When you guys put in a colvert for a creek to flow through what do you bury the colvert in. Our builder used dirt that he dug out of the ground to cover them in. We happened to get the remnants of Erin through here, and a lot rain washed out a lot dirt from our driveway. The colverts were actually ok but the driveway has washouts in it. I'm thinking more rock will do the job. Putting rock over dirt rather then dirt over dirt. My question is how did you do your driveway. I want to tell our builder some good ideas.
colverts or whistle you know what mean
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Onthesauk
Silver Member
Here in the NW, where we get a lot of rain, we put rip-rap around either end and pit run over the top. Needs to have enough fine to get all around the culvert.
SkunkWerX
Platinum Member
Just plain dirt can erode around the pipe. This is a case where clean fill is not as desireable. "dirty' fill, with stones, rocks, and plant matter would hold better. You would still need a good invasive ground cover to hold the outer layer of dirt.
But as was mentioned, for a permenant job, haul in the appropriate aggregate for your area. Gravel, crush-run, sand, rip-rap, etc.
There are many variables to care for, depends on the flow during a storm, which also depends on the dowhill grade, etc. etc. etc.? Is the area prone to flash floods during T-storms, that kind of thing?
When using local dirt from the site, I have seen folks then dump and tamp-in a lot of rocks on the upstream side. In highly erosive sitautions I have seen folks end up pouring a concrete apron around the upstream mouth of the culvert.
Storms like Erin aren't going to be your normal occurences (let's hope), and to try to build to that level may get quite costly. In a storm like Erin, you'll get overflow (water flowing above and over the road surface), but, otherwise, you want to try to build so that doesn't happen. If it continues to overflow, even in lesser storms, the culvert diameter may be too small.
If you concede that water is going to overflow the surface even during routine rainstorms, then you are probably looking at concrete around the culvert, as well as on the road surface.
But as was mentioned, for a permenant job, haul in the appropriate aggregate for your area. Gravel, crush-run, sand, rip-rap, etc.
There are many variables to care for, depends on the flow during a storm, which also depends on the dowhill grade, etc. etc. etc.? Is the area prone to flash floods during T-storms, that kind of thing?
When using local dirt from the site, I have seen folks then dump and tamp-in a lot of rocks on the upstream side. In highly erosive sitautions I have seen folks end up pouring a concrete apron around the upstream mouth of the culvert.
Storms like Erin aren't going to be your normal occurences (let's hope), and to try to build to that level may get quite costly. In a storm like Erin, you'll get overflow (water flowing above and over the road surface), but, otherwise, you want to try to build so that doesn't happen. If it continues to overflow, even in lesser storms, the culvert diameter may be too small.
If you concede that water is going to overflow the surface even during routine rainstorms, then you are probably looking at concrete around the culvert, as well as on the road surface.
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Just about anything is prone to wash out around a culvert if you have enough water attacking it. I use dirt to fill around my culverts, and where there is allot of water and erosion issues, I use concrete sacks to seal the entrance of the culvert so no water can get around it.
I prefer 40 pound sacks for this as they re easy to handle and there's no advantage to the greater width of an 80 pound sack. After I stack them, I put multiple lengths of rebar through the sacks to tie them together. The rebar just slides through them real easy. If I have water handy, I'll wet it all down, but that's not really required unless you know a big storm is coming and you need the sacks to harden right away.
Here's a picture of one that I did for a water supply to my lake.
Eddie
I prefer 40 pound sacks for this as they re easy to handle and there's no advantage to the greater width of an 80 pound sack. After I stack them, I put multiple lengths of rebar through the sacks to tie them together. The rebar just slides through them real easy. If I have water handy, I'll wet it all down, but that's not really required unless you know a big storm is coming and you need the sacks to harden right away.
Here's a picture of one that I did for a water supply to my lake.
Eddie
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SkunkWerX
Platinum Member
mechanic said:
Great idea, Eddie! Simple and effective.
Sorry for the extra post,
As far as the driveway surface itself, cut it down to remove the ruts and potholes. if you simply fill a rut or pothole, you still have a rut or pothole, it's just filled with loose material, and it will reappear.
Mix up any existing gravel and aggreagate and bring in more aggregate as needed. Not just gravel, but with some finer stuff, which locks the whole thing together. We use blue stone and crush (CR6 or called "Crush and Run") which is formulated with the right amount of fines and gravel. In your area they may use a mix of river stone and sand, just depends on what your quarries mine in that area.
Grade it out, crown it, and if they can, put a decent sized Roller over it several times from both directions. light to mofderate rainfall will help it to set-up and become a solidified mass.
If you have only a dirt road, no aggregates, then you are looking at cutting down the road and bringing in a lot of aggregate, could get very pricey depending on length.
Find some local folks who have long existing driveways and see what they recommend.
Egon
Epic Contributor
Your highways department should have some basic culvert installation details. It should start with a compacted granular base and then compacted lifts of crushed granular material to a specified depth over the culvert. The inlet and outlet may have placed reinforced concrete or riprap. 
Do like Eddie said. All will work well.
Do like Eddie said. All will work well.
ovrszd
Epic Contributor
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I install road culverts in gravel roads for our township often. In Northern Missouri we just use dirt for fill. The finer dirt the better. Clods, rocks, weed trash, etc., only provide gaps for water to seep thru. We also use dual wall plastic culverts. The corrugations are deeper than galvanized culverts and I've never had one wash out because of water seeping along the outside of the culvert. Steel galvanized culverts will commonly wash out because of their smaller corrugations.
The only time I add rock is at the bottom end if there's a big hole that the culvert dumps into. Then I'll place a dump truck load or two of rip rap to prevent further washing and erosion of the fill dirt. Rock or headwall material at the upper end is only useful if the culvert is so short that dirt won't lay that steep. It does nothing to prevent washout.
For the eroded roadbed, if it's bad enough, dirt will have to be hauled in. If the erosion is minor, it can be filled with road rock.
You have to understand that you are dealing with abnormal weather conditions and the frequency of this problem will be rare. Or at least that's what I'm getting from reading your post?? If flooding over the road is common you need to rebuild the roadbed and install a larger culvert to handle the flood stage flow. If you use a dual walled plastic culvert it is smooth on the inside and will flow as much as the next size bigger corrugated steel culvert. Another reason to go plastic.
The only time I add rock is at the bottom end if there's a big hole that the culvert dumps into. Then I'll place a dump truck load or two of rip rap to prevent further washing and erosion of the fill dirt. Rock or headwall material at the upper end is only useful if the culvert is so short that dirt won't lay that steep. It does nothing to prevent washout.
For the eroded roadbed, if it's bad enough, dirt will have to be hauled in. If the erosion is minor, it can be filled with road rock.
You have to understand that you are dealing with abnormal weather conditions and the frequency of this problem will be rare. Or at least that's what I'm getting from reading your post?? If flooding over the road is common you need to rebuild the roadbed and install a larger culvert to handle the flood stage flow. If you use a dual walled plastic culvert it is smooth on the inside and will flow as much as the next size bigger corrugated steel culvert. Another reason to go plastic.
Egon
Epic Contributor
Okay!!
gabby
Gold Member
I fill with dirt and I make it higher over the culvert so overflows will go way around, like the overflow spillway on a pond dam.
