How to Install a Channel Drain
Tips, Tricks
Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCZXj9uUxzA This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook helps a homeowner solve a driveway drainage dilemma. (See below for a shopping list, tools, and steps.) Click here to SUBSCRIBE to the official This Old House YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=thisoldhouse Shopping List for How to Install a Channel Drain: - 4-inch channel drain, to collect excess water - End cap and offset outlet, for attachment to channel drain - 4-inch-diameter plastic drainpipe and assorted fittings, to carry water away from channel drain - PVC primer and cement, for gluing together plastic pipe and fittings - Ready-mix concrete, to form a setting bed for the drain - Asphalt cold patch, for patching the driveway - Grass seed, to plant along trench line Tools List for How to Install a Channel Drain: - 4-foot level, to mark cutlines - Water-cooled circular saw with a diamond blade, for cutting asphalt driveway - Shovel - Wheelbarrow - Small sledgehammer and brick-set chisel, to chop out rocks - Pointed brick trowel, for smoothing concrete - Rubber mallet, to tap down the drain - Reciprocating saw, for cutting plastic pipe Steps for How to Install a Channel Drain: 1. Mark a straight cutline across the corner of the driveway to indicate the position of the channel drain. 2. Cut through the asphalt with a water-cooled circular saw fitted with a diamond-impregnated blade. 3. Pry up and remove the severed piece of asphalt with a shovel. 4. Use a small sledgehammer and brick-set chisel to chop out any rocks along the edge of the just-cut driveway. 5. Dig a 6-inch-deep trench along the end of the driveway. Shovel the excavated dirt into a wheelbarrow. 6. Glue an offset outlet and a 90-degree elbow onto one end of the channel drain. 7. Glue a short section of 4-inch-diameter plastic pipe and a 45-degree elbow onto the 90-degree elbow. 8. Glue an end cap onto the opposite end of the channel drain. 9. Mix up a bag of concrete in the wheelbarrow. 10. Fill the trench with wet concrete. Smooth the concrete with a pointed brick trowel. 11. Press the channel drain down into the concrete, then check it with a level to ensure it's sloping slightly toward the drainpipe. Tap down the drain with a rubber mallet. 12. Use the trowel to spread an angled wedge of concrete against the back of the drain. 13. Dig a 12-inch-deep trench out from the channel drain and across the yard. 14. Use a reciprocating saw to cut plastic pipe to extend from the drain along the trench. Glue the pipe and fittings together. 15. Check the drainpipe with a level to make sure it's pitched down and away from the driveway. 16. Backfill the trench with soil to conceal the drainpipe. 17. Line the end of the drainpipe with flat stones to deter erosion. 18. Sprinkle some asphalt cold patch between the channel drain and the driveway. 19. Compact the patch with the small sledgehammer, then add more asphalt and compact it again. Repeat until the patch is flush with the surface of the driveway. 20. Plant grass seed along the backfilled trench. Follow This Old House and Ask This Old House: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisOldHouse Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisoldhouse https://twitter.com/asktoh Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/thisoldhouse/ G+: https://plus.google.com/+thisoldhouse/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/thisoldhouse Tumblr: http://thisoldhouse.tumblr.com/
Comments
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Nice, thanks!'
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lol! he said bell end
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Not too smart packing in the asphalt without covering the drain for a few minutes
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I have a similar situation with a shared driveway. There is a section that sunk at the top and collects water before it spills over and down the hill. Excess goes into my basement when it does spill over and into the valley of a shared drive at the bottom of two hills. I think I can use the same system you show here only I would need to cut a section out of my concrete parking to lead the pipe out to a large tree. Just hoping the tree will drink it up and it won't flood my yard. Should probably have a professional come out for an consult even if I do it myself. ETA: I think maybe a drain at the bottom and a big underground cistern might be better for my situation.
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2 clowns that ain't got a clue what there doing compacting by hitting his trowel haha
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Very authoritative very agressive looks like a abusive husband. I pity his wife. You already know who I'm talking about from the two men.
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Wow, discharging the water like that to the property line is against code in many areas! You mitigate this by putting small holes along the piping to allow for the water to disburse evenly through the yard. Pretty lame. And that end pipe should have a drain cap on it to keep leaves, rocks, and small critters from getting in. Really poor job here.
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Great. Now it's the neighbor's problem who will most likely come out some night and plug up the drain!
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"Bell End" bahaha ha!
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no need for primer or glue since there is no pressure its just a drain
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They also should have added a clean out.
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A few comments: a screen on the end will collect debri and clog the pipe, best to leave it open. Tape the top grate with duct tape to keep debri out when back filling. They should have done a straight run. Less chance of debri getting stuck at the 45's. They could use a 2x4 end to compact the cold ash fault.
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forgot to do a ulitility locate before digging
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At midnight while your sleeping your neighbor will come out and fill that pipe up with cement and use a 10 pool pole to ram it way up and in. You'll never know what is going on and have to rip it all up.
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How do you know how much water to add to concrete when mixing them in a wheel barrow and right off the hose?
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Wow just dump it into the neighbors yard is so old school. He really needs a rain garden and in Ann Arbor you get a brake on your utility bill if you add them to your yard and not just dump the rain water (stormwater) into an unsuspecting neighbors yard! Get with the program TOH don't be so un-environmentally aware.
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got the primer and the glue a little mixed up there
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What was that sound ?0:29
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Nice job! I liked everything you did but would have been great to see concrete flush with the top of the drain. That asphalt cold patch (mix) as you call it is not a good long term solution.
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american pipes are so fucking ugly!!
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