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Rubber Razor at Nippo Lake 2019
The Nippo Lake Razor Crew getting ready to place a rubber razor (a type of water bar) in the driveway.
To construct it, conveyor belt material was cut to length and to a height of about 8" and sandwiched between two 2" X 6" lengths of lumber with screws, offsetting the belting to stick up about 3.5" above the lumber.
Placing the constructed rubber razor to check for fit.
The lumber should sit just below the ground to protect it from damage and the belting should stick up about 3". The conveyor belt material was literally sniffed out by the homeowner. Driving down the road, he smelled fresh asphalt and followed his nose to an asphalt producing facility. He simply asked at the front office if he could have a roll of used belting, which they were happy to give him.
The rubber razor installation completed.
Larger stone was packed in on the upslope edge to help capture runoff and guide it toward the vegetated area. A bermed up area of logs and duff (not shown) was built within the vegetated area to capture runoff and allow it to pool up and soak in. The razor helps prevent driveway material from washing out and moving toward the lake.
The rubber razor gets a test drive.
The conveyor belt is flexible enough to drive over, but rigid enough to direct rain runoff into the vegetated area next to driveway where it can soak into the ground. Instructions can be found on the Portland Maine Water District website by searching for "rubber razors" or by copying and pasting this url into your browser: https://www.pwd.org/sites/default/files/rubber_razors.pdf