Correcting Water Drainage in Front Of Garage Doors (Post 2)

There is one other option that could be used to collect water in front of garage doors, although I do not consider it as effective because of the maintenance involved.  A channel drain could be installed across the front of the garage.  Although, in my professional opinion, I do not find this option as successful over the long run as I do installing the permeable brick pavers.  Let me explain why I feel this way. 

A channel drain can become clogged with leaves, dirt, and debris over time because it is directly open to the elements, whereas the pavers have a crushed drainage stone in the voids of the brick that allows water to quickly flow through, but filters out leaves, dirt, and debris out of the system.  The permeable pavers will also filter out toxins, heavy metals, brake dust, motor oils, pollutants, contaminants, etc.that would normally wash down your driveway, into the curb and gutters, and eventually into our waterways.

I do not have any pictures of drainage channel installed across the front of a garage, but I have installed it in between a concrete driveway and brick pavers to catch water that would normally cause a severe drainage/erosion problem.  In the picture that I have included with this post, we had approximately 1,500 square feet of concrete driveway draining downhill onto a newly installed brick paver walkway.  All rainwater and smow melt was captured by the drainage channel and approximately (4) years later we have not had any erosion or wash-out problems.  Although, you do have to caulk all of the seams with a flexible elastomeric caulk, otherwise rainwater will erode and undermine the area through the cracks.  You will also have to watch the flexible elastomeric caulk over time and re-caulk when needed.

The voids between the permeable brick pavers can become clogged over time.  Results of professional studies concerning permeable pavers are just starting to come in that show (depending on the site) that it takes approximately 5-6 years to clog the drainage voids of the permeable pavers.  When this happens, you take a shop-vac and sweep out the voids (and yes, you will sweep out the drainage rock, too), but the infill drainage rock is generally inexpensive to replace and this will re-establish the drainage ability of the permeable pavers.

Permeable pavers provide a practical and economical way to eliminate pollutants from waterways while reducing urban water waste.  Permeable pavers are considered a sustainable practice.