Right now it is pouring on the Oregon coast. My housing project is downslope and when it rains, I can see the sheets of water running off the roadway down to my house. I would like to see about building a small (2") asphalt curb that would run on the edge of the road about the length of the house (30'). It is too small a project to bring in an asphalt truck for, but is there a DIY option here? Would the cold patch stuff work?
Thanks as always for your thoughts.
Mike
Does the slope continue away from your house in the same direction? If so, a french drain around your house that simply skirted running water under and around the house so it drained out on the other side may be a better option.
You can get cold patch in bulk. It's pretty easy to work when fresh and warm. I don't know about when it is cold and wet. I think I paid about 150 a ton or so last year. Just a guess there. The French drain as muldoon stated is a good option also.
The cold patch would work on top of existing asphalt when dry I think - not so good when wet and it would just pretty well make a rounded lump curb. I use it to repair our road every year.
Thanks, folks. The backfill between the roadway and the house is all 3/4- gravel, and it continues along the side, so it is essentially one big french drain. Still, I would like to remove as many opportunities for water to hit the uphill basement side of the house as possible, ergo the curb.
It is supposed to stop raining for about a week, so perhaps I will get a bag of the cold patch and see how it is to work with. I could heat it up a bit, I suppose.
mt
If you have to snow plow at all, I'd suggest a Cape Cod Berm, it works better in plow areas. It is considered a mountable curb meaning you could drive up over it without damaging it or your vehicle.
http://www.woodsofwestminster.com/plans/SheetN1.pdf
There are machines around here to form them, but I have seen guys do it with shovels. There are different heights and widths. For a home a couple of inches high and 10 to 12 inches in width would probably do fine unless there is a lot of water then you might want to go higher.
If you do anything very close to the road, the local public works dept. may require a permit. I had to get one to set up the drainage along a county road fronting our former business property.
We graded the front edge of our ground so it formed a shallow swale where we met with the county's road shoulder. We graded the swale lengthways to lead the water down the road to a storm drain. We got permission to pave right up to the edge of the road, so water running off the road went into the paved swale and was directed down the road into the storm drain instead of onto our outdoor display area as had previously been the case.