out. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to buy guardrail around here. Another solution I have seen is to dig down some treated 4x4 timbers with a gap between them to act like a channel.
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #2  
I have seen used guardrail offered up at auctions

Check with your local highway department, they may know where that the old replaced guardrail is availble from
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #3  
give us some pictures to look at
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #4  
Why not put a 3 or 4” pipe in....maybe 2 or more side by side?
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #5  
Get a piece of 4 or 6" ship channel and tack pieces of rebar across the top at a spacing you like. Regular channel would not be deep enough. A lot of welding Supply stores now stock standard structural steel shapes and cut to length. Whole length is 20'. My WS charges $1 for each cut.

Ron
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #6  
I have the exact same situation in front of my 18 foot wide door to my shed,,

This 50 foot length of graveled driveway drops 4 feet as it approaches my shed,

mPkkYWH.jpg


Right in front of the shed, the entire area under this Gravely is lowered below the height of the sheds concrete floor.

PXC2lA5.jpg


rather than a trench, or channel,, I lowered the ENTIRE width for about five feet out from the building,,
in effect creating a "trench" that is too wide to fill in,,

The wind will blow away anything in that large of an area,,

When it rains hard, there is a LOT of water that will flow from the higher area to the left, across the lowered section, on to the grass to the right.
Since the area is so wide, the water never develops any velocity, instead, the water slowly travels across the gravel.
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #7  
Build it yourself water diverter:

RoadWaterDiverter.jpg



Bruce
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #8  
I have seen something like pictured above, but with a length of fire hose sandwiched between 2 2x6s. They used bolts instead of nails to eliminate the risk of nails in the driveway.

Here is a video of what I think is kind of what you are describing.
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #9  
 
   / trench/channel drain in gravel driveway #10  
 
 
Top