Digging a drainage swale on the edge of a driveway

Using a 1993 Ford 1520 tractor to dig a drainage swale on the side of a driveway to correct a drainage issue.

[@innergoof19]

I really like how you speed up the video during redundant work stages and also how you return during a rain to show the system working. When you return, you remind us not only to design working systems, but also that returning to check on completed work shows a customer that you care about their investment in you!

[@bbqpitboybillyricker-pitma9415]

That’s good old-fashioned after-care!

[@wetdixiebellelingerie3014]

Andrew Camarata has just asphalted the inlet of the culvert after digging the drainage swale with a 1993 Ford 1520 tractor with a front-end loader attachment, keeping the water from jumping across the culvert.

[@ikay2102]

Follow up after work completion is the key for customers repeating business. My Respect man.

[@YZ.bryceFN]

It Ivan Kondaurov

[@Rob...]

sat afternoon drinking some beers watching andrew work! love it!

[@augustreil]

@@redimixofmd , Same here !!

[@yuccaken]

Working in the garage. Made my day ! Kicked my feet up in the old garage lazy boy and ice tea in hand !

[@swamprat69er]

I am not the least bit afraid of work. I can lay right down beside it and go to sleep! Keep it up Andrew.

[@flat6fever680]

@@redimixofmd Same. Central PA

[@G-Man-kc2nm]

Some Jack and Andrew on a rainy day.....life is good...Thanks for another .....I did miss the drone....

[@grantwilson911]

Just about every single one of your videos brings back vivid memories of my grandpa and the things we did together while I was growing up and running our small business. My grandpa was a little cheaper than you but we did just about anything and everything just like you. Thank you for sharing your life with all of us out here just trying to make a living.

[@silentepsilon888]

Andrew, that is the cool thing about so many of your videos, you not only show us how to fix a problem, but you do a follow-up even in the rain to show us that your solution actually worked. That is why your videos are so great!

[@michael7423]

Great skill shaping and smoothing that drive, Its always a joy to watch you do your magic. I agree that grate was most of the problem. I missed the inspector but I'm sure Levi would approve, Thanks again Andrew!

[@activeal]

Great job - I'm sure the home owner is happy. It was neat the way you used that black top patch to stabilize the area in front of the culvert. I always learn something when I watch your videos. So thanks for sharing.

[@slawkowegrzyn2115]

You don't need a laser beam. You got that built in your eyes Really like the great videos. You always show your work. And if your work does work out. THANKS AGAIN.

[@squish15]

I like how you do the follow ups later to show what you have done is working.

[@bluesman7703]

All so for the record , the little blue grading tractor Andrew is on is hardest tractor to run out of all of them . With that Gannon on the back , look out now !!! Andrew will leave your average operator in the shade , hats off Andy , you make it look easy bro ! From So. Cal. USA

[@Eclipse4g06]

Very informative video. This is great for homeowners wanting to explore different options and not break the bank with the high end solutions.

[@fynbo1007]

Great job, thank you for sharing your story. God bless you and your family

[@gabesmith654]

You could also put a 6" minus rip-rap check dam in front of cold patch to help filter debris before entering the pipe

[@jayrad100]

Andrew, I really like what you're doing here with your videos buddy, keep it up mate, I really enjoy watching your work and the way you do things.

[@mikenonameneeded2073]

Andrew, I bought one these Tampers from Lowe's. One of the reviews on the web site said: "I gave that dirt a good pounding with this. At first I thought it would be too big, but that dirt didn't stand a chance once I really started pounding it. I should have brought a second one along because my wife just stood there and watched me pound away. Very funny!

[@tedwpx123]

good job, that cold patch stuff was a winner!

[@keithlester9152]

Dude, you are an artist and your equipment is your brush.

[@Steamerchoo]

Just got my new little tractor, thanks for showing me how to do this with the standard bucket!😀I have drainage issues!! Need swales!!!

[@tebeardenkahboom1]

You know what Andrew I'm a small business owner myself and you do what I tend to do from time to time and that's go back and check up on your customers. That's good business ethics and if I was a homeowner I would recommend you. 90% of my work comes from referrals I don't necessarily always have to go back and check up on my work because once it's done it's done. But occasionally there are times. So just wanted to say kudos to you and thanks for sharing your videos I enjoy your intelligence!

[@rullawncaresiteservicesga.6650]

i go back on a lot of my properties. just to see and learn what i can do better moving foward.

[@cmc7106]

Nice job Andrew , you always get the job done!! I think it’s great you don’t need the latest and greatest new equipment with big monthly payments!! Keep the videos coming!!

[@regsparkes6507]

Looks like a good fix to an annoying problem for sure. Well done, Andrew!

[@n3qdz]

I just found your channel about a couple days ago and love it! I know your father must be very proud of your accomplishments ethics and hard work! One thing I use to keep the cold patch together is after 2 months I coat it with driveway sealer. I've found in the winter the frost turns it to chunks. Love to channel love the dogs love the hard work! Time to get more jet skis! Thanks man keep it up!

[@eliteearthworksllc]

Nice work as always! It will definitely drain off better and shouldn’t rut out the drive! Keep up the great work

[@aaronburford5701]

I like the Box Blade usage, the simple grading of the ground...

[@CranialAccess]

Uploaded 33 minutes ago 1500 views! Been waiting patiently for another video. Amazing skills with any machine! A true artist with the earth.......

[@beauxtx1959]

I would LOVE to see a video on how to set up a box blade for leveling ground, Andrew. Love your videos!! I go through withdrawls when you don't post.

[@fwflyer78]

Good job Andrew! This goes to show that if you have the know how you can do a lot with a tractor and a box blade. You don't always need heavy equipment to do a job.

[@papag1001]

Love All the Video's, Quick Explanation's & Right to Work, Very Talented in All Fields!

[@zestoslife]

Like it how you go back and check the work to make sure it is doing what it should. That is great service.

[@arlingtonguy54]

I need to work on my driveway. This has given me some good ideas about how to approach it.

[@harrykeel8557]

Great job, especially leaving the grate off at the pipe. Now the water can't jump over and mess up the lower part of the driveway again.

[@davidbailey5006]

I’ve us d asphalt patch to repair potholes but now you’ve given me another way to use the product.easier than concrete too

[@dennisfahlstrom7033]

Andrew, I have a drainage culvert along the edge of my property and found that sometimes leaves and other debris like branch pieces would plug up my culvert and using a few wheel barrows of coarse rock (1-3” diam.) works well to keep excess leaves and other junk out of the 8” pipe. It’s worked well now for 8 years. I hope it works for you too.

[@michaelfunaro9150]

Good work given what you've got. If this doesn't hold up, I would suggest doing the ditch in 3" riprap close to the pipe. The pipe also looks undersized...should see if you can sneak in a 12"+ diameter pipe. Amount of runoff is only going to increase with the upper portion being blacktopped.

[@michaelfunaro9150]

The grate is far more trouble than it's worth.

[@davecalvo6418]

There's a reason why culvert pipes don't have grates on them, they just catch everything and clog up.I would throw some grass seed on top of the dirt where the pipe starts just to keep it all in place and prevent it from eroding.I like the cold patch Andrew, that was a good idea for sure.

[@johnm.evangelis693]

Great job my friend Andrew!!!

[@davids.3724]

John M. Evangelis I see u in almost all his videos

[@georgeadams5390]

@@davids.3724 ok

[@houndsmanone4563]

Nice job, Andrew. Enjoy learning different techniques from your videos. Nice editing and video footage. Full watch. 👍

[@canvids1]

Thanks for your great video as always so very interesting how you fix problems.

[@daveknowshow]

nice job those grates can be a double edge sword good for keeping large limbs out that will create a clog inside the pipe where you cant get to it but like you said also gets clogged with leaves fairly quick. bottom line is like you mentioned you have to keep an eye on these drainage pipes. its an ongoing maintenance detail keeping them clear.

[@utoobube]

Try digging a hole about a foot deep at either end of the pipe. That will help keep it from getting stopped up. Armor it with some rip rap (or stones like you stacked on top) and it should be maintenance free for years to come. ...I was taught that by an old timer and it has worked well for me for years.

[@dannyadams9278]

Nice job again Andew the little Ford tractor worked well for that job

[@iamrichrocker]

your subs have grown quite fast Andrew..and i suspect it will continue to do so...quality videos..and great work ethic are sure winners..good job..

[@zacharyjones2982]

I've been waiting for you to post a video I've done watched everything on your Channel at least two or three times so a new video is always great I wish you could post more often but I will take whatever I can get nice work keep up the good work

[@joebarrett9830]

Good job, just a couple of suggestions. It isn't recommended to have hydro's fully extended and use bucket of loader to scrape or drag. Makes it easier to bend them. You have a box blade, you can extend one side down so it hits the ground sooner than the other. Make a few runs along the drive and it will make a smooth swale for the water to flow down and once seeded it can be mowed with a riding mower. Bottom of the swale could be a foot lower than the ground level and the width would handle down pours since it would be about 8 feet wide to ground level. Just some thoughts. Great job though, love watching your channel and a couple others to learn more, makes my jobs easier and look great too.

[@aaronburford5701]

Rewatched again, best in the business!😊

[@Kevin-is-here]

That ford is an awesome driveway tool

[@tcsmith4838]

You are right about that grate, it is way to small!! that littel green grate is ment for a small patio drain with a 12 inch box trap and a 2 or 3 inch drain accepting and carrying away the rain water, not a 8 or 10 culvert, that culvert can handle 20 times the amount of water that that size grate can. plus a grate doesnt do any good if there is no trap or pit underneath it. the purpos of a grate is to keep someone from steping, or falling in a hole. What you did looks like it will work perfectly!! I dont think the leaves will clog a drain that size. just my humble plumber opinion. love the channel man, keep up the good work!

[@mademad2]

I really like that you showed it in the rain. Angles are hard to see in pictures.

[@winstonviceroy6125]

Excellent video. Thanks AC. Very nice work on this job.

[@rogerthat5945]

You can tell it's a well used trailer when the ramps are bent.

[@augustreil]

That's custom !!

[@johndowe7003]

you should see mine haha, paid 300$ for it and it was in good shape, now it looks like a overstuffed taco. side railing are bent out, fenders are bent to shiit. jacks broken and some other stuff xD

[@rullawncaresiteservicesga.6650]

i love the ramps not being so rigid

[@JBFromOZ]

more fantastic footage as always, i've always understood a swale to be a water harvesting feature on contour, any drainage would occur at the overflow, but would not normally "drain". terminology aside, what you have produced will work very well I am sure.

[@glg3945]

Nice Job as always!! :) Peace and good fortune to you! Love your videos!

[@manny53o]

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been out and had to deal with a flooding issue because a home owner thought they were helping but putting a grate over the inlet of their driveway culvert. We have a saying that a good rain and it will flush and it holds true as long as there isn’t anything blocking the pipe.

[@atsekjoker]

"allright i'm on this job here today ..." a coffee, andrew on youtube, ... nice start of a day =D

[@broncoclement2407]

Good work Andrew

[@willw7545]

looks good! water will eventually eat that cold patch away because of how loose it is though.

[@egolliher6933]

Love your videos as always keep doing what you doing

[@RogerPilkey]

“I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.” ― Jerome K. Jerome

[@Wingnut_Stickman]

I think it was Steve Martin who said "Never trust a man with two first (a surname which is actually a given name) names." Wonder if that applied to humourists from the 19th century?

[@dirtshower250]

I wish our 1920 was hydro! That would make a world difference for small jobs

[@mountainviews5025]

Good job Andrew I really appreciate your stile and work ethics keep it up my FRIEND and be careful

[@HilltownCT]

Drainage on a slope is always an issue. Nice job.

[@tdebat]

Need a water break to slow the speed of the water coming down the hill...

[@TheNonMakeupGuru]

That wont actually work and if anything just have it move faster..

[@GreatNW]

I have always herd that those ford traactors are really good and in my area if one is uo for sale its not up long. Also sometimes those culverts do get pluged if enough rock and sticks get it there but all it takes is a high pressure pump and it dosnt happen offten if you have a big enough pipe.

[@rodneystewart8958]

I have a 20 year old 1920 tractor like his with over 3000 hours a great tractor

[@dirtysalmonchaser]

another great video!! keep them coming- 👍 thumbs up 👍

[@1beastlydudefixbreakrepeat]

that qpr stuff is great! I use it to fix potholes in my parking lot all the time

[@cruisinthru3916]

Wow. Andrews closing in on 100k subscribers. Hard work paying off.

[@Plons0Nard]

And now 639k (July 2020)

[@tonygriffiths2485]

I just found another one I hadn't ticked, don't remember it, doesn't mean much mind, but another lovely one. Great work guy thanks :)

[@esquad5406]

The cold pack works well. If you heat it up with the weed burner and then tamp it works a lot better. Don't forget to keep the tamper oiled so the hot stuff won't stick to it.

[@JerryDLTN]

I miss "OK, we're done here. Let's go to the next job" at the end of the video.

[@justwelditchannel6960]

Love the videos

[@donmotz5528]

Seems to be working alright Andrew....... :)

[@aaronburford5701]

Love the video and listening to you work? 3 am ets

[@bruceblais7958]

Great job Andrew, your right about the grates they stink and cause more damage what no drone shot keep them coming. Peace

[@ottocarr3688]

One way to catch the leaves but to keep the water flowing is to build a “trash rack” upstream of the culvert pipe. As the leaves pack against the rack, water flows over them without circumventing the drain pipe. Otto

[@rabiit1973306]

love the way your work keep going.wish you all the best

[@samuelbacon1596]

Hey. Love the. Job. As I can see it's get Colder to work out side. That's a great tractor for what your doing. Why not finded a used cab for that machine. Be a great. VIDEO OF YOU PUTTING THE CAB ON THE TRACTOR. YOU HAVE DONE JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER THING UNDER THE SUN.You should look for cab for that tractor. Or build some thing. Got all the tools and the shop Look what you did with the jet ski. My hat off to you. YOU HAVE GOTTEN ME ALL FIRED UP. ABOUT WORKING ON THINGS. JUST DROP IN MY FIRST DISTRIBUTOR IN A 1980 Ford. What a royal 👑 pain in the ass. That was small pin in the bottom of the motor where the distributor rides was broken, laying to one side I got the distributor in and the trucks riding great. Keep up the great work. Take care JUNKMANDO

[@juanez8]

These videos are the best

[@craigrasnic4178]

I’m a new subscriber I just recently found your channel and now I can’t quit watching. Awesome job buddy. Is there a support group set up yet for the people like myself that can’t stop watching. I haven’t been to bed before 1 AM all week

[@bashisobsolete.pythonismyn6321]

1. silt traps -- gravel-bags along the gully, turned at 45 degrees. 2. leaf trap -- a cylindrical roll of chicken wire inserted in the tube.

[@ka0tp]

17 minutes online and 417 views already? I think this channel is popular.. ;)

[@michael7423]

Its the best channel I've found, Andrew is an amazing and laid back guy from what I've seen

[@innergoof19]

Tom Popp - KA0TP not sure why, but his voice is relaxing to listen to. Love the videos! Learning a lot about equipment operation and dirt!

[@ScottPC]

michael what other channels are there like this?

[@jmgredgreen4x428]

Good job! Also your tractor looks really nice! I have a 1996 New Holland 2120 and it is a great tractor.

[@UTubeGlennAR]

>^. .^< At a Boy Mr. C, my thoughts Exactly............ Was thinking thou, when first installing a drain pipe, wonder if you/me took a chain saw and cut a 60 degree angle on the inlet end would be a good idea. This should give the up hill end of pipe more surface area of open pipe to help gobble and swallow leaves easyer/better MAYBE..... Kind of tapering the opening of teh pipe up slope so it is a bigger hole at the up hill end???????.... Just a idea that I never tried it on my 16 acres of gently sloping terrain...........

[@SlackerU]

In my limited drainage experience it takes two of those twelve inch steel grates to get full flow to a six inch pipe & not get too leaf clogged. The flow on those plastic grates is just not enough.

[@micah_lee]

Yeah, culverts aren’t supposed to have grates like that on them. They are engineered to handle certain flow and to handle leaf litter. When streets have them it is because they have to, and then they have slits in the curb to allow flooding to pass over the drain if it gets clogged (newer ones)

[@Lanninglongarmmowing]

It's amazing what can be accomplished with a box blade.

[@jamesnm21]

Right? I need to get me one of those.

[@yuccaken]

I think a elongated dome type heavier steel grate would do the job ? I've seen those in action, the leaves will gather around the side but allowing the water to flow thru the upper part of the metal dome. I hope the leaves will go on thru ? I wonder if they will gather up on the egress point? Anyway, nice job ! You are pretty handy with a rake and damper thingy ! Thanks for sharingthe Nice video. Will you have time for a Halloween video ? I would love to see you launch some large pumpkins off the roof ofthe castle bouncing them off the trampoline !!! Cheers !!

[@leol1682]

Job wel done Andrew .

[@erwinbrubacker7488]

Have fun playing, Scraper blade does wonders.

[@aaronburford5701]

Great content! Great video.... great channel!

[@50Acres]

The culvert placement is less than ideal and slightly undersized. The water has no time to slow down to allow any debris to disperse before smashing into the culvert. Just takes 1 stick to start a clog. It was smart to leave the grate off.

[@BarnStangz]

I sort of think the same thing, for water movement, bigger is always better. I think it this customer keeps having an issue that can always rip everything out and put something much bigger in. Nice to see you on this channel 50 Acres & a Cabin!

[@50Acres]

@BarnStangz I'm always over here, it's my favorite channel, I just don't comment much!

[@johnkennedy5655]

A second culvert near where the paving area runs off cut down the volume of water coming down the hill nice house and nice job

[@PinchTune]

Thanks for the link to this. I see what you mean. I'll keep mine open then.

[@rubioatl7883]

Yes sr great job i was tinking why he s using this tractor to do this one and then i remember u bobcat was down 👍

[@____________________________.x]

Road stone first, then tarmac, that's eventually just going to wash away or break up with frost heave (in a worst case scenario).

[@williammalenfant4864]

Andy, you could use a small grader for these jobs. Keep your eye out for one!👍. Good job but would probably be a bit faster don't you think?

[@claymack1109]

Thats the first time i have ever seen asphalt in a bag

[@bfd1565]

Nice job Andrew !!!

[@ohhpaul7364]

Have you gotten any good drone shots of the leaves changing colors this fall? Down here where I am it stayed to warm and wet for the leaves to change colors, now they are just falling off the trees still green. Oh and nice job, I liked that music at 8:00, it went well with busy work, try playing it at 1.25 speed.

[@AndrewCamarata]

Next video has some. Tonight.

[@pedrotapia68]

Andrew have you considered getting a tilt tacht attachment for your skidsteer it makes grading "V" grades some much easier and faster

[@kartafla]

Professional man! Loving it.

[@WAVETUBE84]

Andrew can dig! Yeah, brought out Levi!