Drainage Issue w/ pad & driveway

[Caver Dave]

Figured someone might some experience with getting water & runoff piped elsewhere ...

I have a slope in back yard that runs toward, a gutter downspout, buried foundation drain, & AC line that ALL drain onto the asphalt drive near the rear of the house. Water tends to stand for a LONG time & ground stays mushy for several days after any rain.

Problem: this area is also where I park the DD, where the B-ball goal is, and where I drive thru the fence (gates) into the backyard (parking for truck, trailer, & Moss). It's a freakin constant mudhole... making a mess (especially where the truck & trailer travel) that runs onto the pad.

My idea was to put a "catch basin" at the corner of the house (to catch the downspout, foundation drain, & AC flow) connected to standard black corregated pipe (covered with a filter sock) 20' to another catch basin at the corner of the pad (backyard runoff & low spot on pad recessed below grade by 6"... the way it was) and then run more pipe down the outboard side of the drive to a point where gravity would carry down the driveway into the storm ditch.

I was hoping to skip the $$$$ for the PVC half-pipe & grating directly in front of the gate (where I drive thru), but I'm unsure if the plastic pipe covered with gravel/rock cinders would hold up to the skinny tires & weight of the truck/trailer/Jeep running over it long term. Maybe cover that with a CHEAP supported grate of some type to keep it from crushing?

Suggestions? Options? Opinions?

 

[shawn]

Sounds like you're on the right track. I'd suggest using a yard drain with 4" PVC drain pipe to daylight. You can pick up cheap, thin-wall PVC pipe made specifically for yard drainage. It won't have holes in it, and will generally be a bit more durable than corrugated pipe. It's a bit more difficult to install, since everything has to be in straight lines, but the pipe sections slip-fit into one another (one end is flared), they're not likely to clog with roots, and they're not likely to have low spots in the line that hold water and provide mosquito breeding pools.

If you get a foot or more of soil above the pipe where you want to drive over it, it should support the weight just fine. The deeper it is, the better.

 

[RatLabGuy]

That's what I'd do, too.
To make the job easier for install, you can rent a ditch witch over a weekend, it will dig a thin trench pretty easily. I have not done this personally but may very well in the near future, and this is what many folks have told me.

 

[CasterTroy]

I'd have to SEE it...but from the sounds of it.....I'd run 6" PVC below grade at a 1/8" slope as far as I could go and dump out exposed away from the house.

I'd place some rip/rap around where the pipe dumps to control errosion, but where the 6" gets close to the house, get a long sweep 90, and rise up to about 4" above finish grade, and run the AC and downspout to it and drain indirectly (in case of a stoped up line) into the 6" line

The foundation drain shouldn't be producing the MUCK....but the AC drain will. It's best to get it as far away as possible.

Also...are you on city sewer?

Can you run this pipe without cutting the asphalt?

 

[Caver Dave]

Sounds like you're on the right track. I'd suggest using a yard drain with 4" PVC drain pipe to daylight. You can pick up cheap, thin-wall PVC pipe made specifically for yard drainage. It won't have holes in it, and will generally be a bit more durable than corrugated pipe.

True, but could I augment the solid (hole-less) sections with the DWV that does have holes (where the run off from the backyard travels) to help disipate that flow?

Running the PVC isn't a problem (did it in a previous life) and happen to have a DitchWitch on tap from an old friend...

 

[Caver Dave]

Correct Troy... very little if any from the foundation drain... tons from the downspout & condenser line though... tons from the slopping backyard too... that's why I had gopes of incorporating something that would handle the DS, CD, & FD flow away, but also something that would catch the runoff from the back along with it.

Septic system that run parallel with front of the house away from the drive... if I get it away from the house by 30'-40', it should follow the drive away from the septic.... if that's where your going?

The general "muck" you mentioned is basically the entire area from the corner of the house about 20'... bordered by the pad and downslop from the fence...about 4' wide...

I'm hoping to have the grade immediate near the gate eased a bit and lay down a nice bed of gravels/cinders... tired of EVERYTHING getting muddy as sin!

 

[Yay!Gurrr]

yup 4" rigid drain at the lumber yard tons of elbows and crap to hook it up.. few years ago, I had a small drainage problem along the back side of my house. crawl space was always wet and had mud under there... Turns out when the original corigated flex pipe was laid it had a nice 3" dip and would drain out into the crawl space just a few inches away (and lower) I laid some solid pipe in that area and an elbow on the back corner of the house to catch the down spout... all is well