# Arena help needed!



## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

Hiya welcome to the forum. Plenty people with DIY arenas will be along. 

Advice is advice - you can choose to take it or leave it. These threads, while are obviously hoping to help the original poster, help a lot of other people who view it (like me). Learning about adequate drainage might help someone else, we learn together and FROM each other.


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

If you have a retaining wall, it needs gravel behind it(about 6” thick) so that it drains, and the soil has a way to expand (wet) and contract (dry) without pushing on the wall.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Pictures would help as well so we have a better idea of what it looks like now. I don't have an arena that blows out but do deal with fast moving water across an easement which at times over the last 20 years has meant no access in or out. We have had to be creative as well.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

It sounds to me OP, that you are asking how to best manage drainage, and you're prepared to pull out that whole corner to redo it. But then you say "And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not tell me I need to put in this drainage system or that, this is what I have to work with." so I'm lost as to what exactly you're asking for? Are you wanting to ONLY use bricks somehow, for drainage, only want suggestions on how you can use bricks, or...?


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## SiAmPaBu (Feb 10, 2014)

This was my question:
"Which FINALLY brings me to the thoughts I'm having - would it be better to remove, or perhaps lift up onto brick the entire west side? Would allowing the water to leave without having to find spots to blow out perhaps save it and slow erosion? I note the sand doesn't move much even in a flood, but the water rushing through it erodes the next layer, which is why I'm thinking it might work... or do you think it would just carry out all the sand with it?"
The part about no, please don't suggest drainage is because I'd already said I don't have the funds to redo any of this, I never said I was going to rebuild the corner, THIS is what I said: "It's daylight, but not enough to need to redo it, which I can't afford anyway." 
I said the above were my only two options. Continue to let the water out the drainage areas I'd concreted over already.... or lift or remove the RR ties to allow the entire back of the arena to drain.
This is why I put so much detail, and yet... here we still are.


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## txgirl (Jul 9, 2010)

Could you share some photos?


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

SiAmPaBu said:


> I hope this is the right area, but my hopes for somebody who actually knows the answer are rather small as it's a rather unusual problem I'm having.* But here goes!
> I have a lovely outdoor arena that I had built on my property.* The only place it could go was on a slight hill.* It ended up with a cut out on the east of about 5 feet and a build up on the west of about - you guessed it! - 5 feet.* I had base rock put in and rolled down and then sand on top.* I had RR ties as borders and built up an electric tape fence (no, it's not hooked to electric, just explaining that it's the wide tape instead of boards).* All this was done on a budget and the only reason I could afford the base FINALLY was a truck accident that gave me $20 less than the bid to do the work, but though encompassing both doors, was only aesthetic so did not need to be fixed.* So I look at my dented truck and think, that's my arena, and I SO love having my own good arena rideable almost all the time.
> So the problem... first I noticed that points on the west side (build up) were blowing out with heavy rain.* I put in a concrete blockage on the east side and I made some concrete drains at the spots where it blew out.* It has worked very well for a few years.* This last spring we had massive rains, floods, etc.* It broke through the east side (which has since been heavily reworked) and took out the south west corner.* It's daylight, but not enough to need to redo it, which I can't afford anyway.* So I concreted that to form a drainage spot and filled with rocks to help lessen erosion.
> Which FINALLY brings me to the thoughts I'm having - would it be better to remove, or perhaps lift up onto brick the entire west side?* Would allowing the water to leave with out having to find spots to blow out perhaps save it and slow erosion?* I note the sand doesn't move much even in a flood, but the water rushing through it erodes the next layer, which is why I'm thinking it might work... or do you think it would just carry out all the sand with it?


Seeing photos would really help understand exactly what's happening. 



So it sounds like the water is running THROUGH the arena to "wash out" the build up side? I'm a little confused exactly what is happening without seeing pictures. 





SiAmPaBu said:


> And PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not tell me I need to put in this drainage system or that, this is what I have to work with.* Ingenuity and work. And please again, if you feel it's your way or the highway and want to tell me it's a lost cause please don't. No offense, but really, people, if that's all you have to say sometimes it's OK to just move on and not reply. TIA...



I'm not sure why you are so defensive? But ultimately, if I am understanding you correctly, you do need to find a way to redirect the water to flow around or out of the arena, and not through the west side. You can alter the base or the design but if you don't alter the water flow, well, it's just going to keep flowing and creating problems. Whether or not you need some sort of drainage system, or whether it's a matter of doing dirt work outside the arena to alter the water flow path.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

SiAmPaBu said:


> would it be better to remove, or perhaps lift up onto brick the entire west side?


Rewriting what you wrote didn't help I'm afraid - it was what you wrote I did not understand. The above, to me, sounds like you were prepared to remove & redo 'the entire west side'. So, if you're not prepared to do that, I still don't understand what you're asking.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Pictures, again, would really help. 



Sand moves and moves quickly and in large quantity in the right conditions. I literally move tons of it every single time it rains so that my driveway is just that a driveway and not a sand pit. 



Perhaps protecting the arena by diverting the water would partially improve the situation. Water either moves straight down or out. If your surface is not level it moves to the lowest point before draining. Your west side? If that is the case trenching, filling with gravel or pipe (french drain) would divert it around. You would need to pay careful attention or you would now have erosion down the two other sides.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

If your base is stable and water is draining through the layers of the arena with out destabilizing and your issue is erosion at the drain point only then the answer will be different than if your arena is eroding.


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