We solve all types of unwanted water problems in and around your home or business. Oklahoma Drainage Provides : Drainage System Installation utilizing French Drains, Surface Drains, Channel Drains, and Sump Pumps.
If you need a French Drain along an exterior wall, or a surface drain installed in concrete in a sidewalk or driveway, or a sump pump in a basement, We can help. There are literally thousands of specific drain installation applications.
Hard rain and flooding seem to be more common all the time. When I started this business in 1993, having over an inch of rainfall in an hour was pretty extreme. Now having over 4 inch an hour rainfall is not unheard of and is becoming more common.
Protecting our homes and businesses from unwanted water should be a goal for all of us.
Oklahoma Drainage has seen and dealt with virtually every possible Drainage and Standing water problem that can occur in or around your home. With over 2700 Drainage Systems installed since 1993, we have amassed a great deal of experience. This is helpful in seeing underlying problems. We look for Secondary Water Issues not just the Primary ones. In this business EXPERIENCE TRULY COUNTS!
Hiring your brother- in- law or a Landscape Company to put in your Drainage System is a bad idea. If a landscape company also installs French Drains, you should run!
Why don't they specialize??? Does your Lawyer also do physical therapy?
Some Builders also make bad choices concerning drainage on new homes they are building. New houses should not have problems with water. Builders usually have a landscape company that installs their drains. Sometimes its a maintenance guy that works for the builder. It's Usually the cheapest fix possible. I've testified in more than one class action lawsuit where a whole housing sub-division had unnecessary Drainage Issues.
Water can cause a huge amount of damage. How important is your money and your home? Over 30% of the work done by Oklahoma Drainage is fixing other people's mistakes. I appreciate the work, but I get frustrated when bad things happen to good people concerning water!
Blane Callen, 405 203 9419
Oklahoma Drainage has been installing Channel Drains in Oklahoma City, Norman, and Edmond for 31 Years. We service all of Central and Western Oklahoma.
Channel Drains look great around a pool or across a sidewalk or driveway. They are a type of “Surface Drain,” that is long and narrow like a gutter. Most of the time, Channel Drains are set in concrete.
Sometimes people need new drains installed near their pool set in concrete. The old drain may not work any more or there may be a low area that needs one. The old drains may be too small or they may be clogged. Many times it is difficult to unclog a pool drain. The only solution is to cut out the old drain and put in a new one.
Cutting out the concrete and installing a Pool Drain.
We put Duct Tape on the Channel Drain before pouring concrete around it. Channel Drains are one type of Drain used around pools.
Channel Drains can also be installed across Driveways and Sidewalks.
Channel Drains are a type of Surface Drain. They are long and thin with a composite or metal grate. Most of the time a Channel Drain is set in concrete.
Oklahoma Drainage Installs Channel Drains, Surface Drains and French Drains. Some times it is up hill in all directions from the Problem Drainage Area. This problem can be solved by installing a Sump Pump. When the cavity fills, the water is pumped away to the point where the water exits the drain which can be a curb outlet or a pop-up emitter.
Designing a Drainage Systemto intercept the Surface Wateris the first step, but many times is not the only step. Often Sub-Surface Water( Water Running Under Ground ) is not accounted for by people with less experience in designing Drainage Systems. They install A Drainage System that uses Surface Drains to Intercept the running surface water. Sometimes that works if that is the only water source to theProblem Drainage Area.
Surface Drains drain surface water away only. Sub Surface water runs right around them and into the same Problem Drainage Area. There may be less water there than there was before but the problem still remains.
A French Drain is the solution when water is running into a problem area over the surface and under ground. A French Drain solves both problems and the area will be dry.
French Drainscan be decorated with many types of stone
French Drains can utilize several types and sizes of French Drain Pipe. An older type that is not commonly used any more is 4 inch PVC Pipe with large half inch holes drilled in the Pipe. This doesn’t work very well, Because the holes are too large and the number of holes in the French Drain Pipe are too few. Also there is no filter or “Soc” around this particular French DrainPipe. If it is used in sandy or loose soil the holes will clog and the pipe will fill up with sand. PVC French DrainPipe should be avoided.
ADS French Drain Pipe is much better, the holes are smaller and much more numerous. It also comes inside a soc that acts as a filter and helps keep sand and debris out of the French Drain Pipe. It works very well.
For Small business and Residential French Drains, Four inch ADS Perf/Soc French Drain pipe is adequate and the most common. It is used for the majority of all French Drainsinstalled. French Drains can be installed using 3 inch ADS Perf/Soc but many times it is too small and can be overwhelmed by a heavy rain or from a bad design. (Too many gutter down spouts connected directly into the French Drain, For Example) Three Inch French Drain Pipe should be avoided if possible.
Six inch ADS Perf/Soc French Drain Pipe is usually a good idea when possible. It carries a much larger volume of water. Six Inch French Drains are rarely overwhelmed.
Harsh weather inOklahoma seems to becoming more common. In 2013, Norman Oklahoma had 4 inches of rain in two hours. That’s the most rain in a short time that I can remember. Storm-Water runoffcan cause damage to all types of property and buildings. Water getting inside your house is never a good thing. A Drainage System that utilizes a French Drain can help.
Drains can protect your home and property from water damage. Oklahoma Drainage install a wide variety of Drains in many different places. A Drain or Group of Drains with Drain Pipe going to an exit point is a “Drainage System.”
A “French Drain” Moves “surface water” away from a low lying problem drainage area. Sub surface water is many times not considered or thought about when a drainage system is being installed. People only think about what they can see and don’t think much about what they can’t see.
Sub Surface water is water that is underground and saturated in the soil. Just like water above ground (Surface Water) moves. Water under ground moves too and is a very big part of any drainage problem.
Water flows over the surface into the area that floods and is a problem. A big mistake that is made be the casual eye, is that all the water in a swampy problem area got there by running over the surface. Yes, it probably did, but it also got there by moving there underground as well. This is called SUB SURFACE WATER MOVEMENT, and it is important to any kind of Drainage System that might be installed.
Water can only be drained away that is on the surface. It goes into the top of the Drain on the Surface. It’s Name is ” A Surface Drain.” It Drains Surface Water ONLY!
A French Drain can drain Surface water and Sub Surface water both. It water is in the problem area by means of Sub – Surface movement, then it will enter the French Drain Laterally, under ground, and be drained away along with the surface water.
Surface Drains look nice but they have limited applications. They must be installed in situations that they are designed for. Surface Water only in smaller volume applications. Surface Drains don’t move as much water as French DrainLarge 6 Inch French Drain Installed in Norman
Drainage Systems can be made up of one drainor a combination of many drains. Drainage problems can be very complex. Complex Drainage Problems may require a combination of several different types of drainsall inter-connected and working together. Other times the drainage problem may be simple and straight-forward requiring only one drain or several of the same type of drainconnected together.
An example of a complex drainage system would be: A French Drainin the back yard connected to a Surface Drain near a flower bed connected to several gutter downspouts, which are connected to a Channel Draingoing across a driveway, which is connected to additional Surface Drain in the front yard, which runs to a Curb Fittingthat lets all the waterdrain out on to the street.
A simple Drainage Systemmight consist of a Surface Drain that is connected to a second Surface Drainwhich runs to a Pop-up Emitter which lets water drain over the curb and into the street.
An “Exit Point” is the term used for where all the water leaves theDrainage System. Determining the Exit Point is very critical. It is one of the first things we do when diagnosing a Drainage Problem.
Drainage Systems can:
1. Keep water away from foundations— AFrench Drainis best because it can move Surface Water and Sub-Surface Water(water moving under ground) away from the foundation. Many times less experienced companies install Surface Drains to keep water away from foundations. This can be a big mistake. A Surface Drain can’t move or drain Sub-Surface Water. Also A Surface Drain often can’t move enough water fast enough and easily becomes overwhelmed during a heavy rain. A Surface Drainalso can’t cover or protect a broad enough area. Surface Drains should be designed in a Drainage System to be located in smaller Drainage Areas moving moderate amounts of water. Surface Drainslook better than French Drains. If ,”appearance” is more important than Drainage Capacity, Go with the Surface Drain. Just know what you are getting into and what your expectations should be. One side of a foundation alone, can be over 100 feet. A 4 inch or 6 inch French Drain is best when protecting a large area such as a foundation.Surface Drain Installed next to sidewalk in Oklahoma City.
2. Keep water away from small or enclosed areas. This might be a low area just through a gate on the side of a house, or the low area between a flowerbed and the wall of a house, or standing water on or near a sidewalk or driveway. These types of Drainage Problems are best served with Surface Drains. A Surface Drain can move water away from a low area that is relatively small. This can occur in yards, flowerbeds, sidewalks and driveways. A Surface Drain is designed to move Surface Water away from a problem area to a predetermined exit point. Surface Drains are available in many sizes. How quickly they remove standing water is usually determined by the size of the Drain Pipe that is connected to the Drain.Surface Drain Installation in Norman
Simply put, a Drainage System is one or a group of underground Drain Pipes that take water away from a place that has water standing on it or flowing across it. The water that is in the problem area, can be causing damage or may be inconvenient or both. (Usually Both) A simple Drainage System is a Drainfor the water to enter, a Drain Pipe to move the water away from the Drain, and an Exit Point for the water to be released out of the Drain Pipe.
Drainage Systems quickly can become more complicated. Considerations must include:
How does the water get to the problem area? There may be one or many sources.
Water Sources:
1. It falls from the sky directly
2. It flows down hill over the surface (surface water)
3. It flows underground under the surface (sub-surface water)
4. It flows from the edge of a roof ( There may be many roofs near the problem area, neighbors etc.)
5. It flows from a gutter downspout
6. It flows over the edge of a gutter because the gutter is too small is is clogged
7. It flows up from the ground (seeps and springs are common in Oklahoma)
8. It flows from a sprinkler system use ( yours or your neighbors)
9. It flows from a leaking pipe ( water mains, water meters, water lines, sprinkler pipes, sprinkler valves)
There are other reasons for Drainage Problems, the above reasons are just the most common.
Once the number of water sources is determined, a rough estimate of the amount of water that needs to be drained away on average must be estimated. This can be simplified down to “SMALL, MEDIUM, OR LARGE AMOUNTS OF WATER TO BE DRAINED AWAY. You don’t have to be an engineer trying to calculate fluid dynamics. Experience at diagnosing drainage problems helps however. How much water needs to be moved will help determine the type and size of the Surface Drainor French Drain that needs to be installed. It also helps to determine the size of Drain Pipe required for the Drainage System. A good rule to follow is, “If in doubt, install a larger Drain and Drain Pipe.” Unused Drainage Capacity is better than property damage caused by a Drain that is overwhelmed by too much water.
For home and small business use typical materials used are:
French Drains move Surface Water and Sub-Surface Water
Surface Drainsmove Surface Water only
Surface Drains look nicer than French Drains in most cases
Once the type and number of drains is determined and what size Drain Pipe will connect them, an exit point must be selected. (Where is the Drainage System going to take the water to and release it?)
The Drainage Curb Fitting is installed when the desired exit point for the French Drain will release theDrainage Water into the Street. The Drainage Curb Fitting is rectangular in shape and made to be installed through the curb. A small section of Curb is cut out with a concrete saw. The Section is a few inches wider than the Drainage Curb Fitting. We then install new concrete around the curb fitting. Once the concrete has dried, the Drain Pipe coming from a French Drain or Surface Drain is connected to the Drainage Curb fitting and then covered with dirt.Cutting The Curb and Installing Curb Fitting for French Drain
The Drainage Pop-Up Emitteris connected to the end of aDrain Pipe. It is downhill from a French Drainor a Surface Drain. It is a small release basin with a green pop-up lid. When releasing water, it pops up about an inch to release the water from the French Drain or Surface Drain. When the Storm Water has moved through the Drainage System and out of the Pop-Up Emitter, the green lid closes back to its original closed position. The emitter is designed to release water out into a yard or down a hill or other desirableDrainage Exit Pointwhere there is no curb.Popup Emitter to release water from a Drainage System in Yukon.
Oklahoma Drainage has been diagnosing and solving Drainage Problems since 1993. Water has the ability to get into places around your home where you really don’t want it to be. Some drainage problems are easy to solve. Typically water enters the problem drainage area one way from one source. The really tricky drainage problems occur when water enters the problem drainage area from multiple directions and from multiple sources. Sometimes a secondary water source can’t be seen or identified until the primary water problem source is eliminated.
An example of this occurs when water is running into a problem area in an obvious way over the ground where you can see it.
A drainage systemis installed with a surface drain as the “intake” with drainage pipe running to an exit point. Initially the water drains away and everything looks great. The next day water is back and is all around the surface drain, but below the edge and it hasn’t rained at all, so no additional water ran over the surface of the ground to flood the area. The primary water source was solved, ( The surface water run off ) but the secondary water source was not. Which was sub-surface water, (ground water) running into the area. A surface drain can’t drain “ground water.” A French Drain should have initially been installed instead of a Surface Drain. A French Drain can drain both Surface Water and Ground Water.
A basicFrench Drainconsists of aPerforated Drain Pipein the bottom of a trench. The French Drain Trench runs through a Problem Drainage Areathat needs to be drained. The French Drain Pipe is perforated (Full of Small Holes) and has Neo-Prene Soc around the pipe. This soc helps prevent debris from clogging the French Drain Pipe.
All Drainage Systems and French Drains need a place for the water to go. This is called an Exit Point. We use two types of Exits. The first is a curb outlet. We cut the curb with a concrete saw and install a rectangular curb outlet set in acrylic concrete.
A rectangular outlet is superior to a round one. Air travels back up the pipe through the top two corners to allow a more continuous water flow. If you have ever poured liquid out of a 2 liter bottle turning it completely upside down, you will see that it drains but not very well.
Wow, Some Drainage Problems are tougher than others. Had a customer in Chickasha with an unusual Drainage Problem. She had a new Driveway installed. The Cement work was nice enough but they left out one major consideration when installing the new Driveway. Even after a small rain the water would run right down the driveway, under the Garage Door and directly into the Garage. This was a bad problem that was about to get worse. The first big rain came and everything was magnified. The Rushing water took out the garage door and the back wall of the garage. Yikes!!
Hmm,? What to do? The company that installed the Driveway was nowhere to be found. No surprise.
The water volume was huge and the customer had no means to redo the driveway which was substantial.
The solution took a little “Out Of The Box Thinking”.
We Installed an 8 inch metal channel drain grate across the driveway. But with no channel drain underneath. A large channel drain could not handle the water volume that we were dealing with. Instead of installing a channel drain underneath the grate, we cut completely through the driveway concrete and installed two 6 inch French Drains stacked on top of each other underneath the Channel Drain Grate.
This took place in July of 2017. Since then not a drop of water has reached the garage.
The Drainage part of our company name means that we solve water problems for people in Oklahoma. Heavy rain is becoming more common. Back in 1993 when I first started, a hard rain was considered to be about an Inch per/hour. It was fairly rare but not too uncommon. Today things are different. A weather report of rain fall at or above 4 inches per/hour was not uncommon in 2019. Excess water causes all types of damage to property both residential and commercial.
Standing Water on a Driveway or Sidewalk can be a real pain. Stepping out of your car into standing water is no fun.
Oklahoma Drainage can help. We can install many types of Surface Drains or Channel Drains into concrete. The most common place to install them is in Driveways or Sidewalks. We also have installed them in Basement Floors along with Sump Pumps to move out the water.
With any Driveway Drain, one necessary aspect is a place to drain the water to, whether it be a down hill slope released out of a pop up emitter, or out through a curb with a curb outlet.
Have you ever had water sanding on your Driveway? Water on Drivewayscan cause cement or asphalt to break down and come apart resulting in cracks and deterioration. Not to mention getting out of your car and stepping into water is never pleasant!
Oklahoma can have very hard rain and thunderstorms. Water standing can cause all types of problems.
Surface Drain installed in Driveway with Metal Grate.
Oklahoma Drainage can help by installing a surface drain in your driveway or sidewalk. If you live in Edmond and need help, give us a call. We service all of Central and Western Oklahoma.
