While you cannot live without drain covers, it undeniable that they can often become unappealing distractions in an otherwise nice looking garden or yard.
If you have an ugly, rusty drain cover that you want to hide on your farm, you are in the right place! Below is all you will need to know to hide your drain holes using natural and artificial materials.
What are Drain Covers?
It’s pretty much in the name – By their most basic design, these are lids, typically fabricated even with cast iron, which cover the holes that provide access to the manholes in your landscape area.
These lids serve to stop the odor, often caused by contaminated waste water, from ruining the party in the backyard.
Important – they prevent the holes from invading landscape in the first place, which was going to be runoff, ultimately resulting in a horrific mess in your lawn.
However, whatever good function drain lids and covers serve, they can still stand out obnoxiously in the landscape.
Could you imagine your beautiful green, mowed carpeted lawn with a rusty, run-down looking, spot in the middle? It would be a paradox!
This is why you need to think of some smart ways to disguise your drain covers.
How to Disguise Drain Covers
Here are some valuable tips for making your drain covers less noticeable.
Use plants
The simplest method to conceal your drain covers is with plant covers.
It does not matter how you arrange them, as long as the couple you use has full foliage and large leaves, then it will work.
You will want to containerize any type of cover plant for two reasons:
- If you get tired of them, it is an easy plant switch.
- Move the potted plant to let you get to the hole when you want to make some changes.
If you’re not maybe using tea, you can just use grass seed instead. You will need a tray for growing the grass; we want to make sure the grass does not obstruct your cover when you open and close it.
If you are not doing that, you will have to buy a permeable cover for your drain.
Use fake rocks
Artificial rocks can be used successfully to conceal drain covers.
You can create a fake rock to give the appearance of a natural stone; you can resize and reshuffle it further to fit in any landscape layout.
These aspects allow fake rocks to be a utilitarian and safe alternative to cast iron lids found on utility manhole covers.
Fake rocks are also well placed to hide other unsightly features in the gardens, like electrical boxes and pipelines.
If using fake rocks to cover a drain, be sure your fake rocks have perforations that allow water to escape.
You certainly do not want your fake rocks becoming some type of water reservoir, should the drainage system be overcome by a storm event.
Paint the drain covers
If you’re into colors you might think about coloring the lids on your drains.
Colors give you unlimited options. You could paint the lids to match the grass, rocks, other outdoor structures, etc.
Let me be clear – the paint is only a temporary solution, hiding the lids. It will easily chip off and in time the paint will rust because it has been exposed outside in the elements.
Rust and corrosion are fairly common to see around coastal parts of the country – heat and salt water.
If you decide to paint and you would like it to last – you need to purchase rust resistant paint. The paint also needs to hold up to the different weather conditions.
If you have the cast iron lids you will also need to prime it.
Remember you need to completely clean the drain lid from all sides. Once it is clean, you will have to pry it off completely.
Then after you prime it – you need to let it sit for 24 hours (or longer) before you can put the first coat of paint on it.
Lastly, let me remind you to clearly read the instructions on the paint can. A paint roller is more efficient and easier to use with paint than using a spray. A roller tool will also lead to a “cleaner” finish.
Use the Surroundings
The surrounding area finishes up hiding your previous rusty drain covers well enough.
It’s easy enough to just put grass and potted plants over those lids, however, if your manhole cover is on tile or soil, it’s a little trickier.
In that case, you will want to find something else to cover it, while also blending with the tiles or gravel.
Then you will want to find a recessed drain cover. This permits you to fit the tiles or gravel in, without disrupting the hole.
In this case, concrete or screed pavings lend themselves well.
Cover with artificial turf
You don’t have to use grass, synthetic turf will do just as good, and hardly any maintenance.
Put the turf over the lid, then cut the edges to make it resemble natural grass.
Now you not only have a fix for your drain cover problem, but also some “carpet” as a solution for your walkways.
If you have a large piece of turf, you can use a tracer wire to mark the points you will be cutting to allow for the opening and closing of your drainage systems.
Doing this, you will actually reduce waste now since you will be marking the exact position and dimension of the cover, on both the exposed and covered turf.
These days you can buy lawn turf in a variety of styles from the local store. In fact, attitudes have changed so much we have many styles to pick from; some that are difficult to even tell there are using artificial grass.
Synthetic turfs are a ideal decision if the lifestyles and schedules don’t allow for routine mowings.
It is also a good idea and a good pathway surface for dry areas that require large amounts of water to make grass grow and remain healthy.
Now the downside – The good synthetic turfs are expensive. Another downside is that you create lazy habits because you ignore the rest of the exposed lawn because much of the actual lawn is now covered with turf.
The exposed areas will become a very uncontrolled unkept mess of scraggly tall grass and scraggly shrubs that become an unsightly,” associated movement issue” to walkthrough; and be a habitat for pests and possible rodents to live undisturbed.
Be sure to mow the exposed area of the lawn adequately – even if it is only 1/2 to 1/3 of the area covered with synthetic turf.
Cover it up with a small and mobile pond
The most important aspect we want you to consider: the pond needs to be mobile – you want it mobile for the plumber’s convenience in getting to your drains.
The best thing about ponds: You can customize them. You can customize them to meet the topography and/ or use whatever water feature you wish! Who would want to do that?
One of the most intelligent ways we can utilize an otherwise obsolete object is to turn a rusty drain cover into a beautiful pond.
And… you can add some color animation to your mobile pond by adding plants too! You can even throw a ducks and geese!
Hide the drain cover under a birdbath
If you do not find mobile ponds ideal, you may consider birdbaths. While they will not cover all of the lid, they can also be beautiful.
There will be much more room for plants or mosaics which will also create a good combination for the birdbath.
When buying birdbaths, it is essential to select something that is durable enough to withstand the elements, as well as keep the birds that will be perched on the bath.
But, it is also essential not to make it so heavy that it becomes too heavy for the drain cover to handle!
Disguise with art
Showcase your creativity by covering your ugly drain cover with beautiful art! You can even create a mosaic of some sort that reflects your own style.
Be sure to use bright colors to catch your guests’ eye.
When creating your art, you can either go over it and put a larger cover (overlapping the current one) or create another art piece that fits the existing one and is somewhat the same size as the drain cover.
One note: don’t paint the original drain cover!
If you are creating some sort of DIY art project where it is supposed to go over the drain cover, and you don’t know how to do it, it’s probably going to be bad quality, especially since most people are not called skilled painters, or “good” in a better sense.
You also might want to be careful: it might lead to potential legal ramifications depending on local authorities, etc., following strict building codes, or not being able to replace the drain cover and getting a fine for not contributing to the sanitation system in your area.
Things to Know Before Changing Your Drain Covers
Here’s what you need to know before changing your drain covers.
Obtain Permission
Before you change your drainage covers, you need the correct licenses.
Although you would need to check with your local building code and your landlord regarding whether they will accept the changes if you are a tenant.
Nevertheless, to be able to change your covers you need to be able to get someone to believe you have a license to conduct the changes.
These changes have large upfront costs and if you do not follow the law you may incur more costs and other legal risks.
Make it accessible
When you switch your drain covers, be sure your answer does not restrict access to your drainage system.
If the workers for the water utility cannot access the hole because it has a permanent cover, they will make a hole and charge you for it.
So: Use something that you can remove when necessary.
Also – When it rains a lot, you must remove your manhole cover to avoid flooding.
That is why the material you use to cover the manhole must be permeable or have spaces for overflow drainage.
Frequently Asked Questions about Drain Covers
How do you remove rust from a drain cover?
To remove surface rust you can use a mixture of salt and lime juice. First, sprinkle salt over rusted surface then pour lime juice over salt until it soaks the salt completely. Let it sit for a few hours, then scrub off the rust with a wire brush.
How do you loosen a stuck drain cover?
Add water into the gaps between the cap and the hole’s aperture. Then, apply light taps with the hammer against the cap until it comes loose. If the cap does not pop loose, add more water.
How do you find a drain cover?
If you can’t find the drain cover in your garden, use a metal detector. It likely has a little layer of dirt that conceals it.
Wrapping Up
Rooftop drain covers provide safe access points for maintenance of your rooftop drain system (a critical function of your roof), yet they aren’t particularly appealing.
Use the strategies outlined above to ensure that your hot-air balloons do not detract from the overall aesthetic appeal of your property.