Questions and Answers for Amerimax Home Products 12 in. x 38 in. Black Vinyl Channel Guard

A:  This would be a perfect application. Make sure you open the top bead to overlap with each section. This would need to be like laying "roofing shingles" so water stays on top of the Channel Guard. Start at the lowest point and work your way up hill.

A:  It should work for a drainage system, but the correct answer is always it depends. You said under your fence? There is a 2" edge. It is a great product. Buy one piece and see if it will work for what you need it to do. If so get more, if not look for another item.

A:  I am not sure if this is what you need to direct the water. It would be very difficult to say without seeing what the issue is. If you do use this product you will need to weigh it down with something like stones.

A:  38” L x 12” W x 2.5” Is the ground under the fenced sloped towards your front yard? If it isn't the water will just sit on the channel guard and eventually overflow over the sides. If it is sloped it will definitely channel the water if you overlap them as the manufacturer instructs. You can't just butt the ends up to each other. You need to slide a little bit of one into the one next to it. However I strongly encourage you to put it along your side of the fence, instead of under the fence. It would be a heck of a lot easier to do it that way. Notice it has a 2.5" lip. Once you fill the channel with gravel, you wouldn't see the black plastic, just the little lip. You would want to dig a little 2" gully along the length of your fence for it to sit in so the water would end up inside the channel. I would suggest just trying one piece and see if water flows into it in the way that you want. If you really wanted to put this under the fence, you will have to deal with the 2.5" high lip on the channel. You would need to be able to slip the lip under the fence. Is there a gap large enough to do that? Also we found these were difficult to connect to each other, but you must do that - that is really important for it to work. If you just butt them up to each other they won't work properly. I am not sure how you could connect them to each other if they were once you had one under the fence. (They do not slip together easily - you would have to have a person on either side of the fence pulling it on to get it to overlap.) Unfortunately if you overlapped them all to each other and then tried to slide the whole length under the fence, I think they would come apart. Also the fence posts would be in the middle of the channel so you would have to cut around the posts. I guess it really depends how tall of a gap you have under the fence. Personally I think it would be a frustrating nightmare to put them under an existing fence. We have this product along our house to keep water from splashing up onto our siding, and it works great. It was not so easy to assemble though! Hope this information helps you.

A:  Yes. It will have to be anchored by some means. It is heavy molded rubber.

A:  Yes, a lot of people have put stones in theirs from what I've seen. I don't see why it wouldn't work under a fence. I have mine in the garden to channel water out and I put ceramic tiles along the sides with stone pebbles down the center. It's 11" wide, so I'd make sure to put the stones on both sides of the fence so it doesn't shift, unless you want to just have it on one side, make sure it stays full.

A:  Yes. I use them under my fence to control water flow and they work. They work well with stone.

A:  Yes - we used ours to hold gravel next to our house and it works perfectly for this.

A:  That is one of the uses for the product.

A:  As far as ground cover or a barrier for wood against ground contact, yes. However, they need to have a slope for water runoff to reduce chances of wood rot.

A:  Mine is 11" wide.

A:  It is 11” wide and 2-1/2” deep

A:  12" wide by 38" long (overlap 2")

A:  38in

A:  If you can picture using this as a "recessed" splash block for the drainage application Channel Guard works better if there is support for the sides. The same is true if used for under fence edging or as a mow strip around a building foundation (the building foundation supports one side automatically).

A:  I am not fully understanding your question. This product is designed to hold the rock for drainage of your downspout water. The sides will spread with the weight of the rock if there is nothing to support them.

A:  Not necessary. You can bury them up to the top of the side if you want. But, you can simply set them on the ground and backfill around the sides with dirt, sand, mulch, or whatever you want.

A:  Yes I would

A:  The sides create a channel to contain the water for your runoff. If you bury them, the item will not work as designed.

A:  I drilled some holes in the bottom for some drainage I do not like standing water. Also, check the grade of the ground where you are placing the channel guard, if you want the "water" to flow. I used a pair of tin snips and took off the outer edge of the top loop, so the end would slide easily to connect the two pieces. That and some Duct Tape. Hope this helps.

A:  Put a rock under the top to create an incline...

A:  You need enough slope to encourage the water to flow "downstream" or away from the water source, and I have mine filled with gravel, to allow the water to flow more freely than if the channel were filled with dirt. It might also help if the water drained from the far end of the channel into a drainage well, so larger volumes of water don't back up.

A:  Hi. If you have a slight grade in your soil, it will naturally flow down and away from the house. If you don't, I would recommend building it up underneath a little with stones or soil because otherwise rain will go toward the house. There is nothing to stop it. I've had mine for a few years and is still doing a good job, no rips, etc.

A:  Have to pitch the guard downward so the water flows out of opposite end.

A:  Yes, this will work nicely. I installed mine under a chain link fence.

A:  Yes. It was designed for that purpose

A:  Yes, this channel guard can be used to prevent the growth of grass.

A:  Yes it will work. I suggest putting some type of rock, etc. to hold it into place.

A:  Yes! If you look at some of the photos on the reviews that is exactly what it is designed for. You can install Channel Guard after the fence is finished or after the posts are set and before the panels installed if you are doing the entire project yourself.

A:  I trimmed and cut away 3 inches or so of just(!) the two rounded tops of one end of each section so that it could more easily slide into the the uncut end of the next section. (The two cutoff pieces are about 3 by 1/2 inches in size) Trimming the ends allowed the inner bottoms to lay flat when the sections were overlapped. If it peaks up too much - just trim a little more from the rounded ends area. I actually connected 5 1/2 Channel Guards together and they are fine - now. I also bolted them together at the inner bottom with stainless steel to keep them together and flat which may have been “over kill”. I caulked the sections and bolts and I even inserted 1/4 inch rods into each top rounded edge to make them look more straight. I also cut and folded up and caulked the first guard to act as a cap so that water only flowed in one direction. This was a bit of work on my part that could have been thought out better by the manufacturer - as I wish this product was sold in longer lengths!

A:  They don't really connect, they're all the same size, but one can be fit inside the other for some overlapping. I didn't need the full double length, so I slid one up the other. The inside sides fold in a little being the same size, but filled them with river rock so that didn't matter for my purposes.

A:  They are flexible enough to just place one inside the other, yet still rigid enough for the sides to stand up and channel the water. If you have a problem, you could use any of the bricks sold in the garden area to brace them. Just remember to start with the most uphill guard on top.

A:  If you look closely the top bead is open. You can open the bead with a fingertip (or small tool), set the next Channel Guard, and then overlap the top bead on the top of the bottom piece. You can use a pole barn spike or larger nail through the two overlapping pieces to secure the connection.

A:  Hi, Nick2 here again a year later - the Guards are doing really well! The basement has never been dryer! I wanted to add a couple of more photos - showing how I put the Guards together. I hope they help!

A:  Slide/place the end on top of the other. They are very pliable, might want to use some type of fastener to keep them together, could even try some type of bonding glue.

A:  Well you cannot connect them you just sit them close together

A:  All I did was overlap them and pitch downward for water flow.

A:  To extend the guard, cut the second piece 4 to 6 inches longer than needed and slid the first guard into the cut piece so they overlap. The stone holds the two pieces together.

A:  See Nick2's answer. He really explains what needs to be done. The ends DO NOT fit together as they are. They need (as Nick2 says) to be engineered by cutting away one end's of the top rolled edges (3 to 5" or so) and/or bolted (a pain to do) or glued together. The label shows that they have a "slide together fit." They absolutely do not without some cutting/bolting/gluing. So, this is about the only product I've found to do what these do, but the "slide together fit" is false w/o the above time-consuming adjustments.

A:  Difficult question to answer not knowing the details of the site. This is basically a plastic U-Channel. It is light weight and would blow away unless held down. I do something similar to channel water away from my house. I set the channel in place and filled it with river rock from Home Depot. This fixes it in place so it does not move and the water flows through the inner space between the rocks. I had to put a few of these together to get a longer run but it worked for me.

A:  Sure. pretty much what this is for

A:  Hi Vicky, I used this channel guard at the bottom of my rain chain so that the water wouldn't wash away my mulch or run down the wall to the footer. I needed to raise the area at the base of the rain chain to extend my slope. I put river rocks in the channel for looks. The water diverts to the grass and working just as I'd hoped. The channel is a very sturdy plastic and holds its shape.

A:  Yes.The Invisaflow works. I am using them in a similar situation, I cover mine with rocks and it work and looks great.

A:  I believe you could use it for your need. The channel guard is not real thick so it has some flex in it. I would recommend that you keep the incline but flatten or compact the ground the width and the length of the channel. You could drive a few lengthy nails or spikes through it to keep it in place if necessary. The channel can also be shortened if needed.

A:  The material is about 1/th to 5/16th of an inch thick and it is strong but flexible. It has about the same rigidity as floor tile and when you use a floor tile cutting tool to cut it it works perfect. I used the product all around my home and back yard and it channels heavy downpours very nicely. It has enough flexibility to work well so it gives without going out of shape. It has made a big difference and I even put cement squares inside it and it holds the line of cement squares and base crushed stone inside it in a nice tight channel and this set up has stopped the erosion of soil at the foundation of our home due to heavy rain washing out top soil away.

A:  I would say this is about as flexible as an equally long piece of standard PVC pipe, but made of polyethylene so will fold rather than break if flexed too far.

A:  I don't know how thick it is, but it is definitely rigid, and not flimsy. This product was easy to work with and definitely did a good job of diverting the water. It was somewhat difficult getting the pieces to fit together. The edges have lips but they didn't slide into each other as we had expected. We had to just butt them up against each other, laying the channels on top of each other. Overall we were happy with this product, but there is room for improvement connecting them.

A:  It is flexible but will not bend over any kind of small bump. I had to dig out some earth to make it fit properly. It does the job and and looks better than a big hose. I was planning to fill it with rocks to make it look a little better. Ultimately I had to put a big ugly hose on my drain spout as the incline did not work with this channel guard

A:  Chris, It's strong enough to withstand the weight and roughness of your standard hardware store small rocks, but it IS flexible/not ridged. If your dirt flooring is fairly smooth, you'll be fine. NOTE: They do NOT link together w/o some engineering. (See my comments under a separate heading on this site.)

A:  Once the sun beams down on them for a while they can become a little flimsy, especially the sides.

A:  The plastic has a flexible consistency and is maybe 1/32 thick

A:  Yes, it is fairly rigid- like edging. The bottom is about 1 mm. The sides are about 2 mm except for the top edge. I've had this item for over a year now and am happy with it.

A:  Channel Guard is the thickness of normal plastic edging. Much thicker than sheets but still flexible enough to open the top channel so you can overlap sections. The bottom is rigid enough to easily maintain the width and keep weeds from growing from underneath. Any weed that may germinate in accumulated dust cannot grow through the bottom too. This makes weed removal very simple and easy

A:  It's a heavy, fairly rigid plastic. It is bendable but pretty durable.

A:  yes you should have no problem

A:  Yes, it can be cut easily. I used a pair of wire cutters. I actually cut the loops on the one of the channel pieces so it could thread into the loops on the next. Probably not the intent of the design, but I wanted a long fence channel, which I also cut out sections for. I was very pleased with this product.

A:  It's quite thin. A box cutter would slice it easily.

A:  They are difficult to cut with wire snips or scissors. Would try a fine toothed saw perhaps a hacksaw for better success.

A:  Heavy plastic but can be cut (maybe not "easily").

A:  It can be cut easily with a hacksaw. I'm sure you could do it with just a utility knife also.

A:  This is a thick plastic. I also needed these just a few inches shorter. I was able to cut this down with a box cutter.

A:  Yes. The channel guard can easily be cut with a utility knife or heavy duty shears. I filled mine with river rock to give it a dry stream bed look below the outfall of a downspout.

A:  I did so successfully using a hacksaw and with fine toothed blade.

A:  It's thicker than can be cut with household scissors. I would think someone with a good utility knife would have no problem.