Drill Holes In Pavement For Drainage?

[jyl]

The asphalt street in front of my driveway is not sloped correctly, so that in the winter a large standing pool of rainwater stays there - the water does not run along the side of the street to the storm drain down the block.

So, you either splash through the puddle or jump.

Forget asking the city to fix it - if they did, they'd probably charge me $20,000 for the service.

My wife had a concrete contractor take a look, he bid $5,000 to dig out and repour my driveway which won't solve the problem - maybe water wouldn't pond on the last few inches of my driveway, but it will still pool up in the street.

Can I drill some 1/4" holes in the asphalt to let the water drain into the soil below? Will that work? Any downsides?

[masraum]

I'd be concerned that water under the road would eventually undermine the ground beneath the road and could cause the issue to become bigger at best or eventually collapse at worse. Maybe go on vacation and dump enough cement at the bottom of your driveway to fill in the depression. Then by the time you get back from vaca the cement will have hardened and filled in the depression.

Something else that I've seen is folks add a small "ramp" at the bottom of their driveway to ease the transition which also would act like a bridge over the water (depending upon the extent of the puddle).

[Rusty Heap]

Jack Hammer for the holes and a 6 pack for you. problem solved.

[Bill Douglas]

Good plan, and then deny any knowledge of it.

[p911dad]

If the subgrade is compacted it probably won't drain very well. Also, if you get frost or freezing weather in your area the water could freeze in pools under the pavement and cause breaks in the surface material over time.

[TimT]

Will that work? Any downsides?

Will work for awhile...1/4in holes will silt up quickly and stop passing water..

[CurtEgerer]

We had a 3-ft dia. 'birdbath' puddle in front of our storage unit. I drilled a 1" hole thru the asphalt and it works great. But it's all natural well-drained sand around here. As mentioned, 1/4" holes are too small, freezing temps would be a problem and a compacted base wouldn't allow good drainage. Might as well try it and see what happens. Easy to seal the holes if needed.

[dad911]

With poor drainage you may actually have water come up out of the holes when it rains.

[CurtEgerer]

^^^ Yup! Drill the 1/4" hole first and see if you get a mini Old Faithful ....

[A930Rocket]

Can we see some pictures of what the area looks like?

Seems like you need to force the water to go one way or the other or away from the driveway. Maybe adding a little bit of concrete or asphalt to push it along or displace it?

[cjh]

If you don't have standing water under the slab, can you cut a 2 foot square, remove the cement, dig out as deep as you can go and back fill with gravel and put a grate over it?

[gregpark]

Originally Posted by Rusty Heap

Jack Hammer for the holes and a 6 pack for you. problem solved.

This, but don't make it obvious that it was you who F'd up the street surface. Call and threaten legal action. Only then will the city fix their original lousy job and do it right (and at no cost to you)

[Tidybuoy]

Consider cutting out a channel and installing a channel drain like they sell at Home Depot.

[look 171]

Sounds like its the city's grading issue. No holes will solve standing water issue. No French drain, because the water has to go somewhere. I don't have any solution if this is what I am thinking. BEst would be to threaten them with a potential lawsuit because you or your wife fell due to the standing water and are thinking about suing the city. It is on the street side of the apron? My mother's house has the same problem. small amount of standing water during the rain but will run and dry in two days. We don't have much rain like you up in Portland.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Can you fill it in? There was a trough at the entrance of my parking lot, very annoying. I finally went to HD and got (I think) 4 bags of asphalt and some concrete powder.

I filled the strip in, could have used 4 more bags, tamped with a big sheet of plywood rolling over it with my Tundra and then sprinkled concrete over it.

Set up hard as a rock and was a huge improvement though could have been much better with more filler.

[unclebilly]

Anchor a small boat in the puddle. Put up a lighthouse at the end of your driveway complete with fog horn… ahoy matey!

[Evans, Marv]

For filling in holes/depressions or building up an asphalt area, H.D. and other places sell a product named Aquaphalt. It's a mixture of asphalt and hardener (concrete ?) I've used several times. It's worked out very well.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

For filling in holes/depressions or building up an asphalt area, H.D. and other places sell a product named Aquaphalt. It's a mixture of asphalt and hardener (concrete ?) I've used several times. It's worked out very well.

Winner winner chicken dinner! Good job, Marv!

https://www.aquaphalt.com/aquaphalt_in_action.php

[oldE]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

Anchor a small boat in the puddle. Put up a lighthouse at the end of your driveway complete with fog horn… ahoy matey!

I like the way this guy thinks!

Best
Les

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by cjh

If you don't have standing water under the slab, can you cut a 2 foot square, remove the cement, dig out as deep as you can go and back fill with gravel and put a grate over it?

I like this idea

Filling it in may give you a new puddle.