Improving the Playground
Poor drainage near playground areas can quickly result in problems for the children who want to play there. Standing water draws mosquitoes, and muddy areas are unsightly and sometimes unsafe.
Setex Construction Company of Beaumont, TX, won the contracts to install sidewalks near the playgrounds in three city parks. The projects’ architect, Don LaBiche of The LaBiche Architectural Group in Beaumont, specified drains (model 3MD3P-G) by Mitered Drain of Windsor, CA, to provide improved drainage.
Improving the Playground Poor drainage near playground areas can quickly result in problems for the children who want to play there. Standing water draws mosquitoes, and muddy areas are unsightly and sometimes unsafe. Setex Construction Company of Beaumont, TX, won the contracts to install sidewalks near the playgrounds in three city parks. The projects’ architect, Don LaBiche of The LaBiche Architectural Group in Beaumont, specified drains (model 3MD3P-G) by Mitered Drain of Windsor, CA, to provide improved drainage. [text_ad] Mitered Drain (patent pending) was developed by a civil engineer to provide an innovative, cost-effective alternative to conventional drop inlets and catch basins. The oval-shaped drains are especially suited for use in hard-to-drain areas where lack of grade difference makes design difficult. A Mitered Drain is flexible. It can be used as an inlet or an outlet and adapts to almost all types of pipe. With a Mitered Drain, water drains directly to the flow line of the pipe. Mitered Drain can be connected directly to the end of the pipe. This capability allows for swales of greater lengths, longer surface flow, and greater biotreatment and groundwater infiltration.
Mitered Drain (patent pending) was developed by a civil engineer to provide an innovative, cost-effective alternative to conventional drop inlets and catch basins. The oval-shaped drains are especially suited for use in hard-to-drain areas where lack of grade difference makes design difficult.
A Mitered Drain is flexible. It can be used as an inlet or an outlet and adapts to almost all types of pipe. With a Mitered Drain, water drains directly to the flow line of the pipe.
Mitered Drain can be connected directly to the end of the pipe. This capability allows for swales of greater lengths, longer surface flow, and greater biotreatment and groundwater infiltration.
In March and April of this year, Setex worked on two city parks in Port Arthur, TX. Lincoln Park, the larger of the two, involved “the renovation of an existing park with a new sidewalk around the playground,” says Nathan Rivers, a project manager with Setex.
“By raising the area for the sidewalk, we created a low area on the side where the play area is,” explains Rivers. “To funnel water outside to the drain and prevent mud holes, we placed a Mitered Drain every 15 feet on both sides of the sidewalk, which was 725 linear feet.”
Over 6 inches of dirt, the crew added 1 foot of selected fill material. Then the sidewalk, 5 inches thick, was put in place. There was about 8 inches between the top of the sidewalk’s surface and the top of the drains.
The Mitered Drains were connected with 3-inch PVC pipe. “We put the PVC pipe under a fall protection [rubber mat] surface,” says Rivers. “The surface was aligned with adjacent concrete, but it’s porous so the PVC liner captures water and drains it on the other side of the sidewalk.”
Rivers says this was the first experience the crew had using the Mitered Drain, “but it was very easy to go in. Mitered Drain’s slope makes it easy to go flush with the sod, and it glued to the PVC pipe easily.” He adds that because the drains are even with the ground, they won’t be damaged by mowers.
Weather could have been a problem. “We had a very wet winter in Port Arthur, and we had lots of rain delays. We completed the job on a Friday. Then we had two and a half inches of rain over a five-hour period, but on Monday everything was dry when the park opened,” says Rivers.
At Port Arthur’s Montrose Park Setex installed the same Mitered Drain every 15 feet on both sides of the new sidewalk around the play area. This sidewalk, also 5 inches thick, measured 1,200 linear feet.
Sextex’s third project with Mitered Drains was at Lions Park in Sabine Pass, TX. The drains were placed in the same manner. The sidewalk around this park’s play area measured 163 linear feet.
