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Catch Basin Repair in Stillwater

Catch Basin Repair in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Catch basin repair and rebuild for commercial lots in Stillwater. Cut back, rebuilt, the frame reset to grade and the asphalt tied back in.

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4.7 from 21 Google reviews

About an hour and a half west of Eau Claire on I-94 and north on Highway 36. The estimate is free.

A freshly poured square concrete collar finished flush around a storm drain grate in a striped commercial parking lot.
4.7 Google ratingFrom 21 reviews
1-3 days Typical basinDepending on depth
7 days Sinkhole, start to doneA customer's words, not ours

Working in Stillwater

Stillwater has held MS4 permit coverage since 2007, and because the city drains to the St. Croix, an Outstanding Resource Value Water, it filed a restricted waters assessment; part of the city also sits inside the Brown's Creek Watershed District. That makes the structures in a lot part of a system the city has to report on. The tell on a failed one is the asphalt breaking up in a ring around the grate rather than anything wrong with the grate. Rebuilt means the structure reset to grade, a new collar and the asphalt saw-cut back and keyed in at the right pitch.

From our jobs

Job Photos

Inside a failed catch basin, the collar rusted and the mortar washed out
A failed basin, opened up before the rebuild
Looking down into a catch basin where the mortar has washed out and water stands in the bottom
Mortar washed out, water standing in the structure
A close view of a catch basin edge where the concrete has broken away and undermined the surface around the grate
The edge broken out and the surface undermined
Inside a catch basin, the pipe penetration re-mortared and sealed where it enters the structure
The pipe joint re-mortared inside the structure
A freshly poured square concrete collar around a round storm grate in a striped parking lot
The collar poured back and the grate set to grade
A poured concrete pad around a drain grate at the foot of two loading dock doors, caution tape across the approach
A drain pad poured at a loading dock

All job photos

How a catch basin fails

A catch basin is a buried box with a cast frame and grate sitting on top of it. Water is supposed to go through the grate and out the pipe. What happens over twenty Wisconsin winters is that water gets into the joint between the frame and the structure, freezes, and lifts. Once that joint opens, every rainfall washes a little of the bedding out from under the surrounding asphalt, and the ring of failure spreads outward from the grate a few inches a year. That's why the symptom you notice is never the drain itself. It's the asphalt around it, and by then the structure underneath has usually been moving for years.

A mismatched concrete patch poured around a storm grate in a cracked school parking lot, marked with a red no symbol

Patching around it

What gets done when the budget is tight

  • Cold patch thrown in the dip, gone by spring
  • Sealer over the low spot, which changes the color and nothing else
  • An overlay that follows the same failing grade back down
  • The hole reappears, slightly wider, every year
A full concrete pad poured around a storm grate set flush to grade in a driveway, coned off, marked with a green check

Rebuilding it

What actually stops it

  • Saw-cut back to sound asphalt, structure exposed
  • Failed structure replaced, frame reset to the right grade
  • New concrete collar poured around the frame
  • Asphalt tied back in at the right pitch so water reaches the grate

The grade is the part people skip. A basin reset an inch high is a basin that never drains again, and the lot ponds somewhere new.

Reset, rebuild, or replace?

What the symptom usually means

What you can see without lifting the grate, and what it usually turns out to be.

  • A shallow dip around the grate, asphalt still soundUsually a reset. The least expensive fix on this list, and the one that gets left too long.
  • Asphalt broken in a ring around it, water ponds after rainThe common case. Partial rebuild, collar, tie in. One to two days.
  • You can see the structure crumbling through the grateDepends how far down it goes. This is the one that needs looking at, not quoting blind.
  • The grate rocks or has dropped below the surface by an inch or moreOften a full rebuild of the upper structure. Sometimes the frame alone. We'll say which.
  • Water backs up out of it, or drains away far slower than it used toThat's usually the pipe connection, not the box. It needs opening up, and no surface repair touches it.
  • A void you can see into, or the ground has dropped beside itMaterial is being washed away underneath. Call it in sooner rather than later; this is the one that turns into a sinkhole and a claim.

Send a photo with the grate visible and we can usually narrow it to two of the three.

What Decides the Price in Stillwater

It depends almost entirely on what is found once the grate is off, which is why the assessment is free. All three of these cost less than the repaving that follows if the basin is left alone.

Reset

Frame and grate only

Measured on site

  • Structure is sound, the frame has settled or lifted
  • Saw cut, reset to grade, new collar, asphalt tie-in

Partial rebuild

Top courses replaced

Measured on site

  • The common one. The top of the structure has deteriorated
  • Rebuild the top of the structure, reset, collar, tie-in

Full replacement

Structure down to the pipe

Measured on site

  • Structure has failed or the pipe connection has gone
  • Deeper excavation, longer, and the only real fix at that point

What moves it: depth, whether the pipe connection is sound, how much asphalt has to come out around it, and whether the lot has to stay open while we work. Multiple basins on one visit come down per basin, because the trip is already paid for.

How the Work Goes in Stillwater

Excavation, structure repair, concrete and the asphalt tie-in, in the order they happen.

Look at it with the grate off

Most of what's wrong is invisible from above. We lift the grate, look at the structure and the pipe, and tell you which of the three bands you're in.

Saw cut back to sound asphalt

Clean vertical edges, cut wide enough to reach material that hasn't been undermined. Cutting too tight is why repairs fail at their own seam.

Rebuild and set to grade

Failed courses replaced, frame set so the grate sits slightly below the finished surface. Water has to run to it, which means it can't sit level and definitely can't sit proud.

Concrete collar

Poured around the frame to spread the load off the structure and onto the subgrade. This is the part that stops it happening again in five years.

Asphalt back in, compacted, sealed at the joint

Paved tight to the cut, compacted in lifts, and the perimeter joint sealed. Then the grade gets checked with water, not by eye.

Booking the last of the sealcoating season now · Call (715) 450-9897

Questions We Get in Stillwater

What Stillwater calls us about, answered straight.

More questions answered
How far is it from Eau Claire, and do you come this far for a lot?
About 74 miles and an hour and a half: I-94 west, then north on Highway 36. For commercial lots we come out. Send the address and what the lot needs and we'll set up a time to walk it. The estimate is free.
Does county work have to go out as a formal bid?
Yes, and it comes back in that form. You get a written scope with the quantities measured and a fixed number, which is what a county board or a facilities committee needs in front of it.
Our lot is downtown and drains toward the river. Does that change anything?
It changes who is watching. Stillwater has held MS4 permit coverage since 2007, and because the city drains to the St. Croix, which the state classifies as an Outstanding Resource Value Water, it filed a restricted waters assessment. Tell us what the city or the watershed district has asked for and the scope gets written to it.
How much does catch basin repair cost?
It depends on which of the three jobs it turns out to be, and that cannot be known until the grate comes off: a reset, a partial rebuild, or a full replacement. A reset is the cheapest by a wide margin and a replacement is the most expensive. All three cost less than the repaving that follows if the basin is left alone. The assessment is free and the number is fixed before work starts.
How long does a catch basin repair take, and does the lot have to close?
A basin repair is a small excavation in one corner of the lot, not a resurfacing project. How long the repair takes depends on what we find under the casting, and we tell you before we start.
Can you just patch the asphalt around the catch basin instead?
We can, and sometimes that's the right call if the structure is sound and the budget isn't there this year. But if the structure below has gone, patching buys one season. Which of the two you have is visible once the grate is off.
Do you subcontract the excavation or the concrete?
The excavation, the structure repair, the collar and the asphalt tie-in are sequenced and priced together, so you are not holding three quotes and hoping the dates line up.
The area around our drain is breaking up. Is that the basin?
Almost always, yes. Catch basins fail outward from the frame joint, so the asphalt around them starts to go before anything looks wrong with the drain. If the broken area is roughly a ring centered on the grate, that's the signature.
Do you do manhole and utility structure work too?
Yes. A manhole in a parking lot fails the same way and gets the same treatment: cut back, reset to grade, collar, tie in.

The Lots and Surfaces in Stillwater

Stillwater is the Washington County seat, on the St. Croix River, about 19,000 people and roughly 74 miles from Eau Claire: I-94 west and then north on Highway 36. Highways 36, 95 and 96 all run through it. The old downtown is down on the river and the newer commercial ground is out west along 36.

The county holds the biggest institutional ground in town. The Washington County Government Center on 62nd Street North is the main campus for county government, and the courthouse carries community corrections and the Tenth Judicial District courts. Lakeview Hospital is on Churchill Street West and City Hall is on 4th Street North.

The retail is on Highway 36. Stillwater Marketplace on Market Drive runs 13.6 acres and about 100,922 square feet of retail anchored by Cub Foods and Target, built in phases between 1996 and 2000, and Valley Ridge Center on 36 is another 82,289 square feet on 8.32 acres. West Stillwater has a business park area along Curve Crest Boulevard and Tower Drive, zoned business park office with Highway 36 access. Downtown is a parking question more than a retail corridor: the city runs a paid ramp of 248 spaces a block west of Main Street plus roughly 760 surface spaces, most of them along the river.

Where we work in Stillwater

  • Curve Crest Boulevard
  • Tower Drive
  • Market Drive
  • The Highway 36 corridor
  • Downtown Main Street

Around Stillwater: The Stillwater Lift Bridge, Lowell Park on the riverfront, The Washington County Government Center on 62nd Street North, Lakeview Hospital on Churchill Street West, The Warden's House Museum.

19,386 people, 2024 Census estimate.

The ground around here is sandy glacial outwash, excessively drained, sand and sandy loam textures. MnDOT has wanted 30 to 36 inches of frost-free material under asphalt since 1995, and it rates silt as the worst soil there is for frost heave.

Get a Free Estimate in Stillwater

Tell us what it looks like and we'll come measure it. You get a written price before anything starts.

(715) 450-9897
  • Free on commercial lots and properties in Stillwater
  • A photo of the problem helps, and it can go in the message
  • Surfaces that are not ready yet get told so at the estimate

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