Drainage on trail

[top gnome]

I built the new tractor shed and the road /trail going up to the shed is very wet. I tried putting a piece of pipe across the road but it made only a small difference I bought 100 ft of big O and plan to put in a curtain trench above the shed/ road . I am on the side of a hill and the whole area is pretty wet. any tips on getting the are to drain away from the road and away from the yard would be appreciated.

 

[mikester]

Slope

 

[Mountainhill]

Ditch/trench with culvert under, the access road, 4”/6” culvert can do the job. Also, if you remove the organic soil and ideally replace with gravel , your access should be better?

 

[Siesta Sundance]

Pictures would help.

 

[fried1765]

Ditch/trench with culvert under, the access road, 4”/6” culvert can do the job. Also, if you remove the organic soil and ideally replace with gravel , your access should be better?

4"/6" culvert is a bit small, as that size tends to plug up easily with debris.

 

[fried1765]

I built the new tractor shed and the road /trail going up to the shed is very wet. I tried putting a piece of pipe across the road but it made only a small difference I bought 100 ft of big O and plan to put in a curtain trench above the shed/ road . I am on the side of a hill and the whole area is pretty wet. any tips on getting the are to drain away from the road and away from the yard would be appreciated.

What is the the size of the "big O" that you bought?
The larger the better, to avoid debris clog .
If it is 4" can you return it (Cdn. Tire/Home Hdwr.?) for 6" or larger (8" might be best)?

 

[GreensvilleJay]

yes, pictures to see the 'lay of the land' will help.
generally speaking,
a shallow trench, on the 'uphill - where water comes from' side, 4-8 feet away from the road that then drains through a 8-12" culvert, to the 'down slope side, then trench away from the road

for sure you don't want any City of Hamilton 'engineer' to design it ! After 3 YEARS and millions of taxpayers dollars, the less than 1/2 mile stretch of major highway STILL has water on it !!

 

[fried1765]

yes, pictures to see the 'lay of the land' will help.
generally speaking,
a shallow trench, on the 'uphill - where water comes from' side, 4-8 feet away from the road that then drains through a 8-12" culvert, to the 'down slope side, then trench away from the road

for sure you don't want any City of Hamilton 'engineer' to design it ! After 3 YEARS and millions of taxpayers dollars, the less than 1/2 mile stretch of major highway STILL has water on it !!

I think the OP is relatively safe.
He lives about 1,500 Km East of Hamilton, Ont.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

I bought 100 ft of big O and plan to put in a curtain trench above the shed/ road .

Make sure you line it with filter cloth before the gravel unless you want it to silt up in a few years.

No, not the weed fabric from the Big Box hardware store. Filter cloth.

 

[top gnome]

Slope

we are at the bottom of what they call here is a mountain. Would be a hill in most places but it is probably 4 or 5 hundred feet high. the slope here is pretty gentle.

yes, pictures to see the 'lay of the land' will help.
generally speaking,
a shallow trench, on the 'uphill - where water comes from' side, 4-8 feet away from the road that then drains through a 8-12" culvert, to the 'down slope side, then trench away from the road

for sure you don't want any City of Hamilton 'engineer' to design it ! After 3 YEARS and millions of taxpayers dollars, the less than 1/2 mile stretch of major highway STILL has water on it !!

Very hard to get a picture that shows anything of value the wet goes up to the back side of the tractor shed the area where I planned to process firewood and the curtain ditch on the highside of the tractor shed (really hard to see)

 

[Mark_BX25D]

A curtain ditch the length of that driveway will do wonders. Depending on the length, I'd probably include multiple Y's in it to run a line across (under) the driveway to daylight.

 

[jkrubi12]

Basically in agreement with @Mark_BX25D, If I were solving this problem I'd be digging in some sort of drain system on the uphill side of the 'path' (between the small shed & larger one); Additionally, at the base of the approach to the large shed, perhaps an underground drain from L to R. It could even be necessary to extend/install drainage on the L side of the large shed, at the edge of the landing/woods junction, to keep the landing dry & intact.

Good luck, should be an interesting project! Would be nice to see the 'progress' pics here!

 

[Dave_eng]

I have had excellent success using a geo grid. Below the geo grid install high quality geo textile on level grade and then expand 4" thick geo grid on top. Fill geogrid cells with granulars.
Geo grid
Lots of youtube videos on the engineering and do it yourself installation.
youtube
Water moves downhill below grid cells in the geo textile and everything stays stable and solid.
Dave

 

[leveraddict]

I had a similar situation. I dug a trench between driveway and high side where the water was coming from. Two foot deep trench, lined the bottom with 2b gravel. I installed 4" perforated black pipe and used a sock that went over the 100 feet of pipe to keep dirt out. Covered the rest with gravel about two inches from the top. Layed down some weed block on top and covered the rest with 2b to the top. Works great and you wouldnt even know it was there.

 

[mikester]

Rent a laser level and grade the land. Remember, water tends to flow down hill. Slope AWAY from places you don't want water.

Use downspouts, swales, french drains, weeping tiles etc as appropriate. Remove trees and greenery as appropriate to aid drainage. If you have lots of snow make sure you don't get ice dams flooding your buildings.

Make a site plan with elevations to help you figure out drainage. From your photo at first I thought your garage was on some sort of pedestal. Sometimes photos are hard to figure out slope from because the lens distorts things. A site plan is more useful. Try google earth to help you with a site plan.

 

[Mountainhill]

1) intercept ditch behind both buildings 2)divert water from buildings roofs/pads to #1 3) build up access road and gravel 4) ditch upper side of road and culvert under access road

 

[top gnome]

I have had excellent success using a geo grid. Below the geo grid install high quality geo textile on level grade and then expand 4" thick geo grid on top. Fill geogrid cells with granulars.
Geo grid
Lots of youtube videos on the engineering and do it yourself installation.
youtube
Water moves downhill below grid cells in the geo textile and everything stays stable and solid.
Dave

that is interesting and I could see that working not sure of the cost. A little tight now after buying the tractor and putting up the sheds

 

[top gnome]

I had a similar situation. I dug a trench between driveway and high side where the water was coming from. Two foot deep trench, lined the bottom with 2b gravel. I installed 4" perforated black pipe and used a sock that went over the 100 feet of pipe to keep dirt out. Covered the rest with gravel about two inches from the top. Layed down some weed block on top and covered the rest with 2b to the top. Works great and you wouldnt even know it was there.

thank you that seems like the best alternative.

 

[top gnome]

Thank you for all of the help

I have several areas along the trail that have gravel washouts and about 400 ft of trail that is very wet meadow that is basically impassible. I will post pictures as I go but intent to put the big o across the trail on the uphill side of the shed and continue the curtain drain into the lower area.

 

[bbxlr8]

Beautiful tractor shed - love it.

FWIW I am on a ridge and have gotten many tough lessons from mother nature on water flowing downhill - H Sandy & H Isaias in particular.

I had an existing detached garage and added a 12x38 tractor shed close by perpendicular to the fall-line slope (fwiw designed for & dimensions ideal for my OLD property i.e. I brought it with me).

The above advice is right on from @Mountainhill in that you need to grade above & build-up / add gravel on the access lane.

I am able to get by w/o a culvert and ditch but added one under the middle of the shed due to long narrow size and grading essentially created a basin (I was not able to build the base up as much and slope is higher than yours)