Don't waste time cleaning that culvert replace it with a 15" or 18" culvert the bigger the better. You have a lot of water coming down that ditch. 6"+ rip rap would stop the wash out. Good work Adam, the place looks great!
I agree, you need 12 to 16 pipe with rip rap to control the erosion. I would not waste money seeding, hydro seeding will give you a quick lush grass that will act as a good filtration system.
Yup, was just about to say the same, replace culvert with 16" or bigger and rip rap those channels you made. You can choose not to, but we will see this same video over and over until you do.
pond dye just seems insane to me, but maybe I'm too European for that. A bit like putting plastic grass down because it's the greenest grass you've ever seen
I agree about the dye, there's something about it that's not quite right. But we can't argue that it's better than it was. Love the project, curious if he will put fish in once it's settled.
It is also poison. I went to a private pond to fish and all of the bluegill either had stunted or non existent tail fins. Strangely enough it did not have that effect on the Bass.
Dig the pit on the intake side of your colvert about a foot lower than the bottom of the pipe. Stops the silt running straight in and keeps the pipe clearer longer. You just have to periodically muck out the pit with a shovel.
Without major earthworks this seems the best option to me as well. At least that way the culvert keeps working and the road won't erode or not as much. When that hole is lined with rocks it is called a Zuni bowl. Those are often applied at both ends from a culvert where erosion is an issue.
As a hobby, I used to maintain the 23 miles of dirt roads at my hunt club. What I learned from that is that wherever you see the water start eroding the ditch, you needed to divert the water away from the road about 10-20feet uphill of the point of erosion. Drain addict channel here on CZcams to clear the pipe. Just use a pressure washer with the right head, costs about $30 for the head that brings material back out the pipe.
I bought 3 Midnight blue gallons of DYE for $1 each on clearance and put 6oz in a small test pond and it looked awesome. I am still waiting on contractors to dig a hole so I can clay line it as well. Keep the video coming.
Like others have said, a sewer jetter kit for your pressure washer, or maybe try pulling a small tire through it like from an old wheel barrow or lawn mower tire, moped tire ect. If you don’t have one a tire shop would probably give you one to try. The permanent solution would probably be a larger culvert, you’ve got a pretty big watershed collecting water there.
You know if you wasn’t working on getting that pond fixed up and done, you probably be in a drought 😂 very cool footage you had with the storm rolling in! It looks like you got a lot of rework to do but you’ll get it done and it will look great! Have a great day.
Hi Adam, think everyone already said what you need to do.. Nice job fixing it up while it's still wet for sure. Ponds are filling. For the lower side, they sell rolls of stuff similar to hay bails that you can stake down to help slow the water down..
To clear the 8" culvert, maybe pull through a smaller diameter tyre , if you dont have one maybe your local tyre shop will have a worn one you can have, or your garden/landscape equipment shop might..?
Great video!! Being able to quickly repair your drive with the equipment helped tge frustration of hard work disappear, somewhat!! Stay Hydrated and Have a Safe Day
I’ve been having the best time watching all your dreams come true through you and your family’s hard work. I too have a place to be proud of just on a smaller scale. I’m looking forward to more videos.
Adam you need a pit on the intake side of the culvert and you also need a 18" culvert pipe to carry the water and some rip rap stone in the ditches to help slow down the. water
The "shale" you need in those roadside ditches is actually river run rock.... the smooth rock is less likely to be pushed around in your high water velocity ditch.... You might also like to look at a geotextile underlayment under those rocks to stop the ditch being excavated deeper by the water....
Yes. It will clean itself out with the next rain. Keep the outlet end clear so that the water has a place to go, assuming that you have fall on the pipe which it looks like you do.
I have a couple of pipes that run across from my shed to a little creek. 1 used to be a pipe to take the overflow from my tanks but I removed it years ago. What I have found is that the pipe that is fully horizontal blocks up every time I have a heavy rain but the pipe that has a 90 degree elbow never blocks up. The 2 pipes are literally side by side and discharge at the same place but the 1 that starts with a 4" drop doesn't block up.
If you want a really sturdy surface that really holds up well, you should research price and availability of what we here in Denmark call "Norwegian Stable" it is a mixture of very fine grey granite powder and 8-16mm sized grey granite rocks. It holds up like nothing else when compacted. We use it a lot in really wet areas when we have to drive 7 Axel semi's with a weight of 58 tons. It will literally bend and form to the ground under it, without coming apart even though the ground under sinks 0,5 meters. It is also really sturdy against heavy rain. We havent had roads wash away when using it. Way stronger than normal fill and gravel.
We're really feeling the effects of the heavy rain here in CT. The town of Oxford is severely damaged. We got hit pretty bad in my town, but 15 minutes away was just devastated. Roughly 16" in 24 hours.
We got the same storm in the Finger Lakes. My road is over 1/2 mile down to the lake with 4 main problem areas. Land plane worked well and didn't need to pull out the box blade.
Once you are able to clean the 8" culvert, you might try placing a pile of riprap around the entrance of the culvert to prevent future clogging as well as a pile around the discharge to eliminate further washouts during heavy drainage periods. As for clearing the built-up debris from inside the culvert, I'd try to conjure up a 3'-5' plug of some type and attempt to pull it through the culvert to remove any large material that has accumulated within it. If tried, be sure to have some way to pull it back in case it becomes entangled within the culvert. I'd then fill an IBC tote bladder with water and try to flush the remaining sediment from it utilizing one of the sewage pumps used in a previous video. OR, get with neighbor Doug for a "better way." Good luck. Sorry, this happened to you.
Do. A couple water bars a angle in the drive . It will divert the water shed of the sides and on the culvert side dig a sump hole inlet side about 2 or 3 feet deep. One it will build up with settlement a debris and let the water flow through the pipe. I’d recommend a 18 to 20 inch pipe for the water
Oh congratulations on getting the work done in time to have the big rains. Nothing teaches you water erosion and the power of hydrostatic pressure better than real life experience. I’m enjoying all the videos as you do….keep them coming. Thx for the kayak experience…it’s been a while for me and vicarious was just fine.
You need a catch basin on the intake side and it needs to be structured such that hold enough to prevent a massive breech. You already know that the pipe is undersized so when putting in the new pipe, build the catch basin properly.
GOOOOOOD MAAAAAAAAWNIN EVERYONE from a post storm/cold front very cool morning here in VaBch….Adam maybe try a smaller tire like a lawnmower front tire. Maybe a pressure washer with a long discharge line… or did what knows will fix it…a LARGER culvert pipe. I can’t imagine how much snow you would’ve gotten if all That rain was snow…. You’d be digging out until next May. Thanks for sharing Have a day 😊
You fellas that jumped me about weed seeds in hay, I’ve yet to see the chemlawn flags in that field. Yes using straw for seeding lawns is a must and using crap mulch hay isn’t good either but natural area grasses in good hay can be beneficial for green grass during the drought season when the fescues go brown.
Adam need a bigger pipe or for now use a garden tractor tire on a chain. Looks like you need more stone and definitely some number 4" or larger on the intake of that pipe so you don't have all that wash out. Just a thought looks good
My thought would be a pole?, push a small line through the culvert. Use that to drag through a length of 1/2" or larger chain. Wait until you have some flow, person on inflow and outflow. Push/pull to help the water clear it. Really though, you need a much bigger culvert. 16". Not directly across the driveway, follow the fall line.
Hey buddy. I would make the trench deeper and use bigger stones, with the covert pipe over to the other side and continue the trench down directly to the pond so nothing washes away or erodes. In other words trench to the destination and control where all that water goes. Ok i am watching you dig by the covert. Great job.
Ever think of creating an “island ” in the lower pond so you and your children could swim or paddle around it? Or they could build a “fort” or treehouse on the little island.
Adam, water will win every time. You got to put in a big culvert to handle all the heavy rain even if it’s only one time a year. Use some 6” or so rip rap in several different places coming down the hill to slow force of the water. On the down side of the pipe make yourself a nice gradual ditch to steer the water where you want it to go. You don’t need me to say what to do, I know you have your plan in place. You might have to line the whole ditch in some sort of rip rap, at least it wouldn’t fill a new pie with dirt. Great video, TY for sharing. Dave D from Maine.
Good afternoon Adam, I would imagine that on the bright side, your determination to get the ponds and driveway in shape prior to the latest gully washer allowed you to see what the worst could do. It looks to me that things stood up to the downpour pretty well. The small (Anderson) pond looks really good and will be an eye catcher as it matures, embraces and incorporates beauty into the surroundings. The small pond might look good with a Solar Driven Fountain. Its future as supplier of water to the big pond will be an interesting addition to your channel’s diversity. 😀👍👍👍
If you want to get rid of the algae is to keep it air rated, algae thrives is low oxidation pools of water. So get either a solar or wind powered aerator on the lower pond to keep it cleaner and maybe think about getting one for the main pond too. As prevention is better than ever expensive cures. Besides the more additives you add to the water, the more the PH levels change which can cause other problems. I know you can get pond additives and conditioners that are PH balanced and environmentally friendly and sustainable, but from what I’ve seen from American sources (I’m from the UK) they seem to be very expensive, especially for the size of ponds you have.
Property would look great from the house if you could see your building down the hill below that pond berm and just look at the new pond…..if the first pond leaks again I would bulldoze it down and dig more fill if needed from the new pond to get the land to look natural again.
Hey Adam were you have a smaller pipe you can just use an old lawn mower tire probably a back one would be best and drag it through where you only have an 8-inch pipe rather than a car tire
I’d probably put a concrete catch basin with a 12” culvert. Add some large limestone rip rap in your ditch to slow the water down. Also I’d do my best to pour 100-150 feet of driveway a year, 5 or 6 years it would be all the way to the street. Having to put stone on the driveway all the time isn’t cheap either. Doesn’t seem like we get normal rains anymore. On a positive note, at least your home is on a hill. Good luck.
French drain both sides of that drive, geotextile bottom and rip rap the full length to the top culvert... and the very necessary second culvert lower down where the rush of water dug out that roadway.
I would not clean the culvert, I would replace it. But if you need a short-term solution, I would try dragging something like a small boat anchor or the end of a garden hoe Through the pipe.
Glad to see the ditches worked as intended. When grass is growing in it, it will no longer wash out. I too believe there wouldn't be such a wash if that culvert wasn't over capacity. You either need a bigger one or you make the ditch deeper on that other side of the road and all the way down. in order to divert it from the culvert
You need at least 24 inch or more pipe crossing that road...not 8 inch pipe... French drain the ditch up whole one side of road....use 6-10inch bone rock as base and work up to 2 inch rock for finish
Hi Adam, For your driveway. You could always use a 300mm stormpro pipe with two pre cast concrete end walls at either end.. that would help the swale drain and slow down debris, and also control the water flow.. Or another way for your driveway crossing is potentially to try a Box or Crown culvert.
Maybe something similar to a French drain using larger pipe a place along the one side that’s running the water mostly and let it spread the water flow out evenly along the grass below
I think I could see the main pond raising just watching the rain footage. LOL Sorry for the unfortunate event. Maybe multiple/more culverts would help with the driveway?? Best, -- J. Andre. / Old Iron Acres
Try a small trailer tire, that might work. As for the washout, I would plant those ditches with a highway mix grass seed and cereal rye and cover with the straw matting rolls, the cereal rye should germinate in about 3 days and should hold the soil until the grass seed germinates. Also buy the good heavy duty straw matting at a landscape store or feed mill. Good luck!
Heck of a storm! Adam, can you divert the water on the north side of the driveway out through the grass toward the woods? Get rid of some of that volume before it gets to the culvert? And I think you still need a bigger pipe. Frustrating I know but you’re keeping a good attitude- at least when the camera is on. 😉
a series of dry structures to pond water ... beginning at the top of the hill ... then as needed working your way downhill. this will slow the speed of the water. and by starting at the top ... you can lessen their size as the volume they need to temporarily hold is less.
to clean the pipe, get a water truck; suck up water from the lower pond; fire it through the culvert pipe at high pressure. your enemy is sometimes your friend. rip raf to stop it going in next time, but the final fix would be a bigger culvert.
You can improve your drainage on the drive by installing bigger “ culverts min, catch basins and diversions on both side , as well as some rip rap. Need to get a professional involved in a designed plan and desert water to the lower pond
Very informative video! It’s clear how much effort you put into maintaining the property after such downpours. Have you ever had rain cause unexpected issues that were hard to fix?
Bigger culvert yes, but also consider a concrete “V-ditch” to run along side of your driveway, with a “debris basin” at the top and a “settling basin” at the bottom (where the flow transitions to the new culvert under your drive).
I'd put in a bigger pipe as one gentlemen suggested and also put some ground cloth in the ditch and put some stone or rip rap on it and do the same where you cleared out on the outflow side.
Water bars up by the tree line bub..Making ditches along the driveway is good and nessasary but it's not going to control the volume and velocity of that much water..I have solved many of these situations..Water bars and slowing these rain bombs are the only way to solve the terrain that you have..
Get a drain pipe cleaner attachment for your pressure washer to clean out that 8" pipe, or just replace it with an 18" pipe. You also need to line the ditch with some large rock to keep it from washing out.
My friends up in the Sylva/Bryson City area live off an actrual road similar to yours except their grade is easily twice that of yours in elevation gain. The long time residents have cut a +/-6"" wide channels 60-45 degrees or into the road say every 50' -100' up the road to stop the run off from the road it's self. They made a little frame, with 5/4" deck boards on edge and concreted them in place with a little concrete inbetwen the boards. l We have gone up there in November '23 and July '24 and they have had some bad flooding and they didn'y have any washouts. Now also to add to this They have more like 2-3' drop filled to the brim with rip rap to the left when climbing that leads to some 16"-24" culverts under the road to the stream on my friend property and on the stream side, maybe a 1' or 2' of a gental drop with a fair about of rip rap then a shear 15-25' drop into said creek. They do not have any thing covering those channels, the "High" board is ever so slightly lower than the "low" board. Normally its more of abuse(flying up the road at 20-30mph sending gravel flying) that causes "bumps" at these channels then rain. Good Luck!
We had our drive destroyed at the culverts during the Debbie Deluge here in Upstate NY. Our entire county got wiped out (over 100 roads damaged, two bridges destroyed, one house washed away.) I uploaded some vids of the destruction as it was happening and then the repairs we've started on our chennel. It was bad.
Some rip rap dams will slow down the runoff. A settlement basin lined with rock will drop the washed material before the pipe. And as mentioned bigger pipe has become necessary
How would it work to regrade your driveway into a shallow “V” with a French drain running down the center to collect all the water in a large perforated corrugated drain “hose”/flex pipe coupled to a solid culvert that empties into the new lower pond? Would a small riding mower tire work to pull through the 8” culvert to clean out the mud & rocks?
Don't waste time cleaning that culvert replace it with a 15" or 18" culvert the bigger the better. You have a lot of water coming down that ditch. 6"+ rip rap would stop the wash out. Good work Adam, the place looks great!
What they said. 😅😅
I agree you will need a bigger culvert for sure that's alot of water coming off the hill
I agree, you need 12 to 16 pipe with rip rap to control the erosion. I would not waste money seeding, hydro seeding will give you a quick lush grass that will act as a good filtration system.
Yup, was just about to say the same, replace culvert with 16" or bigger and rip rap those channels you made. You can choose not to, but we will see this same video over and over until you do.
Agree with bigger culvert and rip rap, this is like a highway project.
pond dye just seems insane to me, but maybe I'm too European for that. A bit like putting plastic grass down because it's the greenest grass you've ever seen
awesome project nonetheless
I agree about the dye, there's something about it that's not quite right. But we can't argue that it's better than it was. Love the project, curious if he will put fish in once it's settled.
Same
It is also poison. I went to a private pond to fish and all of the bluegill either had stunted or non existent tail fins. Strangely enough it did not have that effect on the Bass.
Yes , I asked him if he was adding chlorine , but he rarely answers any questions. Good channel though .
Dig the pit on the intake side of your colvert about a foot lower than the bottom of the pipe. Stops the silt running straight in and keeps the pipe clearer longer. You just have to periodically muck out the pit with a shovel.
Without major earthworks this seems the best option to me as well. At least that way the culvert keeps working and the road won't erode or not as much. When that hole is lined with rocks it is called a Zuni bowl. Those are often applied at both ends from a culvert where erosion is an issue.
As a hobby, I used to maintain the 23 miles of dirt roads at my hunt club.
What I learned from that is that wherever you see the water start eroding the ditch, you needed to divert the water away from the road about 10-20feet uphill of the point of erosion.
Drain addict channel here on CZcams to clear the pipe. Just use a pressure washer with the right head, costs about $30 for the head that brings material back out the pipe.
Mixing humor in with the frustration is what I think sets great leaders apart from good ones. Keep up the solid work, sorry about the wash outs!
hey tidy bowl man!🤣🤣😂😂🤣
That pond dye reminds me of the Tidy bowl commercials of the 1970's ~1990's
Better call Mike Morgan, bet he could fix your driveway! Need a bigger culvert pipe! Put down some good stone and get it rolled.🇺🇸
It may have been a good idea to hold off on dying the lower pond to see if dyed upper pond water is migrating into the lower pond.
I bought 3 Midnight blue gallons of DYE for $1 each on clearance and put 6oz in a small test pond and it looked awesome. I am still waiting on contractors to dig a hole so I can clay line it as well. Keep the video coming.
I would suggest a water jet on that 8inch. And definitely treat the new pond for algae before pumping water.
Like others have said, a sewer jetter kit for your pressure washer, or maybe try pulling a small tire through it like from an old wheel barrow or lawn mower tire, moped tire ect. If you don’t have one a tire shop would probably give you one to try. The permanent solution would probably be a larger culvert, you’ve got a pretty big watershed collecting water there.
I live in So. central Missouri, and this has been the coolest, wettest August in the last 20 + years.
When you replace that pipe with a larger culvert, put a grate at each end to prevent Anderson from crawling through.
Methinks that you will have a lifetime of significant driveway maintenance while you have that driveway alignment.
You know if you wasn’t working on getting that pond fixed up and done, you probably be in a drought 😂 very cool footage you had with the storm rolling in! It looks like you got a lot of rework to do but you’ll get it done and it will look great! Have a great day.
Hi Adam, think everyone already said what you need to do.. Nice job fixing it up while it's still wet for sure. Ponds are filling. For the lower side, they sell rolls of stuff similar to hay bails that you can stake down to help slow the water down..
To clear the 8" culvert, maybe pull through a smaller diameter tyre , if you dont have one maybe your local tyre shop will have a worn one you can have, or your garden/landscape equipment shop might..?
Great video!! Being able to quickly repair your drive with the equipment helped tge frustration of hard work disappear, somewhat!! Stay Hydrated and Have a Safe Day
I’ve been having the best time watching all your dreams come true through you and your family’s hard work. I too have a place to be proud of just on a smaller scale. I’m looking forward to more videos.
I would dry off that tape measure really well, water inside the case will make the tape rust really quick
Adam you need a pit on the intake side of the culvert and you also need a 18" culvert pipe to carry the water and some rip rap stone in the ditches to help slow down the. water
geotextile cloth under the rip rap so the rushing water doesn't just dig the ditch deeper?
The "shale" you need in those roadside ditches is actually river run rock....
the smooth rock is less likely to be pushed around in your high water velocity ditch....
You might also like to look at a geotextile underlayment under those rocks to stop the ditch being excavated deeper by the water....
crocks and socks...hopefully you put the straps down into adventure mode!
On that 8inch pipe, just keep the discharge end clean and clear and it will clean itself out as water runs through it...
I was wondering if it would clean itself. Thanks
Yes. It will clean itself out with the next rain. Keep the outlet end clear so that the water has a place to go, assuming that you have fall on the pipe which it looks like you do.
Not if there are a lot of those larger rocks. They will all gather together and cause a buildup of silt which will be like cement when it dries.
I have a couple of pipes that run across from my shed to a little creek. 1 used to be a pipe to take the overflow from my tanks but I removed it years ago. What I have found is that the pipe that is fully horizontal blocks up every time I have a heavy rain but the pipe that has a 90 degree elbow never blocks up. The 2 pipes are literally side by side and discharge at the same place but the 1 that starts with a 4" drop doesn't block up.
If you want a really sturdy surface that really holds up well, you should research price and availability of what we here in Denmark call "Norwegian Stable" it is a mixture of very fine grey granite powder and 8-16mm sized grey granite rocks. It holds up like nothing else when compacted. We use it a lot in really wet areas when we have to drive 7 Axel semi's with a weight of 58 tons.
It will literally bend and form to the ground under it, without coming apart even though the ground under sinks 0,5 meters.
It is also really sturdy against heavy rain. We havent had roads wash away when using it. Way stronger than normal fill and gravel.
We're really feeling the effects of the heavy rain here in CT. The town of Oxford is severely damaged. We got hit pretty bad in my town, but 15 minutes away was just devastated. Roughly 16" in 24 hours.
We got the same storm in the Finger Lakes. My road is over 1/2 mile down to the lake with 4 main problem areas. Land plane worked well and didn't need to pull out the box blade.
Once you are able to clean the 8" culvert, you might try placing a pile of riprap around the entrance of the culvert to prevent future clogging as well as a pile around the discharge to eliminate further washouts during heavy drainage periods. As for clearing the built-up debris from inside the culvert, I'd try to conjure up a 3'-5' plug of some type and attempt to pull it through the culvert to remove any large material that has accumulated within it. If tried, be sure to have some way to pull it back in case it becomes entangled within the culvert. I'd then fill an IBC tote bladder with water and try to flush the remaining sediment from it utilizing one of the sewage pumps used in a previous video. OR, get with neighbor Doug for a "better way." Good luck. Sorry, this happened to you.
This pipe is far too small.
If the shingle is not eliminated prior to the entry to the culvert 8" pipe is useless....
better 12" or 16".....
Looks like you’ve gotten pretty handy with that excavator!
Maybe try a wheel barrel tire would fit the culvert
Both ponds look great
Defo would say need a bigger culvert.... love the pond 🎬 keep the updates coming 🎉🎉
You need rip rap along that driveway to slow the water down
💯, or at least some water bars to slow it down in the ditch. Riprap along the whole thing would be perfect.
Do. A couple water bars a angle in the drive . It will divert the water shed of the sides and on the culvert side dig a sump hole inlet side about 2 or 3 feet deep. One it will build up with settlement a debris and let the water flow through the pipe. I’d recommend a 18 to 20 inch pipe for the water
Cant you just reach your arm all the way in that pipe to clean it out? I mean you are 6’5”.
Yea I was thinking the same thing....
Oh congratulations on getting the work done in time to have the big rains. Nothing teaches you water erosion and the power of hydrostatic pressure better than real life experience. I’m enjoying all the videos as you do….keep them coming. Thx for the kayak experience…it’s been a while for me and vicarious was just fine.
You need a catch basin on the intake side and it needs to be structured such that hold enough to prevent a massive breech. You already know that the pipe is undersized so when putting in the new pipe, build the catch basin properly.
GOOOOOOD
MAAAAAAAAWNIN EVERYONE from a post storm/cold front very cool morning here in VaBch….Adam maybe try a smaller tire like a lawnmower front tire.
Maybe a pressure washer with a long discharge line… or did what knows will fix it…a LARGER culvert pipe.
I can’t imagine how much snow you would’ve gotten if all
That rain was snow…. You’d be digging out until next May.
Thanks for sharing
Have a day 😊
They say 1” of rain equals 10” of rain so yeah that would have been over 30” of snow
3 months from now - if that much precipitation comes down - you'll have several feet of snow! :)
You fellas that jumped me about weed seeds in hay, I’ve yet to see the chemlawn flags in that field. Yes using straw for seeding lawns is a must and using crap mulch hay isn’t good either but natural area grasses in good hay can be beneficial for green grass during the drought season when the fescues go brown.
Adam need a bigger pipe or for now use a garden tractor tire on a chain. Looks like you need more stone and definitely some number 4" or larger on the intake of that pipe so you don't have all that wash out. Just a thought looks good
My thought would be a pole?, push a small line through the culvert. Use that to drag through a length of 1/2" or larger chain. Wait until you have some flow, person on inflow and outflow. Push/pull to help the water clear it.
Really though, you need a much bigger culvert. 16". Not directly across the driveway, follow the fall line.
I'm really enjoying your video's, keep up the good work.
I think you are going to have to put some large rift raft at the start of the drain pipe to keep the smaller rocks from getting into the pipe.
Hey buddy.
I would make the trench deeper and use bigger stones, with the covert pipe over to the other side and continue the trench down directly to the pond so nothing washes away or erodes. In other words trench to the destination and control where all that water goes. Ok i am watching you dig by the covert. Great job.
Ever think of creating an “island ” in the lower pond so you and your children could swim or paddle around it? Or they could build a “fort” or treehouse on the little island.
Adam, water will win every time. You got to put in a big culvert to handle all the heavy rain even if it’s only one time a year. Use some 6” or so rip rap in several different places coming down the hill to slow force of the water. On the down side of the pipe make yourself a nice gradual ditch to steer the water where you want it to go. You don’t need me to say what to do, I know you have your plan in place. You might have to line the whole ditch in some sort of rip rap, at least it wouldn’t fill a new pie with dirt. Great video, TY for sharing. Dave D from Maine.
Good afternoon Adam, I would imagine that on the bright side, your determination to get the ponds and driveway in shape prior to the latest gully washer allowed you to see what the worst could do. It looks to me that things stood up to the downpour pretty well. The small (Anderson) pond looks really good and will be an eye catcher as it matures, embraces and incorporates beauty into the surroundings. The small pond might look good with a Solar Driven Fountain. Its future as supplier of water to the big pond will be an interesting addition to your channel’s diversity. 😀👍👍👍
Lawn mower front tire!
If you want to get rid of the algae is to keep it air rated, algae thrives is low oxidation pools of water. So get either a solar or wind powered aerator on the lower pond to keep it cleaner and maybe think about getting one for the main pond too. As prevention is better than ever expensive cures. Besides the more additives you add to the water, the more the PH levels change which can cause other problems. I know you can get pond additives and conditioners that are PH balanced and environmentally friendly and sustainable, but from what I’ve seen from American sources (I’m from the UK) they seem to be very expensive, especially for the size of ponds you have.
Property would look great from the house if you could see your building down the hill below that pond berm and just look at the new pond…..if the first pond leaks again I would bulldoze it down and dig more fill if needed from the new pond to get the land to look natural again.
If you think you need a 15 inch culvert pipe, go bigger. Always better to over do it when it comes to diverting water.
Larger culvert pipe for sure, but a small wagon tire will do the same for a 8” pipe.
Hey Adam were you have a smaller pipe you can just use an old lawn mower tire probably a back one would be best and drag it through where you only have an 8-inch pipe rather than a car tire
Adam,both ponds are looking 👀 amazing 🤩👍😮😊❤
I’d probably put a concrete catch basin with a 12” culvert. Add some large limestone rip rap in your ditch to slow the water down. Also I’d do my best to pour 100-150 feet of driveway a year, 5 or 6 years it would be all the way to the street. Having to put stone on the driveway all the time isn’t cheap either. Doesn’t seem like we get normal rains anymore. On a positive note, at least your home is on a hill. Good luck.
Watching all the way from aus feeling ya pain loving ya resilience
French drain both sides of that drive,
geotextile bottom and rip rap the full length to the top culvert...
and the very necessary second culvert lower down where the rush of water dug out that roadway.
I would not clean the culvert, I would replace it. But if you need a short-term solution, I would try dragging something like a small boat anchor or the end of a garden hoe Through the pipe.
Glad to see the ditches worked as intended. When grass is growing in it, it will no longer wash out.
I too believe there wouldn't be such a wash if that culvert wasn't over capacity.
You either need a bigger one or you make the ditch deeper on that other side of the road and all the way down. in order to divert it from the culvert
You need at least 24 inch or more pipe crossing that road...not 8 inch pipe... French drain the ditch up whole one side of road....use 6-10inch bone rock as base and work up to 2 inch rock for finish
Hi Adam,
For your driveway. You could always use a 300mm stormpro pipe with two pre cast concrete end walls at either end.. that would help the swale drain and slow down debris, and also control the water flow..
Or another way for your driveway crossing is potentially to try a Box or Crown culvert.
Get a jetter hose on your pressure washer, preferably with at least a 4 GPM unit and it will clean right out.
I would just replace that small pipe with a much lager one, at least 18" And then rip rap the intake side to keep rocks out!
Adam just saw a "short" on a product for a permeable drive way system from Vodaland. Might solve some problems. Go Stillers! GOD Bless
Looks good Adam!
You're putting the silt back for it to block the pipe again! You need an 8" or 10" piped french drain to the bottom of the hill.
Maybe something similar to a French drain using larger pipe a place along the one side that’s running the water mostly and let it spread the water flow out evenly along the grass below
I think I could see the main pond raising just watching the rain footage. LOL Sorry for the unfortunate event. Maybe multiple/more culverts would help with the driveway?? Best, -- J. Andre. / Old Iron Acres
Get a fire hose and nozzle and hook it up to a high pressure system and stick the fire hose into the pipe
Try a small trailer tire, that might work. As for the washout, I would plant those ditches with a highway mix grass seed and cereal rye and cover with the straw matting rolls, the cereal rye should germinate in about 3 days and should hold the soil until the grass seed germinates. Also buy the good heavy duty straw matting at a landscape store or feed mill. Good luck!
I like the color,looks better than brown.
Heck of a storm! Adam, can you divert the water on the north side of the driveway out through the grass toward the woods? Get rid of some of that volume before it gets to the culvert? And I think you still need a bigger pipe. Frustrating I know but you’re keeping a good attitude- at least when the camera is on. 😉
Beauty and the Beast - love watching a summer rainstorm but the destruction can be crazy. Stay safe.
Fun one ! Thankz for sharing.
a series of dry structures to pond water ... beginning at the top of the hill ... then as needed working your way downhill. this will slow the speed of the water. and by starting at the top ... you can lessen their size as the volume they need to temporarily hold is less.
Definitely need an additional culvert pipe or a bigger one….should be able to drag something through there…tire cut in half.
Just replace culvert with a 14 or 16 inch. I would recommend an egg shaped one so it doesn't need to be as deep but does same volume of water
to clean the pipe, get a water truck; suck up water from the lower pond; fire it through the culvert pipe at high pressure. your enemy is sometimes your friend. rip raf to stop it going in next time, but the final fix would be a bigger culvert.
You can improve your drainage on the drive by installing bigger “ culverts min, catch basins and diversions on both side , as well as some rip rap. Need to get a professional involved in a designed plan and desert water to the lower pond
Wheelbarrow tire! But agree, I would replace that culvert with a much larger one so I didn't have to worry about it again
Very informative video! It’s clear how much effort you put into maintaining the property after such downpours. Have you ever had rain cause unexpected issues that were hard to fix?
Looks like you could use some riprap stone for that ditch. Then the culvert wouldnt clog.
Try a small lawn tractor tire to drag the crud out of that 8" pipe using the same method you showed.
Wow that is tough, happens to me couples week ago, lost quite a bit of gravel
Bigger culvert yes, but also consider a concrete “V-ditch” to run along side of your driveway, with a “debris basin” at the top and a “settling basin” at the bottom (where the flow transitions to the new culvert under your drive).
Nature is telling you exactly where to place your culverts, make them big enough and you'll never have to repair your drive again.
I'd put in a bigger pipe as one gentlemen suggested and also put some ground cloth in the ditch and put some stone or rip rap on it and do the same where you cleared out on the outflow side.
Thanks for sharing!
Water bars up by the tree line bub..Making ditches along the driveway is good and nessasary but it's not going to control the volume and velocity of that much water..I have solved many of these situations..Water bars and slowing these rain bombs are the only way to solve the terrain that you have..
Get a drain pipe cleaner attachment for your pressure washer to clean out that 8" pipe, or just replace it with an 18" pipe. You also need to line the ditch with some large rock to keep it from washing out.
Mother Nature vs. a driveway and grass seed, guess who wins? Pond dye definitely is better looking.
Could you bring down some more large rocks from the woods, like what you put on the hill outside by the steps?
My friends up in the Sylva/Bryson City area live off an actrual road similar to yours except their grade is easily twice that of yours in elevation gain. The long time residents have cut a +/-6"" wide channels 60-45 degrees or into the road say every 50' -100' up the road to stop the run off from the road it's self. They made a little frame, with 5/4" deck boards on edge and concreted them in place with a little concrete inbetwen the boards. l We have gone up there in November '23 and July '24 and they have had some bad flooding and they didn'y have any washouts. Now also to add to this They have more like 2-3' drop filled to the brim with rip rap to the left when climbing that leads to some 16"-24" culverts under the road to the stream on my friend property and on the stream side, maybe a 1' or 2' of a gental drop with a fair about of rip rap then a shear 15-25' drop into said creek. They do not have any thing covering those channels, the "High" board is ever so slightly lower than the "low" board. Normally its more of abuse(flying up the road at 20-30mph sending gravel flying) that causes "bumps" at these channels then rain.
Good Luck!
We had our drive destroyed at the culverts during the Debbie Deluge here in Upstate NY. Our entire county got wiped out (over 100 roads damaged, two bridges destroyed, one house washed away.) I uploaded some vids of the destruction as it was happening and then the repairs we've started on our chennel. It was bad.
2:13 What about installing a dry dam or detention pond above the driveway so you can capture a lot of the storm-water flow and gradually release it?
Some rip rap dams will slow down the runoff. A settlement basin lined with rock will drop the washed material before the pipe. And as mentioned bigger pipe has become necessary
Try a small lawn and garden tractor tire to clean out the culvert?
How would it work to regrade your driveway into a shallow “V” with a French drain running down the center to collect all the water in a large perforated corrugated drain “hose”/flex pipe coupled to a solid culvert that empties into the new lower pond?
Would a small riding mower tire work to pull through the 8” culvert to clean out the mud & rocks?
I was wondering after your last video if this would happen. We live in Conneautville and experienced that same rain.