Long driveways, wide aprons, and post-war lots — Scarborough drainage is usually a volume problem before it is a plumbing problem.
Scarborough’s post-war housing stock came with long driveways and generous lots. That means more surface area draining toward the house than a downtown lot ever produces, and a drain sized for a small frontage will simply be overwhelmed.
Six on-site steps from the first cut to a flush, water-tight finish. Same sequence on every job — what changes is length, materials, and crew size.
Sixty feet of driveway all draining at the garage. They intercepted it halfway up instead of trying to catch everything at the bottom.
Scarborough is part of the City of Toronto, so Toronto Water rules and the Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy apply here exactly as they do downtown. What is different is the terrain — Highland Creek, the Rouge, and the Bluffs bring TRCA into more jobs than in most of the city.
If we are tying into your existing private storm line, sump discharge, or a dry well, permit scope for the trench drain itself is determined by the City under its by-laws. We confirm what applies before work begins.
Eligible Toronto properties, Scarborough included, can receive support toward backwater valves, sump pumps, and downspout disconnection. Trench drainage that forms part of a wider eligible flood-prevention scope can sometimes be included in a claim. We tell you honestly whether yours qualifies.
Properties near the Bluffs face slope-stability and erosion-hazard regulation on top of the usual rules, and the Highland Creek and Rouge valleys are TRCA regulated. Concentrating discharge toward a bluff face is exactly what erosion policy exists to prevent.
Municipal sewer use by-laws govern what may enter the sanitary sewer, and surface water is restricted under them. We do not install a connection that would conflict with the applicable by-law.
Scarborough is roughly 35 to 55 minutes from our Richmond Hill shop depending on the 401 and the 404. It is part of our regular Toronto rotation rather than an occasional trip.
Site visits run in fixed windows, not four-hour gaps, and the crew that quotes the job is the crew that installs it. Most residential Scarborough installs are one day on site, then 24 to 48 hours of cure before vehicle traffic.
Usually not, if we are tying into existing private drainage on your property. A permit is required for a new connection to the municipal storm sewer or any tie-in affecting the city boulevard, and TRCA review applies near the Bluffs, Highland Creek, or the Rouge. We confirm permit scope on the site visit before quoting.
Because it is catching the runoff from the entire driveway at a single point, and it was probably sized for a frontage a third the length. On long Scarborough driveways the better answer is usually to intercept partway up as well, so no single channel has to carry everything. Sometimes it is the channel width that is wrong; often it is the outlet that cannot take the flow.
Yes — Scarborough is part of the City of Toronto and eligible properties here access the same program. The subsidy covers backwater valves, sump pumps, and downspout disconnection rather than trench drains on their own. Where trench drainage is part of a wider eligible scope, the project as a whole can sometimes qualify.
It is scrutinised more closely, and rightly. The Bluffs are an active erosion hazard, and concentrating storm discharge toward the slope face accelerates exactly the problem the regulation exists to control. TRCA reviews work in that area. In practice the design answer is dispersing discharge inland rather than piping it toward the edge.
Residential installs sit in the $1,800 to $4,500 GTA range. Scarborough jobs move up that range with driveway length, since more run means more saw-cutting, more channel, and more surface to restore. A long double driveway is a materially bigger job than a single garage apron.
It helps with water crossing your property toward your house. It does nothing about a municipal system that is over capacity, and no private drain can fix a street-level problem. If what you are seeing is the road surcharging back toward you, we will say so rather than sell you a drain that cannot win that fight.
Yes — plaza loading areas, service bays, restaurant washdown, and industrial floors across Scarborough’s employment lands. Quoted after a site visit, since load class and discharge routing drive the specification.
Lift the grate and clear the channel twice a year, spring and late autumn. Under mature trees add a clear-out after leaf fall. On a long driveway install this matters more than usual, because a silted channel loses capacity fastest where it was already working hardest.
Free site visit across the GTA. We'll tell you what you actually need — no upsell.
