Drainage · Based in Eau Claire
Catch Basin Installation
Setting a new structure where water has nowhere to go, or replacing one that is past rebuilding. Poured, set to grade, and the asphalt keyed against it by the same company.
What a Catch Basin Is
A catch basin is the box under the grate in your lot. Water runs across the surface, drops through the grate into the structure, and leaves through a pipe near the bottom. Below that pipe there is a sump, which is dead space that grit and sand fall into instead of going down the line.
That sump is the reason a catch basin is not just a hole. It is what stops your storm line silting up, and it is why a basin needs cleaning out every few years even when nothing is wrong with it.
The structure itself is usually precast concrete sections or block, with a cast frame at the top carrying the grate, and a concrete collar poured around that frame to tie it into the pavement. Almost every failure you can see from the surface is in that top few inches, which is why most of this work is repair rather than replacement.
The parts
- Grate and the cast frame under it
- Collar tying the frame to the pavement
- Structure the box itself
- Outlet pipe to the storm line
- Sump below the pipe, where grit settles
If the grate sits in a dip and the lot ponds around it, that is usually a collar problem rather than a structure problem. Catch basin repair
When a Lot Needs a New One
The common case is not a broken basin. It is a lot that never had enough of them, or a lot whose drainage changed. Water finds the low point whether or not anybody put a drain there, so if you have an area that ponds after every rain and holds ice all winter, the fix is usually a structure in the low spot rather than more asphalt on top of it.
The second case is a basin that is past rebuilding. When the block below the frame has gone, when the walls are washing out, or when the structure has dropped as a whole rather than just the collar, patching the top is money spent on a season. That gets replaced rather than repaired.
The third is a change in what the lot does. An addition, a new dock, a re-graded entrance or a bigger roof draining onto the pavement all move where the water goes, and the drainage that worked before it will not necessarily work after.
Signs you need one
- Standing water after every rain, in the same place
- Ice sheet in the same corner every winter
- Alligator cracking around a low area
- Water running across the lot rather than into a grate
- Silt and grit fanning out from a low spot
A pond that sits for more than a day is doing structural damage, because water in the base is what takes asphalt apart.
What Usually Comes With It
Setting a structure means opening the pavement, so the surface around it is part of the job.
If the structure is sound and only the top has failed, that is the cheaper job. Catch basin repair
Questions We Get
Do we need a new catch basin or can ours be repaired?
Our lot ponds in one spot but there is no drain there at all. What then?
How deep does a catch basin have to be?
Will the new one match the rest of the lot?
How often should a catch basin be cleaned out?
Send a Photo of Where It Ponds
Take it while the water is still standing if you can. Where the pond sits and how far it spreads is most of what decides whether you need a structure or a regrade.
(715) 450-9897