# Driveway drain washing out soil



## hstanfield (Apr 25, 2014)

Does anyone know something I could hook to this drain to avoid it washing out the soil below? I found some attachments that would not serve that purpose. Could I maybe glue a hose or piece of flexible pipe to it with some type of adhesive? Any expertise on this would be very appreciated. A 1 1/2 inch pvc fitting will go in there but not sure how to approach this.


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

How about one more photo from about fifteen feet away?


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## hstanfield (Apr 25, 2014)

*further pic*



Bud Cline said:


> How about one more photo from about fifteen feet away?


Here you go Bud...thanks. It is the part coming out of the driveway and beside the gutter (not the retaining wall weep drain)


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## Bud Cline (Mar 12, 2006)

You've already done basically what I would do. Dig a wide hole and fill it with river-rock. 3" to" river-rock.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

the drive slopes down to the street ? i would remove the mulch (or whatever it is). run a pvc pipe there and replace the mulch


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## Indepspirit (Apr 30, 2014)

Hi hstanfield, after reading this post and your other posts I have a more complete picture now. The rain garden I suggested in the other post would work but won't take care of the whole area. That's the problem with trying to diagnose things online you don't have a complete picture. After reading all 3 of your post I have a more complete picture of the area and the problem.

Have a few ideas in my head but also have a few questions for you. Landscape design is difficult because what I may like you will not. I can't tell you how many times I have built a landscape that I thought was ugly but the customer loved it. So now for the questions.

Are you opposed to having stone or gravel on that side of the garage? You have at least 2 run offs to that area and maybe 3, 1 from the gutters, 2 from the drive way, and 3 you said your neighbors run off comes there also. Do you have an educated guess as to how much water runs down there after it rains? Was confused by one post where you said the street was in the opposite direction. If the water ran down to the end of the driveway isn't there a city gutter or a storm drain nearby that the run off can go to? 

Anyway like I said I've been piecing together your post and have more of a picture now then just replying to one post. I have a few ideas that may help you but still need a few more details. Now for my disclaimer don't take anything I say or anyone else says as gospel from the internet. A picture maybe worth a thousand words but to see it live is worth a million.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

I think that digging out the washed out area and then casting a concrete splash block would end the problem---a little wood for the forms---and a few bags of concrete would not cost much---


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## hstanfield (Apr 25, 2014)

Indepspirit,
I am not opposed to having rock beside the garage. In fact, I have thought of making that a dry creek bed or something similar. As for the confusion about the street being the opposite direction...it is. The runoff from the neighbors yard and mine go to the back of the garage which is actually toward an easment which contains a drainage ditch. There is a drain at the other end which is where the runoff from the front yard and the street itself goes. 

The pic in this post above shows the street and the pic below shows the other end which is where the majority of the water goes. I hope this shows you both angles of this area. Thanks for taking the time to help with this. 

Also as far as the amount of water...it is considerable but I would not know exactly how much just that it seems that the majority of water from my house and the neighbors ends up there.


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## Indepspirit (Apr 30, 2014)

OK I think I get it now. The slope runs from the street to the rear of the garage. I was thinking of something along the lines of a dry creek bed it's called a swale. It's like a dry creek bed in that it's a depression that follows the contour of the slope. It filter's runoff along the way by allowing it to sink into the soil. Plants (some even put grass on top but to me grass never looks right) are placed on the banks and sometimes down the middle too to take up the water that seeps into the soil. I'm still not sure how much water you have running down there but it sounds like there is a potential for there to be a lot. If there is heavy water flow you can add a perforated pipe laid in gravel underneath.

When I build swales I like to line them with river rock (making it look like a creek bed). Along the sides, I use evergreen ferns, sedges, winterberry, grasses, and Siberian and Louisiana irises that thrive in moist conditions. Rugged prairie plants or other natives that are at home in fast-draining soil are another option. Normally swales go into a garden bed or a dry well but if you have a drainage already at the end of the garage you can just run into there.


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