How We Hid an Ugly Stormwater Drain and Gained a Usable Corner Patio

The Scenario

A homeowner recently asked:

"How to disguise this eyesore of a storm water drain?"

The GardenOwl Diagnosis

The Assessment

Tiny backyard, big headache.

You’ve got:

• A council stormwater drain jammed in the back corner.
• A 1200 x 1200 mm pit that drops about 25 cm below the lawn and path.
• A narrow concrete path hugging the house and a low sleeper "retaining wall" just to keep people from snapping an ankle.
• A couple of trees sitting on the easement (including a princess tree) and a dwarf lemon.
• A lot of questions:
  • Do you pave it and put a BBQ there?
  • Do you plant it out with grasses and a birdbath?
  • Are the trees on the easement going to be a problem?

This is a classic small-yard dilemma, often leading to The Infrastructure Displacement Syndrome and severely impacting curb appeal. You want green and beautiful, but you’re boxed in by drainage, easements, and safety—stuck with a low sleeper "retaining wall" just to keep people from snapping an ankle.

Instead of fighting the drain, we’re going to make it disappear and turn that corner into something useful.

The Trap: Why This Corner Always Looks Awkward

Most people do one of two things with a drain pit like this:

1. Pave hard right up to it and hope no one trips.
2. Plant into it and pretend council will never need access.

Both are bad.

Why paving alone doesn’t solve it

• You’ve still got a 25 cm sudden drop right at the edge. That’s a trip waiting to happen.
• The drain cover stays visually loud: a random bit of concrete or steel in the middle of your paving.
• If you butt pavers hard around the lid, council (or a plumber) comes in with a crowbar and your neatly-laid pavers get cracked, lifted, or tossed.

Why planting into the pit is worse

• Anything you plant into the ground over an easement is basically temporary decor. If they need to dig, they’ll cut through roots, dump soil, and walk all over your plants.
• Trees or shrubs on an easement are just future conflict: roots, branches, and access issues.
• Also, wet corners + random plants = mosquito sump and root rot if you’re not careful.

The mindset shift:

Don’t treat an easement drain like a garden bed or a feature. Treat it like a service hatch that just happens to be in your yard.

You make it disappear visually, but keep it 100% liftable.

The Solution (Deep Dive): Build a Corner Deck “Lid” You Can Actually Use

The best move in a tiny yard like this: turn that awkward pit into a low, freestanding deck platform that sits over the whole 1200 x 1200 mm area.

You’re not burying the drain. You’re hiding it in plain sight.

Big picture: what we’re building

• A shallow deck frame that sits on a couple of small pavers inside the pit.
• Timber or composite slats running across the top.
• A removable hatch panel directly over the stormwater cover.
• A fascia board around the outer edge so you don’t see the drop into the pit.
• The whole thing is freestanding and reversible—no posts into the ground, no concrete, no bolting into the easement.

Then you treat that corner as a little café / BBQ / feature corner, not a utility hole.

Step 1: Check drainage and clearances

Before you build anything:

1. Confirm water flow

   • Make sure the pit area drains properly during a rain. You don’t want to deck over a spot that floods to the top.
   • If water briefly ponds inside the pit but not above the drain level, you’re fine; the deck frame will be raised.

2. Measure your available height

   • Pit depth: ~25 cm.
   • Aim for a finished deck surface flush with your path / lawn.
   • That gives you roughly 90–120 mm of build depth (frame + boards) if you keep it tight and efficient.

Step 2: Choose materials

Keep it simple and robust.

Frame:

• Treated pine (H3 or H4) is cost-effective and easy to work with.
• If you want almost zero maintenance, use a galvanized steel framing system, but it’s pricier.

Decking boards:

• Treated pine decking if budget is tight and you’re okay with staining every few years.
• Composite decking if you want no splinters, more colour stability, and minimal upkeep.

Footings (non-invasive):

• 300 x 300 mm concrete pavers or similar laid loose in the bottom of the pit.
• The frame sits on them—no digging, no concrete, no posts.

Step 3: Build the freestanding frame

You’re essentially making a low platform the size of the pit.

1. Lay your support pavers

   • Two or three flat pavers inside the pit where the main frame joists will sit.
   • Make sure they’re level-ish and stable. Don’t mortar them; they need to be removable.

2. Build a rectangular frame

   • External dimensions: just small enough to drop into / over the pit area without binding.
   • Use treated pine joists on edge (e.g. 90 x 45 mm) to keep the profile low but strong.

3. Add internal joists

   • Run joists at 400 mm centres so the deck boards stay solid under foot and under furniture.

4. Check level

   • Sit the frame on the pavers and shim as needed with plastic packers so the top of the frame will finish flush with your path and lawn once the boards are on.

Step 4: Create the access hatch over the drain

This is the whole game. Council has to be able to get to the drain without a toolbox and twenty minutes of swearing.

1. Mark the lid location

   • Put the frame in place.
   • Mark directly above the stormwater cover—this will be your access hatch zone.

2. Double up framing under the hatch

   • Add extra blocking/joists around this area so the hatch panel has solid edges to sit on.

3. Deck the frame, leaving a hatch section loose

   • Lay decking boards across the entire frame.
   • Where the hatch will be, treat those boards as one removable panel:
     • Screw them to a small subframe underneath (say 2 battens running perpendicular), so you can lift one integrated panel instead of loose slats.

4. Add a discrete way to lift it

   • Options: a recessed pull ring, a finger gap at one board joint, or a removable hook.
   • Make sure two people can safely lift and move the hatch panel.

When council needs access, they lift the hatch, then lift the drain cover. No demo, no chainsaw, no arguments.

Step 5: Dress the front edge so the pit vanishes

Right now, you see a sharp drop between lawn/path and the pit. We hide that.

• Run a fascia board (same material as your deck boards or a neat trim board) around the visible edges.
• The fascia should sit just proud of the pit wall, visually closing that gap.

Now when you look across the yard, you don’t see a hole or a drain. You see a small corner deck platform.

Step 6: Decide: BBQ corner, café nook, or bird-bath garden?

Because the deck is freestanding and removable, you want movable features, not built-in masonry.

Option A: Light BBQ / trolley setup

• Use a small gas BBQ on wheels or a compact bbq trolley, not a built-in brick monster.
• Keep clear overhead and behind (no flammable creepers right on top of hot metal).
• This turns that wasted corner into a little service area.

Option B: Café nook

• Small round café table with two chairs.
• One tall feature pot in the corner with a climber on the lattice: think star jasmine, native clematis, or a light, non-invasive climber suited to your sun exposure.
• This instantly says "intentional outdoor room" instead of "utility corner".

Option C: Birdbath + soft planting (my pick for tiny yards)

• Keep the deck corner for access and for stepping.
• Tuck a birdbath to one side, just off the deck where it can be seen from inside the house.
• Use pots and low plants along the retaining edge and fence to soften the wood and add green.

Dealing With the Trees on the Easement

You already know this but I’ll say it bluntly: roots and easements do not mix.

Dwarf lemon

• In a big pot: totally fine. Lemons actually do well in containers if fed and watered.
• In the ground on an easement: expect heartbreak when someone needs to dig.

What to do:

• Keep it in a substantial pot (think half-whiskey barrel or similar). Good potting mix, slow-release citrus fertiliser, consistent water.
• Park the pot near the lattice where it gets full sun.

The princess tree / prima donna

This one’s the bigger problem.

• In the ground over an easement, it’s a future fight with roots and canopy.
• If council or a plumber needs access, that’s the first thing in the path of the excavator.

My advice:

• Move it into a large pot if you really love it.
• Or replace it entirely with a tall statement pot and a climber or narrow shrub that stays technically movable.

This keeps everything in that corner portable. If access is needed, you roll away pots and lift the deck hatch. No chainsaws, no rage.

Design Strategy: One Strong Corner, Not a Mess of Bits

In a small yard, all the usual DIY mistakes get magnified:

• Too many tiny plants = visual clutter.
• Random bits of paving and gravel = patchwork, not design.
• Straight, skinny paths and tiny isolated features = what I call the “bowling alley” look.

Here’s how to make it feel lush and intentional:

1. Anchor the corner

   • The little deck platform over the drain becomes a clear "zone".
   • Add one tall element: a big pot + climber or a narrow feature shrub.

2. Repeat plants, don’t mix one of everything

   • Choose 2–3 main species for the bed along the fence and repeat them.
   • Think tough, low-maintenance, and preferably local natives that handle your sun and soil.

3. Layer heights

   • Tall: climber or vertical feature in the corner.
   • Medium: repeated grasses / small shrubs along the bed.
   • Low: groundcovers or low border plants to soften the lawn/bed edge.

4. Keep everything on or above grade near the easement

   • Pots, planters, birdbath, furniture.
   • No new deep-rooted trees right on top of pipes.

This way the whole yard reads as one composition: lawn → bed → trellis → corner deck, not a bunch of little experiments.

Visualizing the Result Before You Start: Using GardenDream as a Safety Net

This is exactly the kind of project where you want to see it before you buy timber or move trees.

Here’s how to use the GardenDream web tool so you don’t waste money:

1. Take a straight-on photo of that corner

   • Back up into the yard, capture the lawn, path, drain pit, and lattice.

2. Upload to GardenDream

   • Use the tools to drop in a 1200 x 1200 deck pad over the drain area.
   • Test different finishes: light timber vs darker composite, etc.

3. Mock up the options

   • Scenario 1: Add a small round table and two chairs.
   • Scenario 2: Swap that for a compact BBQ trolley.
   • Scenario 3: Add a birdbath and a big corner pot with a climbing plant.

4. Play with planting repetition

   • Try a row of the same grass or shrub along the bed.
   • See how much calmer the space looks when you repeat plants rather than scatter different ones.

Think of GardenDream as your blueprint and safety net: it lets you test “What if we deck this whole corner?” or “What if the lemon moves into a big pot here?” without spending a cent or digging a single hole. Once the layout on screen feels right, then you pick up the saw and shovel, guided by our Exterior Design App.