Garage door drain

[TresK3]

I need some advice on making changes to the drainage in front of our garage door.

Our gravel driveway slopes a little bit towards the garage - not much and unless it's a lot of rain it usually soaks in before running too far. There is a drain system, with two small, round drains (one on each end of the garage door) and some concrete that mostly slopes towards them. This may have been put in in 1962 when the house was built, or perhaps added later. The drains connect to 5" cast iron pipe that runs about 20 ft out the side of the hill. As poor as this is, it works pretty well unless we get a real downpour or there's a lot of leaves on the ground - then the garage floods. It's finally time to fix that.

I'm thinking about buying a pre-formed trench, digging out the old system - cast iron pipe and all - the laying in the trench. I will then pour concrete around the trench, up to the garage floor on one side and 6" or so towards the gravel on the other, and slope that towards the drain. I plan to either lay a new drain pipe out the side of the hill or connect to what's already in the ground.

Any advice or thoughts from those who've done this would be great! Specifically:

• What do you think of the overall plan?
• Brands or sources for a pre-made trench? I've seen a lot on the internet, but it's mostly aimed at contractors, not DIYers.
• Do I need to pour concrete under the drain, or just put down gravel?
• What about connecting to the current drain pipe? It would save a LOT of digging, but are there concerns?

Thanks!

 

[zrock]

before i did anything i would go to your local tool rental and rent a power auger with the cutting head on it. Run that through your system as probably by now its full of crap and not working anywhere close to what it should be.. Chase it with water flowing so it pushes the crap out as your working.. They also have one that operates off a pressure washer as well that works pretty good but most rental places dont have that one
to fix it properly you need to slope the driveway away from the garage

 

[johneh]

to fix it properly you need to slope the driveway away from the garage

X2

 

[Highbeam]

You can’t always correct the slope of the driveway. We use trench drains a lot in industrial applications around warehouses. They work, they can be expensive, the manufacturer will tell you how to install the drain. Reusing the old pipe is fine if it is clear and at the right elevation.

A tench drain will work better and faster than two little round inlets.

 

[TresK3]

Yes, I agree that to fix it properly, I should slope the driveway away from the garage. Given the length of the driveway and where the house sits on the property, that would involve a lot of earth moving, removing two large trees and rebuilding a retaining wall. Originally I think there probably was a slight slope away, but the house has settled a little in 58 years so now it's a slight slope towards the driveway.

I clear the drain every year or two. The issue isn't the water flowing through the pipe, it's that the drain covers are under-sized and easily get covered in leaves.

 

[zrock]

Must be one interesting driveway... The whole driveway does not need to be sloped if that is not possible even 10-20 feet out from the shop. Even sloping it to one side or the other so the drive is not sloping to the shop.

 

[MTY]

Set something similar to an upside down colander over each inlet if they are in locations where you will not drive over the colander.