The Paving Blog

More drainage issues today – this time ;et’s talk about Catch Basins.

We have all seen those steel-grated manhole covers which are designed to catch the water on our street and roads.  There are also those curbside drains, cut into curbs on streets which perform the same function. These highly effective drainage systems rely on a perfectly graded surface which funnels all the rainwater or whatever water produced on a road into their orifices and down into the sewage system per se.

It turns out, this simple system can also function perfectly in a driveway or even a patio when a home owner faces drainage issues resulting from the tougher terrain where simple solutions like merely sloping a surface to an appropriate point is impossible. What we then arrive at is the need to conduct the water elsewhere.  This requires catching the water and providing a system to funnel it all away through piping and channels we create off the surface itself and sometimes under it.

Catching the water is the first issue.  The grading required to perform best would slope everything into “catch basins”, isolated collectors, connected to pipes running under the surface itself and conducted out.  These catch basins are either plastic, steel or concrete and have road-worthy tops, or grates, which filter things such as leaves, leaving them on top and allowing the water alone to enter.  Placed appropriately, these units can handle 100% of the water from a road surface if engineered correctly.  Needless to say, the primary grading should provide sloping to all of the various units installed.

A perfect system would not appear to be seriously sloped. The fact is that water needs very little slope top find its way downwards.  In more seriously rainy climates, naturally, there may be a need for a more serious slope owing to quantity and frequency of rainfall..Nevertheless, appropriately-placed catch basins are designed to do the work of leaving our driveways clear of water and of conducting all drainage away from the home.

Typically, any patio – in fact, any surface at all, from Driveways to pathways – should have some sort of slope, obviously away from a home or structure, to insure that water does not collect.  We’ve all seen puddles.  Heck, some of us loved them as kids………lol, I know I sure did. The vandalism aspects alone appealed top a young rascal who loved jumping in them and splashing anyone nearby!

But there are many sad souls who don;t share this opinion of the righteousness of puddles. In fact, the presence of standing water ion these surfaces is never good, the truth is.  When water puddles near a house, it can soak the foundation and thereby cause rotting in the wood above it.  Continued saturation can mean replacing an outrageous amount of construction. Puddling near the middle of a patio or driveway can mean people tracking wet shoes into a house and spoiling rugs and carpeting.

So, here we have a dilemma.  The work is finished already, the contractor paid and gone for years.  Now what? How do we retroactively address a flaw or some upset in our water-draining systems?

For many, scoring 1/4″ deep lines with a masonry blade on a skill saw can sure the worst of those problems.  Masonry blades are now pretty cheap and readily available at any retail hardware store. Make sure the cut goes in  downward direction, towards some point off the drive. More than one line is usually called for and, actually, these can be somewhat artfully arranged.

Another method is a bit more drastic:  it involves installing a drain and running pipe out of the middle of the surface.  Naturally, this means cutting the surface entirely and inserting the desired drain pipe.  However, the smaller the area involved the less obvious the repair will be. Nevertheless, there are excellent drain systems available and the drain itself does not have to be unattractive.

The best system is perfect to begin with. A flat, one or two percent slope generally takes care of all water issues.  But when there are flaws, such as indicated above, these are a couple of ways of handling it.

Naturally, a primary consideration returns to the ever-present issue of a good sub base below.  Bearing in mid most grass roots will literally firm soil up, the compaction levels necessary for pavers alone decrease just enough to consider the fact that the roots of grasses can replace a few percentage points of compaction.  We would still use a base material and compact it as much as possible.

Yet, what might lessen the impact for grass roots seeking a purchase would be the replacement of base rock with a washed sand product, every bit as compact able yet more root-friendly.  The grids and products are installed just like any other paving material, and are graded appropriately, and the driving surface becomes every bit as strong and solid as any other base. Just add grass and tell everybody to “Park on the Grass!”

More about lawns in our sister blog: Lawns Hub

While on the subject of concrete…

Stamped concrete is a new and most powerful aesthetic development in paving technology. Whereas, the appearance of almost all cement work in the past has revolved around the top finish with hand tools, there has developed in the last 15-20 years a burgeoning practice called “Stamped Concrete”. Using the very same concrete as in the past, this new development takes that cement and adds color and texture to the original grey and comparatively boring original.

I have included just a couple of pictures here which give some idea of the creative scope available with this exciting new phase of outdoor decorative concreting. The color range is actually pretty phenomenal and the colors are very long-lasting, if not utterly permanent. Naturally, a sealing coat can insure a longer and mote protected color existence.

Stamped concrete uses a textural template, usually of soft rubber or malleable plastic where the pattern desired if place on about a 3 foot wide platform. This platform is laid onto the cement at the proper time, then is embedded in a process where the applier steps on or otherwise presses the mold onto the wet cement. Picking it up, the corners are matched and the pressure application repeats itself until an entire swath of poured cement is done. The colors can be put on prior (even in the mixer to provide a base) or applied in powder or liquid form, as an extremely penetrating dye. Thus rendered, what can also be arrived at is some variations in tone and color that act as shadows or even as an apparently mineral-rich substance.

In any event, the look can vary from totally stone-like and primitive to geometrically-complex. Inasmuch as the application of these process occurs at a time the cement is wet and still-drying, one can also take some license and apply things such as the gears and machine parts shown in one of these pictures. Obviously, the result is a most interesting artistic success, which can actually be said about the entire stamped concrete process..

Concrete driveways were once the state of the art and still remain are a more than adequate driveway material. Hard, durable, light in color – even able now to take a dye – thus potentially colorful – concrete’s durability and strength achieve a high mark for an enduring and serviceable driveway surface. While concrete has disadvantages I will address below, it remains a high-value surface, sought by many homeowners and builders interested in a mid- to high-quality product. The durability issue tends to be it’s major strength, certainly more so than asphalt.

Artistically, concrete serves one major function as being light colored and generally neutral regarding color. Thus, a house or garden, if somewhat colorful itself, will positively glow in contrast. Another feature in concrete can be its finished top. There are methods of producing somewhat arresting finishes by the handwork almost always applied to a concrete still-wet surface. Whereas most concrete driveways receive a “broom finish”, where the bristles from a broom makes tiny channels, somewhat roughened and therefore non slip, they can also receive a “swirl and shine” finish, whereby the finisher swirls his trowel in small circles, resulting in a massive series of the same swirls permanently embedded in the finished top layer. Hundreds of small swirls, all similar make a satisfyingly complex top finish, easy in the eye and quite complex.

Colors can also be applied to concrete, either in the form of dyes sprayed on after the fact or in the cement mixing truck itself prior to the pour. “Stamped concrete” has rich and abundant colors thrown on as a dust which penetrates the drying cement just prior or following the actual stamping and embedding process. This results in a mineralized look, matching rock colors in nature. And, needless to say, concrete can be painted. There are now thick acrylics that easily cover concrete with a durable finish and which can result in come very interesting effects.