Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - patio drain

I have a 10' X 15' cement patio on the back of my house that has no drain. It is pitched to one corner and what the previous homeowner did was drill holes in the railroad tie wall that surrounds this patio to let water through. However, the water gets quite deep before this happens. Any ideas on how to retrofit a drain. Or is my best bet to smash up the patio a bit and put in a drain/drywell. Any ideas welcome.

JRRR.,

Sounds like a mess on one hand, possible easy fix on the other.

I'm not sure which way this slab is pitched but you would want to pitch it away from the home. Was this slab ever at the right pitch? Is it in good condition? These railroad ties can be a problem if they are holding back water, ever thought about removing them?

If you are OK with this idea, and to make sure that you don't have to worry about this draining the wrong direction, have you ever considered "mud jacking"? Issues first to consider is do you now have the room near the home to have this jacked up let's say 3 inches, if this is the low side?

I have attached a link regarding this and you may be able to find a firm that does this. To literately break up what you now have and repalce is time consuming and costly. This may reduce the costs significately. Again if the slab is in good condition, this would be the best alternative.

http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/raising_sunken_concrete/index.html

Hope this helps!

Thanks Doug for the reply. Fortunately it is pitched correctly away from the house. I thought about removing the ties and putting a drain tile in the ground. Unfortunately this patio is at the sliding door for my walk out basement and the railroad ties are kind of a retaining wall for the rest of the backyard. Removing railroad ties would require lots of grading, etc. I was hoping to maybe put a drain in the ground at the corner that is pitched. Water could flow under the railroad tie into the drain and some pvc could be buried, etc. Sound feasible? I know this would be a temporary fix at best. But I wonder if I could get away with it.

JRRR.,

Your idea sounds feasible yet your first post mentioned that the water gets deep before it gets through the holes in the railroad ties. Are these stacked ties out from the home or are they just above the slab creating the problem?

Since the slab is pitched correctly, then either lower the railroad ties, improve landscaping and/or provide some drain tile as you described. Either way sounds like work and whatever you do, you want it to remove the water!

Good luck and keep us informed!

If I go with a drain tile. Correct me if I am wrong here. Dig a trench around the perimeter approx 24"down, lay gravel/stone, lay soil pipe holes up at a pitch approx 1/4" per foot away from patio. Lay some more gravel then dirt and sod. If this incorrect please enlighten me. Again thanks for the ear.

JRRR.

Excavate a trench deep enough and at a severe enough slope to ensure water will flow away from the areas that need to be drained. Line the trench with the landscape fabric and install a 4 inch perforated pipe with the perforations facing DOWN.
Backfill the pipe with gravel and wrap the fabric around the pipe and gravel to keep soil from filling up the porous spaces between the stones.

This should do it...Good Luck!

Thanks Doug for straightening out my Ups and Downs with the pipe.