Channel Drain

[Mike Goetzke]

Strange but for about the past 3 years I have been getting some standing water on the side of my house next to the sidewalk. It is a bad area because the lawn slopes toward the sidewalk. I was looking to install channel drain next to the sidewalk where I can meet a 1/16" per foot drop. I found the channel at Vevor but they have two depths - 3.1" and 5.1". The standing water only happens a few times a year but is very annoying. Probably not a lot of volume so was thinking 3.1" is enough and it saves on digging or do you think I should go for 5.1" deep?

Thanks

Link to channels https://www.vevor.com/s/drain-channel

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[smorgasbord]

Hard to say without a photo, but I'd guess the shallower one would be just fine if it's wide enough.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

Hard to say without a photo, but I'd guess the shallower one would be just fine if it's wide enough.

Added more info in my post above. I know it's early in the seasson but this area actually had the best grass in my whole yard in the past.

 

[peter halle]

Mike,  I have installed the equivalent of the shallower version.  I bought what was available at Lowes and Home Depot (NDS Brand).  I needed connectors, elbows, downward and sideways exits, end caps, etc.  Go shallower because hopefully you will be able to daylight the end above grade.

Peter

 

[usernumber1]

I thought that channel drains are for surface water aka hard surfaces, not lawns.

if that water is not run-off it's going to pool against your channel drain before it starts filling up. unless you perforate it maybe

would a french drain work? where is it actually coming from?

 

[Cheese]

Here are a couple of drains I installed...one in the yard and one in the garage. Drains are drains, square, channel, round or otherwise and it's just important to install them properly and provide enough drain slope for them to drain properly.

I'm with Peter on this as these are both from NDS which have the largest selection and are considered throughout the industry as the "standard".

This is in the garage and dumps in to a holding tank that pumps it out when it hits a particular level.

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This one is at the end of a convergence of the lawn and a bluestone sidewalk. It's square and drains to daylight but it could have been a channel drain instead...it's just what you prefer to look at.  [smile]

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If this drain will be up-front and visible to everyone that comes to the house, for aesthetic reasons I'd research and find a drain grill that you will be happy to look at 24/7 and then choose the individual drain components that will work.

For instance, I installed the 12" x 12" drain box with the standard drain cover knowing that there are a lot of options because NDS is the standard.

I installed the green fiberglass cover for the winter knowing that there are green, beige and black fiberglass covers available along with brass, stainless and a bunch of different options including palm leaves.  [tongue]

Choose the box/channel carefully as that what defines the aesthetics.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I thought that channel drains are for surface water aka hard surfaces, not lawns.

if that water is not run-off it's going to pool against your channel drain before it starts filling up. unless you perforate it maybe

would a french drain work? where is it actually coming from?

I think the water is coming from the fence (high spot) down to the sidewalk (or maybe underground water). The lawn there is very saturated after a rain and a day or two after. I have lived in this house for probably little over 40 years and it was never this wet until about three years ago. That fence is about 12 years old and I do remember even when it was dry out when I dug the holes for the fence gate posts there was water at the bottom of the holes so maybe some kind of underground water source? This winter too I had to raise the fence gate because it was close to dragging on the sidewalk. I used a 2x4 to set the height. Now after the ground has thawed the gap has gone from 1-1/2" to 2-3/4"!

Ha - I was thinking of French drain too but the work to put one in looks overwhelming right now.

 

[squall_line]

I'd be curious what happened 3 or so years ago that this all of a sudden became a thing.

The ground dropping THAT much after a thaw almost sounds like an underground supply leak, or perhaps your neighbors re-positioned their own drainage 3 years ago?

Mitigation is obviously needed, but I wouldn't stop until I found the root cause.

 

[Cheese]

As I mentioned last night Mike, there are a lot of grate options available and I finally found these photos on my computer this morning.  [tongue]

Stainless...galvanized...brass...plastic, they're out there with some searching.  [smile]

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Here's some options for trench drains.
https://trenchify.com/replacement-grates/4-grates/

Did your neighbor install an underground sprinkler system?

 

[Mike Goetzke]

As I mentioned last night Mike, there are a lot of grate options available and I finally found these photos on my computer this morning.  [tongue]

Stainless...galvanized...brass...plastic, they're out there with some searching.  [smile]

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Here's some options for trench drains.
https://trenchify.com/replacement-grates/4-grates/

Did your neighbor install an underground sprinkler system?

I looked at the neighbors yard and doesn't look like anything has changed. I heard many many years ago our subdivision was maybe a swamp. Could underground water be the issue? I'll look too - his city water comes in his house I think on my side of his house. Possible a leak?

 

[Cheese]

I looked at the neighbors yard and doesn't look like anything has changed. I heard many many years ago our subdivision was maybe a swamp. Could underground water be the issue? I'll look too - his city water comes in his house I think on my side of his house. Possible a leak?

There are large swaths of urban land in Minneapolis that were swamp land way back when. As the city grew, houses were built around the swamp land but as the housing density needed to increase, the swamps were eventually filled in with dirt and houses were built on top of them. Even today, there are sections of the city that need special considerations because of the underlying soil conditions.

You could check your local platt maps at the county level to see what the land originally was like. 

 

[Mike Goetzke]

When I think back I have had issues for a while with this area especially with heavy rain and when snow melts rapidly. In both cases the sidewalk can get flooded with water. I also called up NSD and the rep told me to think of the channel drains like a gutter.

So I'm now thinking my biggest issue is the water run off onto the sidewalk and probably the channels would be what I need. Additionally if I get the grass to be nice and thick in this area it probably will improve the situation too.

 

[Cheese]

I typically find trench drains in parking lots and around swimming pools...a low level gutter it is.  [smile]

NDS does offer some very narrow trench drains, think 1-1/2" wide, that may be just enough to solve your sidewalk problem.

Not knowing the lay of your land, you can also run the trench drain to a pop-up emitter if that's what needed to take the water to the street.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

I typically find trench drains in parking lots and around swimming pools...a low level gutter it is.  [smile]

NDS does offer some very narrow trench drains, think 1-1/2" wide, that may be just enough to solve your sidewalk problem.

Not knowing the lay of your land, you can also run the trench drain to a pop-up emitter if that's what needed to take the water to the street.

Yeah - the small one would work but they seem to cost more than the standard size. Think I'll pick up the 5" deep ones because like you mentioned I will attach it to PVC pipe and run it to a popup.

 

[Packard]

The drainage issue appears to be adjacent to a building.

Could the water accumulation be mitigated by gutters on the roof of that building?  Could that water be directed to a less troublesome area?

Before I would start digging, I would look to directing the water away from the area, if only because I hate digging (we have clay and rocks where I live—it is essentially backhoe country).