Early Spring is a good time to get small projects out of the way, especially before temperatures start rising and shift most of the focus to water management. One of the small projects I worked on was raising a low drain on #16 Fwy. I took several photos to show the process.
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| This photo shows the low drain on #16 Fwy. Low drains are problematic for several reasons such as damage to equipment, and it also prevents the turf around the drain from being mowed at the proper height. As you can see in this photo. |
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| Tools for the job, plywood to keep the area around the drain clean, as well as the necessary shovels. |
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| The first step is to remove the sod around the drain. To do this I used a sod shovel. |
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| The pieces are taken out in quarters, and placed turf down in the order of removal. This is done to make the replacement easier. |
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| I used the sod shovel to make sure all the pieces are the same thickness, which helps with leveling around the drain later. |
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| Once the sod is removed the drain can be dug up, and raised/ fixed it necessary. I used two pieces of plywood so I could separate the soil from the pea gravel, I did this because I planned on replacing the soil with sand, |
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| digging up the drain. |
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| After I removed the drain, I placed a towel and shovel over the drain pipe. This ensured no debris would get in the pipe as i cleaned around it. |
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| This is the drain pipe after I cleaned around it. |
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| On this drain we cut a new piece of pipe to level it. |
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| This photo shows Erik cutting the pipe. |
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| Once the pipe is cut to length the drain is re-installed, and then gravel is packed around the pipe. |
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| This shows that the drain is now level. |
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| After I leveled the drain I added sand and packed it. Now it is ready for sod. |
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| After I replaced the sod around the drain, I filled the seams with sand. This keeps them from drying out and also helps with recovery time. |
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| This is what the finished product looks like. |
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| The drain is now level |
