Catch basin and drainage repair in Ottawa

Water that cannot leave a lot does not sit quietly. It works its way into the asphalt, reaches the base, and comes back the following winter through every crack and joint it can find. Drainage repair is where a lot either keeps working or starts a cycle of patching that never ends.

What is included

The work starts with the basin itself. A frame that has settled below the pavement is lifted back to the elevation the surface needs. A broken or spalled concrete apron is removed and rebuilt, because a broken apron lets water run under the asphalt instead of into the drain.

The pavement around the basin is then restored, with the fall adjusted so water arrives at the grate from the drive aisle and the stall rows rather than pooling a metre away. Where the surrounding asphalt has settled into a depression, that area is repaired as part of the same scope.

• Sunken basin frames and covers reset to elevation
• Broken or spalled concrete aprons removed and rebuilt
• Pavement restored around the basin to the correct fall
• Localized low spots corrected where water stands
• Grates checked and the basin left clear at handover

How the work is planned

Drainage repairs are localized, which makes them easier to fit into an occupied lot. The area around the basin is barricaded while the apron is rebuilt and the asphalt restored, and the rest of the lot stays in use. Where the basin sits in a main drive lane, the work is scheduled after hours or early in the morning.

If several basins have failed in the same way, that is a sign the problem is the lot grade rather than the basins themselves. In that case the scope is planned around the fall of the lot, not around each basin as a separate repair.

Ottawa freeze-thaw at the basin

The basin edge is one of the hardest points in a lot. Concrete and asphalt meet there, water collects there, and plow blades pass over it all winter. Freeze-thaw works at the joint, and once the apron breaks, water goes under the surrounding pavement and the asphalt settles around the frame.

That is why a basin repair that only replaces the asphalt around a sunken frame does not last. The apron and the elevation have to be corrected with it.

What the scope does not cover

Our work is on the property side: the basin structure and cover, the apron, the lead within the lot, and the pavement around it. Anything beyond the property line, including the municipal main and the connection to it, is the municipality's responsibility. Where the lot drainage problem clearly sits beyond that line, we will say so.

When to schedule

Drainage repairs need a dry surface and temperatures above freezing, which makes the warmer months the practical window. Late winter and early spring are the best time to identify the problem, because standing water and settled basins are easiest to see after a thaw.

If a lot is going to be resurfaced or paved, the drainage work belongs in that scope. Bringing a basin up to a new surface height later is a second, smaller job that could have been part of the first.