Driveways Wishaw

S&D provide a full driveway supply and installation service to customers in Wishaw.

Drainage solutions for driveways

Water is something some customers have seen a lot of in recent months and years! Across the country, there have been stories and incidences of localised flooding as a result of a deluge of rain. This short, sharp burst of massive volumes of rain water have meant in some cases that the drainage systems have been unable to cope with the result being flooding. Although it can subside quickly, the damage that rainwater can cause is immense.

You wouldn’t think that driveways at Wishaw properties could play any part in preventing such flooding from happening but, with clever design and construction, as well as a great choice in materials, your driveway could play its part in preventing such things happening.

The 4 factors in effective drainage

No Wishaw homeowner wants to invest time and money in a driveway only to find that a deluge of rain means water in the basement, or flooding in the home; neither do they want their driveway to become a quagmire of mud and potholes after rain or snow.

Hence, to prevent this happening, you need to work with 4 essential design factors for effective drainage of Wishaw driveways:

i. Placement and slope – even though we talk of driveways being flat, you will notice in the correctly designed ones that there is a slight slope to it. Gently angled to aid rain water run-off, some driveways can have a slight raised middle section, with a slope that encourages rainwater away from the property

ii. Drains – many driveways in Wishaw also have drains incorporated in to their design and again, these can be valuable aids in helping move water quickly and effectively away from a property. Some of these drains will be inset into the driveway but others will be hidden deeper within the construction. There are pros and cons to using both.

iii. Swales – this is not a word that many people commonly use but, you will be familiar with the concept. Some properties will have a driveway that is situated between a rise of land on either side. Water, as we know, always flows downwards and in this kind of situation, the collection of water needs to be swift and effective. In this case, depression or swales can be incorporated into each side of the driveway design; this represents a ‘green’ solution in that the rainwater is then encouraged to filter through the water table underground, as it normally would.

iv. Permeable material – since 2009, new driveways in Wishaw and beyond have to meet a certain amount of regulations and rules regarding drainage. Rainwater must be able to filter through the driveway and not run off into the sewers and one way of combatting this is to choose permeable driveway material. Advances in technology and manufacturing now mean that all kinds of different materials are available that are permeable and eco-friendly.

Have you considered the drainage solutions for your driveway? Contact S&D to discuss your requirements.