How to avoid the water from accumulating in driveway?

[alan2121m]

how to avoid the water from accumulating in driveway with least amount of effort lol

   

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @alan2121m. It's terrific to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about water accumulation.

I presume you suspect, as would I, that some of this water is coming from the downpipe. If so, the best solution would be to have the downpipe connected to your stormwater line. Is there one within the area you could connect to?

Over time, the saturated soil from the downpipe is likely to have allowed the slab to sink, as evident from the cracking. Given the slab has deteriorated significantly, that likely rules out having it professionally jacked up and stabilised. It might be worth making some enquiries, though. 

How long does the water sit in that position? If it won't drain at all you could consider placing a few holes through the slab to allow the water to escape. It's likely not the best solution, but it could meet your requirements of being the easiest option.

Let me mention @Dave-1, @TedBear and @Nailbag to get their thoughts.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[alan2121m]

first of all, great reply back, iam going to upload image where the blue line is, is where I dug a hole to the ditch and it has a drain right there that takes a lot of water off the driveway because it would be a pool without that drain, now the standing water last a few days you can probably tell from the amount of dirt it leaves behind, what about sticking pvc under the cement, or making the roof drain pipe have a longer attachment. like in the 2nd image

[Dave-1]

Afternoon @alan2121m 

As soon as I saw that tell tale darkening next to the slab I was thinking "Where is the water comeing from" and then I saw the downpipe.... Yeah I agree with @MitchellMc  on that one.

Easy solution

Dont know if I would call it easy as it will involve some digging. I would suggest a pit be dug at the lowest side of the dip in your driveway, Perforate the pit with small holes drilled into the wall of the pit. Then A small sump pump deal (if you are lucky you could even find a solar one) and have the hose water your garden elsewhere.

Second solution, harder but not super hard.

Dig a pit either side of the driveway where that crack is. Then get yourse;f a long length of electrical conduit 25mm and feed your hose down the conduit. Turn the hose on and force the conduit into the soil at least 30sm below the concrete itself (I am hopping that you will find soil and not rock) The pipe should force through the soil slowly if you are lucky. Once you have done that with the 35mm conduit you could then step it up to a 50mm oraneg power conduit. and do the same deal. The 50mm pipe stays in place once you ave got through to the other side. Now you have a pipe where you can drain that water away. 

Final solution, Hardest

A trench be dug from the downpipe and then along the edge of the driveway and fitted with stormwater pipe with associated gravel and backfilled. I would follow the driveway around and then underneath the house path and maybe to a pond over even the street. You could use the same piping technique to get under the path ifyou didnt want to break the concrete.  Just to get the water away from the house/house foundation and the driveway itself.

Dave

[MitchellMc]

Hi @alan2121m,

Extending the pipe would make some difference, but whether that resolves the issue is another story. I suspect in lighter showers, it would allow the water to be absorbed into the soil, but in downpours, you'll probably end up with the same issue if that's the way the land falls. 

Mitchell

[TedBear]

Hi @alan2121m , I assume that you are the house owner.  When we say "the least amount of effort" that would mean the least amount that actually achieves the end goal. You have a few problems worth tackling here...  the water accumulation on the driveway isn't the problem, its just a symptom.

The water accumulates there because it's the lowest point. There are a lot of surfaces feeding water to that point, including the surrounding driveway and a lot of grass.   The driveway is cracked because it has been undermined by water arriving at that low point.

You may be able to minimise the amount of water on the driveway (the symptom) by putting a soakwell at that downpipe to stop its output from flowing across the lawn. That would be a good start toward protecting your house foundations at the verandah corner from eventually being washed away by it.

[What is the item on the lawn across the driveway?  Does it have water going to it (i.e. a birdbath)? If so,there may be leak in the water source if it goes under the driveway. Or is it a sundial? ]

To fix the actual problem so that it doesn't get worse, the minimum effort would be:- 

a) get the cracked section of driveway dug up and have the soil underneath topped up and compacted, and new concrete poured.

b) put in a soakwell under the grass at that low point, not too close to the driveway edge, which the side drain (c) and any accumulated water at the low driveway point will feed into (rather than go under the concrete and undermine it). 

c) add a drainage channel along the side of all that high lawn (fill with slotted pipe and large round gravel stones) which will then feed into the soakwell.

If the cost of that is too high at the moment, then at least do b) and c) to take care of the annoying symptom and to stop the undermining of the driveway from getting worse.

[Noyade]

All of the above.

Morning @alan2121m 

If you put a long straight edge over the lake area - has the concrete sunk?

[alan2121m]

what do you mean by long straight edge

[alan2121m]

also the blue line in the pic is pvc drain i installed myself that drains out to the ditch, and blue arrow pointing to it, and thats just a birdbath

[Noyade]

"what do you mean by long straight edge?"

@alan2121m 

Anything long and straight (wood/steel/aluminium) that may determine if the concrete below the watered area has sunk.