Is This A Good Way To Divert Rain H2O From Foundation?

[Jack]

A portion of the driveway slopes and allows a lot of runoff toward a dirt plot/flower garden that abuts the house. The plan was to have an extruded asphalt curb at the edge of said driveway portion, to allow water to channel its way down the curb to the steeper driveway slope away from house.

However, no paving contractor wants to touch the job because it's too small and we don't know the first thing about using a curbing machine. Nor have we ever worked with rebars and "forms."

Lowe's sells concrete blocks 4x8x16". Suppose we were to line up these blocks in the dirt at the point where the driveway contacts the dirt, and then slathered either asphalt (sakrete?) or cement against the concrete blocks, higher than the existing blacktop but of course lower than the top of the 8" blocks. Wouldn't the blocks serve as a wall for a "poor man's" curb, or do you foresee problems? Thanks, Diane.

[mark]

Depends on the weather where you live. Here, I don't think it would last through one freeze-thaw cycle.

[DanG]

Let's get a few terms clarified.

Asphalt is black with stones in it. There are packaged asphalt repair products available.

Sakcrete, Quickcrete, packaged cement mixes are grey with stones in it.

Rebar is used with concrete. Rebar is not used with asphalt.

What is your driveway made of?

Packaged asphalt is difficult to stack up as a curb, it is very prone to leveling itself. It is surprisingly good at bonding to existing surfaces. I don't think it would work well for what you are trying to do.

Concrete needs forms. Its survival and looks are very dependent on depth and execution. Concrete is not good at bonding to existing surfaces. It is labor intensive.

The regular stretcher blocks will not work as you describe. You could buy bond beam blocks - these are the same blocks, but the webs are cut down 1/2 way to break out. This would allow you to install long #5 rebar through the tops of all the blocks. You will need to trap the bottom of the blocks against your driveway edge or pin them to the driveway with short rebar pins. You could then pour sakcrete to completely fill the blocks trapping the rebar for strength. For a slightly more decorative top, you could glue down a patio block cap.

The project can also be done with "garden wall" blocks. Check here:

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[Kyle Boatright]

How long is the desired curb? Unless it is pretty long, you could simply drill a hole every foot or so at the edge of driveway, and drive short pieces of rebar into those holes, leaving an inch or two sticking up. This will anchor your poured in place curb. Put up a form at the front and back, then pour the curb. A bit of work, but nothing difficult. Should be an easy weekend project with the exception of hauling around those bags of concrete mix.