Pool Surround Drainage Questions

Hi, my wife and I have been dedicating one main improvement project per year for our backyard for the past couple years. The most recent is having a new retaining wall and slab built in my back yard. It's about 8' wide x 40' long. I live in a typical track home here in SoCal and a corner lot at that. What we're doing is creating additional deck/patio space for chairs and what-not to the back side of our pool. When the lot was built no drainage to the street was established, so it's too late and way too costly to consider that with all the concrete to go under and neighbors yards to go through, so forget that. What I need to come up with is a way for the winter rains and excess pool water to drain off to rather than collecting and being trapped on the new slab. If there's no drainage the the new area will fill very quickly.

I've been considering the long grate type of drain that would run the length of the slab. This way it could look nice and be effective. Now is a great time to dig a trench for the channel since it's all still dirt then cement around it. The problem is that I haven't seen any that has holes in it that could allow water to drop straight down into the earth. I figured that it could drop into crushed stone a few inches below the grate. The grate would be set to the back most part of my slab, correct? Which way would best make sense for the slab to slope, back or front?

Would this work? Other ideas?

I have some pics if that helps, but not sure how to post them here. There is no link for "Pictures & Albums" in my UCP.

Thanks for any help.
Tony

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Originally Posted by Gynot

Hi, my wife and I have been dedicating one main improvement project per year for our backyard for the past couple years. The most recent is having a new retaining wall and slab built in my back yard. It's about 8' wide x 40' long. I live in a typical track home here in SoCal and a corner lot at that. What we're doing is creating additional deck/patio space for chairs and what-not to the back side of our pool. When the lot was built no drainage to the street was established, so it's too late and way too costly to consider that with all the concrete to go under and neighbors yards to go through, so forget that. What I need to come up with is a way for the winter rains and excess pool water to drain off to rather than collecting and being trapped on the new slab. If there's no drainage the the new area will fill very quickly.

I've been considering the long grate type of drain that would run the length of the slab. This way it could look nice and be effective. Now is a great time to dig a trench for the channel since it's all still dirt then cement around it. The problem is that I haven't seen any that has holes in it that could allow water to drop straight down into the earth. I figured that it could drop into crushed stone a few inches below the grate. The grate would be set to the back most part of my slab, correct? Which way would best make sense for the slab to slope, back or front?

Would this work? Other ideas?

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I don't know if you'd want the overflow to drain right below the deck.... why not install a deck-o-drain in the existing channel or newly poured concrete and direct the flow to a dry well that is positioned away from the pool area? Any new deck/slab near a pool should slope away from the pool... and the house, neighbor's yard, etc.

I have only a foot or two between property/fence line and walkway on the back side of the pool so I installed plastic catch basins every 5-6 feet with 4" plastic drain pipe (unslotted) that directs the water around the pool and down the side yards to the street. The deck-o-drain I placed midway between the front of the pool and my house where the slope changes from pool (down and away) to house (up to cold joint at the perimeter foundation) and each end empties into catch basins that are tied into the drain pipe. Many linear feet of trenching required -- but it works.

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

I really wish I could go to the street, but there is no way. It would be way too costly, too much cement and walls between my back yard and front. Also, our housing track is depressed below the street that runs behind my back yard.

I like the idea of a dry well, but it has to be located in the back yard. The only spot for that would be to the right of the new area. How deep would the dry well need to be and would it be filled with crushed stone?

I also thought, why not form a cement trough, but bottomless and under that have about a foot of crushed stone and top it with a grate. This would travel the entire length of the new area rather than just the one spot of the dry well. The water would end up being more dispersed. Would this work?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gynot

Thanks for the reply and suggestions.

I really wish I could go to the street, but there is no way. It would be way too costly, too much cement and walls between my back yard and front. Also, our housing track is depressed below the street that runs behind my back yard.

I like the idea of a dry well, but it has to be located in the back yard. The only spot for that would be to the right of the new area. How deep would the dry well need to be and would it be filled with crushed stone?

I also thought, why not form a cement trough, but bottomless and under that have about a foot of crushed stone and top it with a grate. This would travel the entire length of the new area rather than just the one spot of the dry well. The water would end up being more dispersed. Would this work?

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You might want to guessestimate the maximum volume of water and size the well to hold half or a third of it...I haven't tried this but I would certainly try to get it deep enough (4 - 5 feet?) and add several feet of stones / rocks.

The trough might work but my thought was to get the water away from the pool and deck area. With a sustained rainfall/overflow a trough would more likely irrigate the underside of your deck and pool shell. A small amount of water would be less problematic.

Thanks for the replies. It's really got me thinking. A thing to keep in mind, our soil is the sandiest/rockiest I've seen. I grew up in the East and know what clay is like, so this is literally two opposite ends of the spectrum.

Here are some images that may help:

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/6198/01br.jpg


http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/3084/02bg.jpg


http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7091/fromleft.jpg


http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/2646/fromright.jpg


http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/5697/rightsidex.jpg

Tony