How to strengthen the ditch in the country

24-08-2018

Useful

To drain excess water from the dacha or backyard, it is necessary to create a drainage system. With its help, you can protect the area from waterlogging and buildings from destruction. One of the components of such a system are ditches. They may have different sizes (depth, width and length), but in any case, their walls must be strengthened. Otherwise, the water will turn the ditches into real ravines, which will reduce the effective area of the site. How to strengthen the ditch in the country? This is what the article will be about.

Ways to strengthen

Drainage systems have existed for a long time and people have learned how to strengthen their walls. There are several ways to do this. They can be divided into two types:

using scrap materials and plants;
with the use of structures and devices made in the factory.

The walls of the ditch with the help of available tools strengthened with slate, car tires, stones, as well as with the help of planting. This method is suitable for small-sized ditches or at a small angle of slope.

Various biomats, gabions, geogrids, and geogrids are used at a slope angle of more than 8–15 degrees. Also, such devices are used in the arrangement of large width ditches.

Each method of strengthening has its pros and cons. This will be discussed later.

Improvised means

One of the easiest and most readily available ways to strengthen the walls of the drainage ditch is the use of slate. You can also use the material that was in use. The main thing is that there are no large holes and cracks.

Slate technology is fairly simple. Sheets (whole or cut, depending on the size of the ditch) are laid on the slopes of the ditch tightly to each other. This can be done both vertically and with a slight bias. Then from two sides of the sheets, in staggered order, pieces of reinforcement or thin pipes are driven in.

This method has both its advantages and disadvantages. The first include the following:

low financial costs, and if used materials are used, then you can do without investments;
ease of installation. All work can be done by one person.

The disadvantages of this design in its fragility. The appearance of the plot itself may also suffer.

More aesthetically pleasing is the strengthening of slopes with the help of old car tires. In addition, this method allows you to make a structure that will last much longer than the slate version (up to several decades).

Here you can resort to two methods, depending on the available space. One implies stacking tires at the edges of a ditch. Inside the ground is filled up, but better sand or gravel. For greater reliability, you can drive metal pipes.

If the area allows, it is better to lay the tires with offset. Each top row fits up to half the bottom. The result is a kind of ladder. Inside the ground poured and you can land the plants. Thus, it turns out a beautiful slope.

If the ditch is small and the angle of the slope is less than 8 degrees, then its walls can be strengthened with plants. Along the edges of planted small bushes or perennial grasses. Their roots will reliably strengthen the walls and prevent the water from washing them out and turning the ditch into a large ravine.

Special devices

For more reliable and durable strengthening of the walls of the drainage ditch, you can use special designs and accessories. These include:

geo-and biomats;
geonet;
geogrids;
габионы.

Geomats and biomats are made in the form of a polymer sponge. With the help of high temperature, several nets of polymers are soldered. Such a structure is impermeable to water, but at the same time allows the germination of plants.

For the installation of such structures it is necessary to perform the following work:

The slope is being prepared. All rubbish is removed from its surface and leveling is performed. Then it is desirable to compact the surface. This is especially important if the area is sandy soil.
The material is delivered in rolls, so the installation starts from the top. The geomat (or biomat) is placed on the top of the slope, the edge is fixed;
Then the roll is rolled to the base of the ditch and the excess is cut off.
The next row fits in the same way and overlapped with already laid. Tolerance can be up to 15 cm.
Now the entire surface is covered with a small layer of soil and perennial grass seeds are added (if there is a need or desire).

Another type of material for strengthening the slopes of ditches is a geogrid. It is a network of polymeric material with a polyester base. The geogrid is cut into desired pieces and is laid on a previously prepared slope (the surface must be cleaned, even and compacted using a hand roller). Grids are laid close to each other and fastened with anchor brackets.

From above the grid can be filled with a layer of soil and plant the plants. For these purposes, such herbs as mint, periwinkle and mshanka are well suited. These herbs with their roots will securely hold the coating in place.

Geogrids and gabions

More powerful structures to strengthen not only the slopes, but also the bottom of the ditch are geogrids. They are made of polypropylene and polyethylene. Such products are not afraid of corrosion, they are quite durable and able to serve for many decades.

Before installing them it is necessary that the drainage ditch is dry. You also need to prepare anchor fasteners, hammer, small gravel.

After draining the ditch, all debris (large branches, stones, etc.) and large vegetation are removed from the surface. In this case, small grass can be left in place. Then the geogrid is spread. This must be done over the entire area of the channel, it is desirable to immediately cut off the extra pieces.

For a long service geogrid it must be properly and securely fastened. This is done with anchor brackets or hooks. They can be purchased together with the grille or make their own hands from reinforcing rods with a diameter of 15 mm and a length of 50 to 110 cm. The fasteners are placed in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of at least 30 cm from each other.

The next step will be backfilling of the geogrid. Sand can be placed at the bottom of the ditch (if it will rarely be filled with water) or rubble (if drains are constantly flowing in the ditch). On the slopes it is better to use the soil sown with grass. So the grille will be more securely held in place.

A more expensive, but also more reliable, way to strengthen the slopes of the drainage ditch is to install gabions. In addition, such designs and will look more aesthetically pleasing and respectable.

Gabion is a factory product, made in the form of a parallelepiped (box). The material used is a metal wire double torsion. In such "boxes" put large stones or pebbles.

In the manufacture of gabions using not simple wire. It has a polymer coating. Such protection extends the service life of the product to 70 years. In this case, the product is not afraid of aggressive environmental exposure and can withstand heavy loads.

Before installing the gabion, you must prepare the slope. Since the product is of considerable size, excess soil is removed. Gabion is placed in its place and filled with large stones or rubble. For greater reliability, you can fasten a netting net from above, it is desirable to choose it also with a coating of polymers. To improve the decorative view of the top of the grid, you can place stones or pebbles.

If you have the skills of welding and the necessary equipment, you can try to make a gabion with your own hands. For this fit pieces of reinforcement. They are welded together, making the grid. For long life, all parts can be coated with an anti-corrosion compound.

When strengthening the slopes of drainage ditches do not forget about the foundation. Here you can use sand or crushed stone, depending on the frequency of filling with water. If the ditch is small and is located in a prominent place, then the bottom, lined with natural stones, will look beautiful. Especially beautiful effect is obtained in combination with gabions.

Video

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