Driveway Drainage Problem
 

The driveway in front of our garage builds a fairly large puddle in the
middle any time we get a significant rain.

Unfortunately, there is no way to slope the ground for the water to run
off. The driveway slopes DOWN to the garage on the west side, has a steep
hill on the north side, the garage is elevated slightly on the east side,
and the house/yard are elevated on the south side. Essentially, the
driveway in front of the garage is in a hole.

I rerouted the gutters from our garage and house, and installed a drainage
system so all roof water is directed out over the hill. It helped the
driveway situation a lot, but didn't solve it completely.

Because of the site conditions, I can't really get a drain from the
driveway over to the downhill side of the yard (Foundations, septic drain
field, trees, rock, etc.)

One option that comes to mind is to dig in some drainage channels and
direct them off to a deep trench on the side. Then fill everything with
rock. Essentially a drywell of sorts. This would probably help, but
wouldn't completely cure the problem if we had an extremely heavy rainfall.

The only other option I can think of is to put in some kind of drainage
channel to a drywell. Then install a pump to direct the water up hill
behind the garage and discharge into the gutter drainage system. But,
that's a lot more complicated than I would like.

Thoughts, ideas, etc?

Anthony

The driveway in front of our garage builds a fairly large puddle in
the middle any time we get a significant rain.
Unfortunately, there is no way to slope the ground for the water to
run off.

I had one other idea for draining our driveway. This may be a stupid
idea, but I'll ask it anyway... :)

When we built our house foundation, we installed a french drain that runs
all the way around the house, and is then drained off over the side of the
hill. It would be a simple matter to tie a drain for the driveway into the
french drain system. However, would this be a "smart" thing to do? Would it
be unwise to intentionally direct the driveway water into the foundation
drain (we have a crawlspace foundation).

On a similar note, if I install 4" perforated drain pipes in the driveway
to catch the water, how far down should they be buried (so cars won't crush
them)?

Thanks,

Anthony

HerHusband writes:

The driveway in front of our garage builds a fairly large puddle in the
middle any time we get a significant rain.

They're called "birdbaths".

If you're really in a hole, then you gotta make a drain channel (hire a guy
with a concrete saw) and a sump with electric pump.

The driveway in front of our garage builds a fairly large puddle in
the middle any time we get a significant rain.

If you're really in a hole, then you gotta make a drain channel (hire
a guy with a concrete saw) and a sump with electric pump.

I didn't clarify it in my original message, but our driveway is gravel, not
concrete.

Anthony

Oh, in that case, pull away the gravel, fill in with dirt, and replace
the gravel.

Oh, in that case, pull away the gravel, fill in with dirt, and replace
the gravel.

Unless "dirt" is a whole hell of a lot cheaper than gravel,
you're better off just dumping more gravel on top, assuming
that raising the roadbed is a viable option.

But my understanding was that OP's problem involved a garage that was
built below-grade. and therefore, at least part of the driveway
ALSO has to be below grade.

The only solutions to that a
A: Extend the garage to include that section of the driveway,
thus keeping the water out, and
B: Moving the water the DOES collect there.
C: Build a detached garage somewhere else.

For option B:, the method with low initial and high operating
costs is to install pump(s), and the method with high initial
and low operating costs is to install gravity drains to some
section of the property lower than the roadbed.

--Goedjn