Frequently asked questions

Polymer concrete is heavier, denser, and dimensionally stable under load — it's the standard for commercial and high-traffic residential. HDPE is lighter, easier to handle on tight retrofits, and cheaper. For a typical GTA driveway either works; for a loading bay or wash bay, polymer concrete is the right answer. We talk about this in detail on the materials page.

Ductile iron with a quality coating, hands down. Plain steel rusts in two to three Ontario winters because of road salt. Galvanized lasts longer but the coating eventually fails at the slot edges. Stainless 304 is overkill for residential and adds cost. Stainless 316 is for pool decks and food-service. For a driveway: ductile iron, Class B or C.

Class B (125 kN) handles a fully-loaded passenger vehicle. Class C (250 kN) handles a delivery truck or RV. Most GTA homeowners are fine with Class B. If you have an RV, a heavy 4x4, contractor trucks parking on the apron, or a pickup with a loaded trailer crossing the drain — go Class C. The cost difference is small relative to the consequence of a failed grate.

Heelsafe means no slot in the grate is wide enough for a high-heel or a small dog's paw to drop into — typically no slot wider than 8 mm in any direction. It's required for commercial pedestrian areas in Ontario. For a residential driveway it's optional, but worth specifying if you have kids on bikes or anyone in heels using the path regularly.

Once a year for a residential driveway — typically late fall after leaf drop. Twice a year for commercial parking, food-service, and any drain that handles wash-down. We charge $180–$280 for a residential clean, including jetting and grate scrub. Skipping cleaning is the single most common reason a drain stops working.

Yes. We saw-cut the channel line, break out the concrete to depth, set the channel to slope, tie into your existing drainage, and pour back. A retrofit costs about 20–30% more than installing the drain at the same time as a new pour. Plan on one day on site and 24–48 hours of cure time before vehicle traffic.

1% to 2% along the run, draining toward the outlet. Some channel systems are pre-sloped (the channel itself steps down internally) and some are flat-bottomed (we set the slope by varying excavation depth). Both work. The thing that matters is that water actually moves to the outlet — we level-check every job before we pour.

Yes for one day during the install, plus 24–48 hours for the concrete to cure. Plan to park on the street for two days. If that's not workable we can sometimes split the install — cut and rough-set day one, finish concrete day two — but it adds cost and we don't recommend it unless there's no alternative.

Because the price depends on what we're cutting into, where the water has to tie in, and what the surface restoration looks like. The same 12-foot drain priced from a phone description has come in 40% above and 30% below the right number on jobs we've quoted. A site visit is free; the wrong quote isn't.

The number on the quote is the number you pay. The only thing that can change it is a discovery during excavation we couldn't see from the surface — for example, an old buried slab, a tree root we didn't know about, or a tie-in line that's collapsed. If we hit something, we stop, show you the photo, give you a written cost to handle it, and you decide. We don't bury surprise charges in an invoice.

Two-year written workmanship warranty on the install — covers slope, tie-in integrity, channel seating, and surface restoration. The channel and grate manufacturer warranties pass through to you (typically 25 years on polymer concrete, 10 years on HDPE). We come back at first heavy rain to inspect. If something we built isn't draining right, we fix it — no charge, no argument.

Yes, often. We sub to GCs on new builds and coordinate with landscapers on hardscape projects. The handoff that works best: we set the drain to a finished-grade target the landscaper gives us, they finish around it, we come back if anything moves during their work. We invoice you direct or the GC, whichever your contract is structured around.

Yes, plain steel rusts fast in GTA winter conditions — usually two to three seasons before it's visibly degraded. Galvanized is better but the coating wears at the slot edges where vehicles roll over it. Ductile iron with a thermoplastic or epoxy coating is the right spec for any driveway that gets salt. Don't let a contractor talk you into plain mild steel for a winter-exposed grate.

If the channel is bedded properly — compacted gravel base, concrete haunch on both sides, sleeve at the outlet — it doesn't move. If it was set in dirt or weak gravel, the freeze-thaw cycle will lift sections and crack the surface concrete around it. Most of the failed drains we replace failed because of bedding shortcuts, not the channel itself.

Usually no. Tying into private drainage you already own — sump discharge, existing storm leader, daylight discharge — is a homeowner-permitted scope in most GTA municipalities. Tying into the municipal storm sewer requires a permit and inspector sign-off, which we handle. We never tie a surface drain into the sanitary sewer — that's against code everywhere in the GTA.

Yes — Master Plumber Licence #T95-5349719, Plumbing Contractor #T94-5214638, fully insured (general liability + WSIB), and operating in the GTA since 1991 under MT Drains & Plumbing Ltd. We can provide a current Certificate of Insurance and WSIB clearance on request before any commercial job.