Will wrote:
"Scott Hildenbrand" wrote in message
...
I don't want to be discouraging but you are trying to build a 100x4
flagstone road that you know will be subject to adverse drainage
conditions.
I'd consider getting the advice of a pro.
The concrete guys wanted $5K to build just a trench, and $12K to build a
sidewalk. We are the tenants, not the landlord, and the landlord is
refusing the solve the problem. I have about $3K to spend.
The fact that you're willing to dump 3k into a rental is... Well..
shocking..

Sometimes your only choices are all bad choices, and you want to find the
least bad option. I'm not thrilled about spending anything much less $3K,
but simply cannot afford to dump $12K into this, which is what professionals
want to do it.


Look at doing something like this, which will be the base of your work.
You can lay the flagstone over this for stepping stones.. No need to over
complicate things, but the stones will shift.. I'm however assuming that
you're looking at leaving gaps around the stone.

Drainage:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/407_Dry...y_Ground.shtml

Thanks. And that illustration is helpful.

What happens if you line the ditch with plastic and then fill with 1.5"
drainage rocks, but do not put in the perforated tube? I guess the main
issue is about preventing the water from rising too high and upsetting the
sand or gravel top layer?

Water, much like electricity follows the path of least resistance. When
you have a problem with standing water you not only want it to flow
away, but do so as quickly as possible to prevent a buildup. The tube
just provides a clear, clean path for the water to escape quickly.

Also, the holes point down not only to allow water to leech out, but
also leech in.. When water is high, it will flow in through the holes
and follow along the path of the pipe to the exit location with is down
hill.

You'll need a place LOWER than what the water is currently at to drain to.
Perhaps run it around the house and drain down the driveway if it's paved.

That much was clear, and we have the ditch running into a storm drain.

Very good.. I'd found over the years to make sure I'm clear with info
and assume nothing.. Saves headaches for myself.. and others, for that
matter..

But then again, is it really worth it for a rental? That's up to you all
so I'll leave that as an opinion.

The entire situation sucks. We were the only building tenant and so had
exclusive access to the limited front parking area. The landlord found a
tenant for other side of building, and they are now filling up the front
area, requiring us to park in back of building, and find our way through mud
and dirt to the front. The next door neighbors are selfish in their
thinking about this problem, taking a "first come first serve" attitude even
though their side of building has parking lot surrounding it on all sides
and ours only has the limited front and back parking. The building
management is simply lazy and doesn't care. So we got screwed for not
anticipating this in our lease, and now we just have lots of bad choices.

I'm willing to spend the money as an act of good faith to our employees,
simply so they don't have to suffer through a ridiculous condition.


So this is a business location? That might explain the first notion that
pops into my head, which is moving..

Also, you mention parking.. There would be no parking/driving over the
drainage system area would there? If so you'd need to build it up
further to prevent the collapse of the pipe.

Now, as for material I prefer the PVC pipe because it's smooth on the
inside and I feel it drains much better but there is also the black flex
tubing which is made for drainage that you could use. Since it seems to
be just minimal foot traffic you could use it, just offset the flagstone
so that the pipe is to the side of the path.

The bright side of the flex tubing is that you have some leeway as to
how straight your trench is.. Digging a straight trench is a bit of a
pain.. It's also cheaper... I'd quote Lowes.com but I can't find it..
They do sell it however.

Gravel wise, call someone to dump a load as you'd never want to buy bags
for something this large.. Just give them the depth/width/length of the
trench and they will give you an estimate on how many ton of chip gravel
you'll need.

Do a little searching for materials.. You may be in at just $1k in
material costs.. And alot of back breaking labor. Find your material
source, plan it out and you can easily minimize the financial loss and
have a system in place which should last 5-10 years without issue. Just
need to know what to trade off on.

Oh.. Plan to incorporate a few cleanout caps so that if there are
problems with clogs, a plumber can blow the system out with a pressure
auger.