I have a down-sloped driveway with a storm drain at the lowest point,
leading out through PVC pipe buried under the soil to an even lower
point in the yard. The drain basin (about 1' square and maybe 1.5'
deep) has the PVC pipe entering the basin at about .5' from the top.
The part of the basin below the pipe entry is filled with dirt, from
runoff from the driveway sides - used to be grass there, but last year
I decided to get lazy and not rake the leaves there :-( so now the
soil just runs into the drain in a heavy rain. The PVC pipe is still
dirt-free, but it seems that after a few more heavy rains the dirt
will fill that pipe too. The draining is noticeably slower now than
it used to be, and thus a big puddle forms over the drain after a
heavy rain.

Any ideas on how to clear the dirt from the drain basin?

Some ideas I've had:

1. Dig up and pull back the whole PVC pipe (about 20') to get access
to the point where it enters the drain basin, and scoop out the dirt
in the drain basin. Or maybe I need just to dig up and pull out the
last section of pipe
(but I assume the pipe sections are tightly fitted together so maybe I
need to pull out the whole pipe to avoid cracking the pipe)?

2. Put a pressure washer or air gun into one of the holes in the drain
cover to blow the dirt up through the other holes in the drain cover,
with a big fan to
blow the flying dirt sideways onto the driveway (admittedly, quite a
messy solution).

3. Hire someone with a jackhammer/pickaxe to dig up the drain cover
and clear out the basin that way (most $$$ option). BTW, do they make
covers with hinges so if I do replace the drain cover, in the future I
can just lift the cover and dig out the dirt on a regular basis to
avoid this clogging?

As stopgap measures until I can clear the drain, I've considered:

1. Landscape edging along the driveway, to block the soil - but any
soil on the driveway side of the edging would wash away, so it'd be
hard to keep anchored.

2. Add window screen mesh over the existing drain cover and secure
with Quikrete, to prevent further dirt accumulation in the drain
basin. Of course, the draining would be even slower but at least I'd
avoid adding dirt to the basin.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get around to planting new grass seed next
to the driveway....

Any suggestions/experiences welcome.

Thanks much.

(Rachel Smith) wrote in message . com...
I have a down-sloped driveway with a storm drain at the lowest point,
leading out through PVC pipe buried under the soil to an even lower
point in the yard. The drain basin (about 1' square and maybe 1.5'
deep) has the PVC pipe entering the basin at about .5' from the top.
The part of the basin below the pipe entry is filled with dirt, from
runoff from the driveway sides - used to be grass there, but last year
I decided to get lazy and not rake the leaves there :-( so now the
soil just runs into the drain in a heavy rain. The PVC pipe is still
dirt-free, but it seems that after a few more heavy rains the dirt
will fill that pipe too. The draining is noticeably slower now than
it used to be, and thus a big puddle forms over the drain after a
heavy rain.

Any ideas on how to clear the dirt from the drain basin?

Some ideas I've had:

1. Dig up and pull back the whole PVC pipe (about 20') to get access
to the point where it enters the drain basin, and scoop out the dirt
in the drain basin. Or maybe I need just to dig up and pull out the
last section of pipe
(but I assume the pipe sections are tightly fitted together so maybe I
need to pull out the whole pipe to avoid cracking the pipe)?

2. Put a pressure washer or air gun into one of the holes in the drain
cover to blow the dirt up through the other holes in the drain cover,
with a big fan to
blow the flying dirt sideways onto the driveway (admittedly, quite a
messy solution).

3. Hire someone with a jackhammer/pickaxe to dig up the drain cover
and clear out the basin that way (most $$$ option). BTW, do they make
covers with hinges so if I do replace the drain cover, in the future I
can just lift the cover and dig out the dirt on a regular basis to
avoid this clogging?

As stopgap measures until I can clear the drain, I've considered:

1. Landscape edging along the driveway, to block the soil - but any
soil on the driveway side of the edging would wash away, so it'd be
hard to keep anchored.

2. Add window screen mesh over the existing drain cover and secure
with Quikrete, to prevent further dirt accumulation in the drain
basin. Of course, the draining would be even slower but at least I'd
avoid adding dirt to the basin.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get around to planting new grass seed next
to the driveway....

Any suggestions/experiences welcome.

Thanks much.

Hello,

We have a similar driveway/drain situation with our 50-year old home.
We've had several contractors with varying opinions, but most seem to
agree that the best solution is a pretty significant (and costly) demo
of the area, and varying forms of mitigation after that point (our
drain is significantly below street level).

However, we have had extremely good luck with our shop vac. We have
one of the extra heavy-duty "contractor" ones, and using a hose to
keep the clog in a "loose slurry" sort of form, we get a pretty good
clean out that way, which tends to keep the drain functioning nicely
for a full year (and sometimes two).

Not exactly a repair, but certainly a less-expensive stop-gap!

Relaena