It doesn't rain very often here in Camarillo, but when it does, we like to have the water out of the way. Here are a few of the water-drainage-related updates we've made to the house.
I occasionally do handyman work along with other physical products. If you'd like to commission a custom build, I can help you with that.
The back patio drain was always clogging up and flooding the patio. We thought at first that it was simply a bad drain, but noticed that the grate would collect debris and clog. It was also cracked in a few places, and tended to "bite" the kids feet when they stood on it. Not that they should be standing on the grate in the first place, but something clearly had to be done. I had already made a custom drain cover for my parents' shower drains, and I'm always eager to do some 3D print modeling!
Drain Beset. Still works when neglected. This is after about six months of neglect during the rainy season. The debris collects to the side of the grate, instead of over the top and in the middle, so it clogs much less readily. I'm also happy with the patina which has developed from weathering. Still looks nice, and stands out even less than before.
A closeup of the brand new drain grate. Printed in Bronzed Steel by Shapeways, and oh-so-pretty.
Installed new Grate. You can see how the seams in the patio line up precicely as designed.
New Custom Drain Weight. I was curious if my new sturdier design would weigh more than the old flimsy one. Not that the patio drain is going to the moon, but mass is one of the criteria of quality for an engineer, so I'm always interested to gauge how well I did. The new grate weighs in at 114.4g
Old Broken Drain Weight. Even with a few pieces missing, the old grate weighs more at 135.6g Likely because it was solid bronze, but also possibly due to the beefy ring around the outside which does almost nothing.
Drain Grate 3D model.
Drain Grate Underside. I used some pretty tricky procedural techniques to generate all this super clean geometry.
The side yard had a bunch of flooding too. On top of that, the roots from the nearby tree were pushing up the patio slab. We took on both problems at once, and dug out a drainage pit and cut the problematic roots. The metal grate was sitting around somewhere, so I put it to use here.
Pit Grate Closed
Pit Grate Closed
Pit Grate Closed
Pit Grate Underworld. The kids periodically drop stuff through the grate, which means we need to open it up and clean it out occasionally.
Pit Grate Open. You can see the two huge roots here which were causing the problem.
Pit Grate Open
Pit Root Board. This keeps the hole from collapsing in. Normally a board in contact with the ground like this would rot in short order, but it's so dry in Camarillo that it's not a major problem.
Pit Detritus
Pit Corruption
Pit Grate Spider
Pit Grate Surface Joint. I was careful to, instead of straightening the grate, cut the cover to fit the dented bar.
