While driveways made of brick, concrete and other solid materials are very hard wearing and practical, they can badly affect the drainage characteristics of the ground around your home, and a poorly designed driveway can cause drainage problems such as waterlogged soil, standing water and, in extreme cases, even localised flooding. Consequently, most solid driveways are fitted with some kind of drainage system, and strip drains are a simple, economical and popular choice.

However, exposed strip drains built into your driveway can also pose a serious trip hazard, so most driveway owners who use them will cover them with some kind of protective grate. There are a wide variety of different drain grates on offer, but stainless steel grates offer a number of advantages over grates made of other materials when used to cover your driveway drains:

Strong

Stainless steel has excellent load-bearing and tensile strength, and a stainless steel drain grate is more than capable of taking the weight of a person despite the relative thinness of the steel used. They can also take the weight of most vehicles driving over them without bending or buckling, so stainless steel grates are particularly handy for covering strip drains that cross the end of your driveway.

Durable

Stainless steel has all the durability and toughness of conventional steel, but unlike conventional steels it is also completely immune to rust and corrosion. This makes stainless steel strip drain covers incredibly long-lived, and they will rarely, if ever, have to be replaced or repaired.

Lightweight

Because stainless steel is so strong, stainless steel drian grates can be made with relatively thin sheets of stainless steel without compromising their strength and resistance to damage. As a consequence, stainless steel drain grates are surprisingly light, and can easily be lifted out of your drains to deal with blockages and other problems with the drains themselves.

Smooth surfaces

Speaking of blockages, strip drains covered with stainless steel grates can be less vulnerable to clogs and blockages than drains covered with plastic and other materials. The smooth surface of stainless steel means that debris and detritus is unlikely to snag on your grates, and it allows solid matter caught in your drains to flow freely towards outflow pipes and sewer lines.

Customisable

Although stainless steel does not need coatings to protect it from rust, it can nonetheless be treated with a wide variety of paints and power coatings. As such, you can choose from a wide variety of colours for your drain grates if you don't like the look of bare stainless steel. Shades that closely match the colour of your driveway are excellent for making your drains less visually prominent.