Trench drain grates are a key part of your drainage system. Whether you are picking gratings for your home drainage or you need drainage for a brewery or factory location, the grates that you select are important. You will find that trench grates come in many shapes and sizes and can alter the amount of water that flows through your drainage system.
There are various applications for trench drains. Choosing the right gratings for these unique locations is important for the longevity of your drainage system and the protection of your property from water damage. When you are selecting drainage solutions for your home, a business property, or a common area, you need to keep function, form, and safety in mind. The right drainage grates will combine all three of these factors with ease.
What Are Trench Drain Grates?
Trench drain grates are also called drain tops, channel grates, or trench screens, but they all perform the same duty of protecting the drainage channels underneath them. They also help prevent flooding, clogs in your drains, and safety problems. Trench drain grates are essentially the “tops” of your trench drains.
Trench drain grates protect the trench drain from being filled up by dirt and debris, and they also make it safe to walk or drive over the drainage that you have installed at your home or business. Trench drain grates can be made of many kinds of materials and can be designed in many unique ways. You can select from standard gratings from most manufacturers, or you can opt to have custom gratings made to fit specific needs.
The material that you select for your grating will impact its longevity and can also help improve the safety of your property. Even if you are looking for grates for your home pool area or patio, you will have lots of material and grating design choices available to you. Being able to pick from a variety of different grating styles is essential so that you can be sure that you get the right one.
Why Do You Need The Right Trench Drain Grates?
Trench drain grates have a lot to do with the performance of your trench drains. Without the right protection for the main body of the drain, you cannot count on the lifespan of the drain or its effectiveness when it comes to keeping standing water at bay.
Grates keep flooding from being a problem and are designed in a variety of styles to handle specific amounts of expected water flow or runoff. You will always need to know the maximum potential amount of water runoff that will impact an area before you select the trench drain grates that you are placing on your drainage system. Grates should always be chosen to match the maximum possible amount of water runoff so that flooding and ponding don’t take place.
Areas where sudden flash flooding or large volumes of water are common will need to select drain grates that can handle this kind of challenge without being swept away or without being overwhelmed. A drainage installation expert can help guide your choice when it comes to this kind of specific need so that you don’t have to deal with ponding water, damaged trench drains, or other kinds of safety issues.
Trench drain grates also make sure that people don’t slip and fall in your drainage and that wheeled traffic can pass over the drains with ease. In areas where cars have to pass over trench drains, reinforced trench drains and grates are the best decision. In spaces where carts or other smaller wheeled items need to be able to travel over the grating, semi-solid or slotted drain grates can be a great choice. When thinking about areas where people will be walking all the time, ADA-approved and heel-safe grates are usually the right choice.
The gratings that you select will directly impact the use of the areas where trench drains are installed, which is why you need to be sure that you are selecting drainage products based on safety as well as overall water flow and appearance. Many people think about appearance first, which can lead to issues with the longevity of their drainage system. Having practical considerations in mind at the same time is important even when looking at drainage for home use.
Trench drain grates also preserve infrastructure. Flooding can undermine roadways and walkways and can damage your foundation. Trench drains with the right grates can also ensure that you don’t have standing water in your basement or in the lower areas of your property. Standing water can do an incredible amount of damage to structures and surfaces and can also expose visitors and family to health risks like black mold.
Applications for Trench Drain Grates
These are the most common applications for trench drain gratings. Nearly anywhere that you have installed drainage, you will need a trench drain grate that will protect it. Trench drains of most types cannot be protected without a trench drain grate.
Manufacturing
This is one of the most common places where trench drain grates are needed to keep drainage safe and functional year-round. Breweries, food manufacturing businesses, and places where assembly lines are in use all require quality trench drain grates for their drainage both inside and outside the building. Being able to tackle water runoff from daily work processes as well as cleaning and sanitizing is key.
In these locations, safety is paramount, as is the durability of the gratings that are chosen. These businesses will often select drainage that is made from galvanized metal or aluminum due to the chance of exposure to harsh chemical matter on a daily basis. Metal products can often withstand the challenging environment at a place of business much better than other materials.
Manufacturing locations often also have to comply with safety regulations, which means that ADA/Heel-proof grate styles are preferred. In these locations, there is often the need for gratings to be attached in such a way that they will not loosen or lift during daily operations. There are various ways that gratings can be secured that will not prevent drains from being accessed for cleaning and other functions.
When choosing manufacturing drainage solutions, safety, functionality, and durability all need to be taken into consideration. If even one of these cornerstone items is missing, your drainage could fail or might lead to accidents that could have been avoided. Businesses that don’t want to be shut down due to health and safety violations need to take their drainage and drainage grates very seriously.
Commercial Spaces
Shopping malls and commercial outlets of various kinds need to have safe drainage that deals with standing water reliably. Standing water near shops or businesses will discourage patrons, so having the right drainage in place is essential for the success of the business. Learn more about where to add a trench drain system to your business here.
These spaces also need to think about safety for patrons who are visiting the location, which means that ADA-approved and heel-safe gratings are often a good option. Standing water, or runoff that is flowing through a commercial space can lead to significant safety risks that should be avoided at all costs.
There are lots of ways to customize gratings to be visually interesting as well. Added decorations can make drainage blend into the surroundings of your commercial space, which can be important for the beauty of shopping areas or commercial outlets. Being able to disguise your drainage grates as part of the overall aesthetic of your business location is often ideal.
Businesses like Dura Trench can even mark custom-forged metal gratings for these kinds of locations to make the drainage a stylish and attractive addition to any space. Many commercial spaces are vastly improved by adding custom drainage grates of this type. You will almost always be able to install practical gratings in places like the parking lot, but you might want to invest in custom drainage options in areas where customers will be circulating and shopping.
Residential Applications
Many people don’t think about the amount of drainage that needs to be installed around their home to help prevent standing water and damage to the foundation of a home. There are often various kinds of drains installed all around a residential property, and some of them are guaranteed to be trench drains. Areas where a high volume of water is expected will need to be protected by trench drains, and the gratings that you place on top of these high-volume drainage solutions are key for the safety and longevity of your home and yard.
In addition, water features that are near your home need to have the right drainage installed by them to keep the foundation of your home safe from water damage. If you have a swimming pool or a fountain, you can choose to invest in the kinds of drainage that have been mentioned for other locations in this guide. You can also get custom drainage that will beautify these spaces while also keeping them safe and protected from standing water.
It is not a bad idea to think about safety for those walking over and around the drainage that you have on your property as well. You might not need to pick ADA-approved drainage solutions, but you should be wary of using drainage grates that will catch feet or slip out of place without being secured, even at your house. Pool areas and patios come to mind right away, but there are other areas around your property that could prove to be unsafe if you do not have the right trench drain grates in place.
The trench drains that you install at your home perform many functions, from keeping standing water at bay to protecting the foundation to keeping your yard usable and pleasant to be in all year long. Investing in the right trench drain grates can go a long way toward ensuring all of these functions at your home.
Public Spaces
Public areas will often be exposed to foot traffic, as well as wheeled traffic. Parks, patios, fountains, and common areas all need drainage to be sure that standing water doesn’t lead to safety or health concerns for those trying to enjoy these spaces. Water runoff can render common areas dangerous or unpleasant to spend time in.
Public spaces need the right drainage to protect plantings, walkways, and structures near them as well. There are many reasons that drainage is important in public spaces, from safety to appearance, to the longevity of the area, and opting to forgo placing these drains due to their damage to the aesthetics of the space is not an option. That is why decorative drainage is so often used in these areas.
ADA-approved grates are often the best choice in these spaces, or drain grates, which are largely solid on top. This ensures that the area can be enjoyed by people of all shapes and sizes safely and without the risk of injury or slips and falls. Safety and beauty can go hand-in-hand when you pick the right drainage solutions for these kinds of areas.
Choosing the Right Drain Grates Matters
When you are considering which trench drain grates you want to invest in, you will need to keep in mind that each kind of location where trench drains can be useful requires different drain grates. Always think about the maximum water volume that you will need your trench drains to handle and the kinds of traffic that will be passing over them each day. Safety and functionality both need to be kept in mind when it comes to the grates that you select.
Having the right trench drain grates in place for your drainage system can have a huge impact on its longevity and performance. Dura Trench can help you to get the right trench drain grates for your specific location and purpose. We have years of experience helping customers to create the drainage solutions that they need for their unique location and annual weather.
