Drainage issue, looking for suggestions

8 years ago

Somewhat long i will try and shorten. We had foundation issues in 2015 and a trench was dug, weeping tile was added, a sump was installed in our garage, and an insulation was wrappewrapped around the foundation after it was anchored back together. The trench was backfilled with something and aggregate on top and then we paved four months later.

I live in ontario and this month the driveway where it was filled has either sank oe across the entire front of the house it has heaved. We now have about a thirty pct pitch funneling water towards are garage and the lower entry. Water is coming down a slope beside house, pooling at corner and running across front of house because it cannot get over hump.

It driveway has a poor grade due to position of house and height of road and only a slight angle existed prior but it was sloped. This heave or depression is new.

My thoughts are a channel drain across front connecting to a drain that also collects water from backyard and alo sump pump which exits at side of house and take all this to the road. Thoughts? do we install a dry well in backyard and have that connect to drain which then comes dowdown side of house and out to street with other connections?

We are getting quotes currenlty and called the guys that did the work as well.

this was along length of house

this is side of house. water is coming from above from backyard

a lot of water sits here. this is before asphalt installed. you can see sump exit here. thinking we need drain here connected to channel or French down to road.

I dont have a lot of pics currently but attached the dig which shows a bit of what i am talking about.

Thanks for any insight. this is a complete nightmare right now.

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Comments (5)

Lara
Original Author
8 years ago
Here are 2 pics from this week showing slope and a bit of driveway done.
PRO
Omega Brick & Landscaping
8 years ago
Good evening, Lara. It is difficult to see from the pictures what grades you are dealing with near the garage, except just adjacent where the drain tile lays.

My initial thought is that you need reroute the pipe away from the garage and house. Never empty a pipe near a structure. You are bound to have troubles. If possible, run it out into the yard, at least temporarily.

When the ground thaws, if you are in a bowl (there is nowhere you can drain the water to because your home sits at the lowest point of the property), trench and bury the pipe, running it into the center of a stone pit. The pit should be least 3’x3’x3’. If the soil in your area is slow draining, as with clay, dig even deeper.

Dig a pit. Line the sides and bottom of the pit with 4oz geo-textile fabric/ landscape fabric to keep soil from mixing with the stone thereby clogging it and eliminating its free draining nature. Backfill with 3/4” crushed stone to within 8 inches of the top of the pit. Compact with a hand tamper every 6 inches. Lay additional landscape fabric on top of the stone. Cover with high quality topsoil/compost mix. Seed and fertilize with appropriate grass seed mix.
Lara thanked Omega Brick & Landscaping
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Lara
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the detailed suggestion. Yes the neighbours house is close by and we have the drainage tile (black one) for the sump as far away as possible but def. needs to be buried or put elsewhere. Is 7' too close to house for water to empty to driveway?

Some say not to bury pipes and others do. Difficult to know whats best. Would a channel drain down side of driveway to road be better than a french drain with pit?
PRO
Omega Brick & Landscaping
8 years ago
Definitely not a good idea to have the pipe empty within 7’ of the House/ garage. Emptying the pipe into the driveway will continue to cause problems with water freezing on the driveway as it exits the pipe. When that happens, it creates a dam, keeping the water from flowing away from the home.

I would only be concerned with burying the pipe if you plan to have heavy equipment driving over it. In that case, I would use double walled pvc pipe. Buried pipe requires little to no maintenance if installed properly. It is also possible to drain into a buried plastic or metal basin to ensure sinking does not occur.

What reasons have you been given for not burying the pipe?

A channel drain along the side of the driveway can fill up with debris during most seasons and with ice during winter. Constant maintenance.

It is sometimes possible to empty the pipe directly into a municipal drain system (sewer). You would need to check with your local township for ordinances.
Lara thanked Omega Brick & Landscaping
PRO
Yardvaark
8 years ago
From your original description -- that the drive has become an obstruction -- where as before it was not, that is the place to focus and correct. If it didn't cause a problem before, you need to put it back the way it was, which might mean replacing some portion of drive ... and correctly diagnosing and dealing with why it happened in the first place. It you do workarounds (band-aids) the solution may be short lived or dependent on never getting too much rain in the future. Close-up photos of drainage problems rarely show much more than "what a mess you have." Solving drainage requires seeing an entire path of water flow all the way from water entering to where it leaves the property. We can't see but a tiny fraction of that. I'm a believer in solving drainage at grade IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. solving it underground, while it may work now, many times leads to other problems down the road.