Help With Driveway Drainage

[bcp]

Speaking of water levels, instead of long clear tubing, buy around 4 feet and cut it in half. Add a male hose fitting to one end and a female hose fitting to the other end. Connect these to your garden hose.

Bruce

 

[LD1]

Unless things have changed from when I looked at outdoor lasers, it's not so easy to see lasers outside and the ones you can see are expensive. If the tripod laser is just a hair off level at the tripod, the resulting error will be magnified.

Water seeks its own level. Pretty hard to mess up a water level.

You dont need to see the laser...they have a reciever. And they are quite accurate. Also they are self leveling

No one on jobsites in this country are using tubes and water. Drainage, construction, concrete flatwork, etc etc etc. Pretty much all use a rotary laser.

 

[dodge man]

Yes, rotary laser have been the thing to use for several years now. They are not self leveling but you just have to get them close to level, they usually have a bullseye style bubble you set them up with. If they get too far out of whack they stop working usually. They have a visible beam but you don’t need to see it just the receiver on the level rod. The good ones are highly accurate out to about 300 feet and not to bad out to 600 feet.

 

[2manyrocks]

Clear tubing is still a lot cheaper than a good outdoor laser for a homeowner doing a one time job.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Clear tubing is still a lot cheaper than a good outdoor laser for a homeowner doing a one time job.

you can usually rent them in a rental stores ... I usually used a string that I set with a level then I measure from it...

 

[2manyrocks]

$64 day to rent one vs $20-30 to buy clear tubing? It's not difficult to drive fence post at each end of a line, mark level with the clear tubing and stretch a string between the two posts to get a pretty accurate grade for this kind of job.

 

[LD1]

Yes, rotary laser have been the thing to use for several years now. They are not self leveling but you just have to get them close to level, they usually have a bullseye style bubble you set them up with. If they get too far out of whack they stop working usually. They have a visible beam but you don’t need to see it just the receiver on the level rod. The good ones are highly accurate out to about 300 feet and not to bad out to 600 feet.

Depends on the laser. I have used some that require setting up like an old sight level (but with the bullseye bubble) that you have to get fairly close. And others that you can just set up darn near anywhere you could set a coffee cup and it will do the rest

 

[LD1]

$64 day to rent one vs $20-30 to buy clear tubing? It's not difficult to drive fence post at each end of a line, mark level with the clear tubing and stretch a string between the two posts to get a pretty accurate grade for this kind of job.

Once the fence posts and strings are in the way makes it difficult to work around with equipment. You have to keep setting up and taking it down. Whereas a laser on a tripod can be out of the way. And quickly referenced several times throughout the project without the hassle.

But hey, a shovel and wheelbarrow is cheaper than a tractor too. But most of us have tractors

 

[2manyrocks]

Laser saves time on a commercial paid job. For someone just trying to figure out elevations to come up with a plan to solve a home drainage issue, I'd still go with the clear tubing and posts or grade stakes. Having posts or grade stakes will help him to visualize how much material has to be added or removed in a particular area.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I will create a border with cinderblock, keeping the elevation slightly higher than the left side of the driveway. Basically will create an 8" retaining wall, then fill with crush and run.

I'm not sure how much snow you get at your location or how you handle it. If you use a plow, sooner or later, you're going to plow up those 8" cinder blocks. Yeah, you can mark them with stakes but they're just something else to maintain.

They are also difficult to mow up against. You wind up using an edger or string trimmer which adds to your lawn grooming time.

I gave up using hardscape borders on my gravel driveway years ago for these reasons. I now use a shallow drainage swale instead. Much easier to maintain.