Barn Drainage

[Joel Casssell]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

 

[flying belgian]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

Clean the manure out down to the cement floor. I'm sure they got the right slope when they poured the floor back in the day.

 

[Janicholson]

If there is no concrete where that area collects water, dig down along the left wall to the bottom of the foundation, a trench 5 feet longer than the water pool. Then dig under the foundation at the center of the pool, and under to the lower ground to the left. Place two 4 inch slotted plastic drain tubes in the trench one from each direction leading to and going under the foundation to the outside. (they parallel each other at the foundation through). Fill the trench with pea gravel to the existing grade so it can drain. Jim

 

[GermantownGreen]

Here's a thought, that thing might be a deep, as we call it here.
The water has gone through the soil profile then got to the hardpan and ran on top of that hardpan across horizontal into your lean too.

Just my opinion. GG Wes

 

[Joel Casssell]

Thanks for the replies. There is no concrete under the lean to. I agree it may be groundwater coming up as stated above. It does seem to need that plastic drain tile, hope there is no issue holding up.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I would if not cement to deal with at one end run a tile along the wall to it from one end or the other. I would suspect a footing and the wal going below frost line for that set of beams holding the roof up. Or dig a drain groove out to an end then fill with stone or gravel so the water has an exit. In out pole barn we just filled till it would run out over the top with dirt from a big hill we wanted dug off some anyway. I would also bet that it has been wallered out by loading out manure with a loader over the years.

 

[waugh621]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

You could run a tile up to that wet spot and cover in gravel to make a french drain however if cattle are in this area you will want about 6 inches of more of dirt over top of the gravel to keep them from pawing. The other thing i would try first is just finding some good clay fill and leveling the floor as stated above there is probably fall in the floor. Nice barn by the way.
Nate

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

"Gutters and grading." Look at the terrain around the barn, maybe get a drainage expert in, to see if anything can be done to divert the water before it has a chance to run into the barn.

Possibly have a swale cut in uphill of the barn so any water running down will hit the swale and run off. When they added on to our dairy barn the extension was built in a ditch. I guess when we moved here the water in the new part of the barn was pretty bad. They hired a bulldozer to put in a swale above the barn, which pretty much eliminated the water in the barn.

 

[showcrop]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

In my opinion your best solution depends on how old you are and how long you plan to be there. While I generally agree with and use underground drainage, I am leery of using it where my usage will cause it to have a short life. In other words you will have a lot of organic material there which will tend to fill up your stone and stop the water from percolating through. I can't see from the pics how your ground around the building lies but it appears to me that you need to adjust the surface of your ground to keep the water from running in. Something like a gentle swale running under the front wheels of the pick-up and away from the building towards the camera. Quick and cheap too!

 

[Geo-TH,In]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

No easy fix. Many times I've had to remove a lot of dirt to make rain water run away from buildings. I had to remove a hill on the north side of my new pole barn. I used a disk to break up the sod. Then

a front loader, Pushed the dirt to a low spot.

 

[DRussell]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

It's hard to tell from your pictures, but if the water pooling you reference is what is in the one picture, then it seems like your problem is how the lean to attaches to the barn. Looks to me like it is leaking and running down the barn roof inside the leanto.

 

[560Dennis]

Every issue I had with a building was due to not having a plan to deal with water drainage. First thing to consider when building a building.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

In my opinion your best solution depends on how old you are and how long you plan to be there. While I generally agree with and use underground drainage, I am leery of using it where my usage will cause it to have a short life. In other words you will have a lot of organic material there which will tend to fill up your stone and stop the water from percolating through. I can't see from the pics how your ground around the building lies but it appears to me that you need to adjust the surface of your ground to keep the water from running in. Something like a gentle swale running under the front wheels of the pick-up and away from the building towards the camera. Quick and cheap too!

If by that you mean running a tile into the leanto where the water is pooling to drain it, I agree. Bad, bordering on dumb, idea.

You want to head the water off before it gets anywhere near the building.

 

[showcrop]

If by that you mean running a tile into the leanto where the water is pooling to drain it, I agree. Bad, bordering on dumb, idea.

You want to head the water off before it gets anywhere near the building.

My suggestion is to keep the water from getting into the building by directing it away with a swale.

 

[ss55]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

If the water issue is a new development, I would look for a leaking waterline. Lots of other possibilities have been mentioned.

From the first picture, overall there appears to be plenty of slope for good drainage. Walking the area during a rain or heavy snow melt might reveal some unexpected water flow paths that cause the ponding.

 

[Joel Casssell]

Thanks everyone. I think that the issue has been there for a while. A guy who rented the place said it was frequently a wet spot.

 

[showcrop]

No easy fix. Many times I've had to remove a lot of dirt to make rain water run away from buildings. I had to remove a hill on the north side of my new pole barn. I used a disk to break up the sod. ThenView attachment 5825View attachment 5826View attachment 5827View attachment 5827 a front loader, Pushed the dirt to a low spot.

I am pretty sure that the way it is usually done is to bring the ground to a good level with respect to the surrounding terrain before starting construction rather than moving a lot of dirt afterwards. I have hauled hundreds of loads of material to construction projects and that is how it has always been done.

 

[paul]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

Tile around near or in a barn that can hold livestock can become a thorny issue with the authorities. You are possibly directing livestock juices into ground water, and many areas are watching that closely. It has become a similar issue to septic systems, which is really what it ends up being. I would think twice about using tile or French drain type of thing!

It appears you are concerned about a pool of water that is forming inside your lean to in a depression in the middle of the alley/ lean to.

Clearing out the loose manure and dirt from the whole alley way, and filling in the depressed area with clay or other solid pack material, getting it all stomped down compacted would be the easiest long term answer. Create a slight crown to let any water flow out of the building.

If the water is seeping in and up from ground water, running a tile around the outside of your barn through a grassy part of land to cut off the underground flow would be easier and much easier to get ok-ed by the authorities. But filling in and putting a slight crown inside your lean to would be the first step anyhow. See if it needs more help than that.

 

[TerryfromSWIowa]

Hello,

Need some advice. I bought a piece of property last year and have been working to address some issues. I had some work done to fix the barn foundation, and think its in pretty good shape. My next issue is I have to deal with water pooling behind the barn in the cattle loafing shed. You can see it in the photo below. I added gutters to the barn and had the downspouts routed far away, and fixed ome small leaks in the shed. Water is still pooling behind the barn. It has been bit of a wet winter but not extreme. I am wondering what is needed to fix this, installing a french drain or some other ideas? Thanks for any input.

The dark spot up on the roof looks like a leak to me. Have you been there while it is raining.

 

[Joel Casssell]

The dark spot up on the roof looks like a leak to me. Have you been there while it is raining.

Yes sir thats correct, there was a leak there. I put new tin up there which fixed the roof leaks. There are still water issues after rains with the roof fixed