DIY French Drain & Landscaping | River Rock | Yard Drainage Solution 

you're the kind of guy people would love to hire but can never find.

Best weed barrier sheets of Newspaper add layer wet it down then repeat with additional layer(s) then top with mulch or landscaping cover of your choice....works amazing eco-friendly great video thank you

I just want to say thank you. I watched this video a half dozen times and implemented this in my front yard and around the side of my house. We'd been having serious drainage issues and your guidance helped us solve our problems.

I'm not only impressed with your project, but you crafted a very nice explanatory video as well. Great job using the time lapse to show the whole thing going together. Nicely done!

Every French drain video always has easy dirt......meanwhile over here in Texas I cry even thinking about putting one in myself 😂

I never knew doing a French drain yourself was this easy... just labor intensive that's all, but concept is super simple. Thank u for the insight: )

BECAUSE OF YOU... I'M GOING TO DO THIS! AWESOME JOB👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Thank you for taking the time to share. A major company told us it would be 18,000 and they want us to demo walls in basement all around the house. So they could put in a drain & sunk pump. We said a French drain should do the trick your video confirmed it.

I am so incredibly jealous of your soft dirt

My friend just spent $7000 on a french drain job in March. I wish this had existed before she paid out so much money. I believed we could have done it ourselves (her, her husband, and I), though hers is probably three times the length of yours. It runs the width of her back yard, then all the way down the left side of her driveway to the culvert. And is 2 feet deep. Hers also has a pump because of the way her yard is sloped and her neighbor's yard behind her sits 6-8 feet higher than hers so all of his rain water also runs down into her back yard, which was filling her sceptic tank and then her home. She was living in hell from about November until this was completed end of March. We were having so much rain those few months (1 to 5 inches a day every couple days), that her home stayed flooded and she could not flush a commode much less shower or wash clothes. I think you did a great job! I'm going to send this video to her and save it in case she ends up needing to dig out the east end of the yard. I love anything DIY. Thanks for sharing!

Excellent, excellent, excellent. I agree with everything you said and did here. So many people overlook drainage while landscaping around the house perimeter, only to be surprised when plants die or mold starts to creep up the inside walls.

You've saved me thankyou. I wanted initially to expose stones by not wrapping fabric ontop because I like the look of the white stones but also worried for silt/debris getting in between stones clogging it but seeing your video just helped me go ahead to wrap and then add another layer of stones ontop. Omg why didn't I think of that before. Thankyou thankyou. From New Zealand.

You can probably tell by the comments but... You're pretty good at this

More videos please! This was great! Great speaking voice, clear shots, awesome step by step explanations of everything.

Nice job and thanks for explaining the risers. I was scratching my head when you put those in.

Very impressive video. I am going to follow your lead and put a drain in our back yard which has many water flowing/non-flowing issues. Thank you!

I have been doing this kind of thing for almost 40 years. Eventually dirt will get into the pipe. With the corrugated pipe dirt gets caught in the corrugations and eventually fills the pipe. You can't really snake the corrugated pipe, so I use the perforated PVC and leave and access for the snake; it may be 20 years before you need it, but you will be glad you planned ahead. Especially if it is deep down by the footers where a lot of drain work is done.

Excellent walk through. Thank you for being detailed on WHY you do things.

We didn't have tractor and trailer to move gravel around. After tons of gravel/trap rock dumped at end of property used plastic kitty litter containers. Tipped against pile, pushed rock into pails, stacked one inside the other. Rock heavier than cat litter. Buckets hold 40#. Only filled half way. Easy control dumping out. Worked better than shoveling. Less spillage.

Thank you. I am planning to do this when the weather gets better. Great tips for doing French drain .

I’m buying a house where the backyard is sloped towards the house. There is no drainage in the backyard at this time, so this is something that I can definitely do myself to prevent further invading water going into the basement.

I never EVER leave a comment on videos. After seeing this I couldn’t start my project fast enough. This is perfect. Rock... $80.00 per yard. Pipe, smooth or corrugated Perforated either way is cheap. I rented a trencher because unlike you I hate digging. I actually poured a concrete catch basin in places and added the rock around plus I did like you and ran the rock the full distance. Excellent job! Well done, thank you.

Man, so glad you love digging trenches, I got a bunch that need digging, You're always welcome to come over!

I am fascinated with drainage designs, cisterns, and all that sorta stuff. I'm a beginner, seriously, but I am excited to start setting up a cistern, and laying out how I want our land to drain, to maximize our water usage, and avoid flooding or washouts. I thought the tip about using the level to assure that you are pitched correctly, was great, and its gonna be very useful. I look forward to seeing the videos on your channel, they will be helpful, I'm sure! Thank you!

I’m getting all this and new sod around my house about 5000 sq ft and I’ve been give the price tag of 8 to 14k. After watching your video I’m feeling like I want to do it myself and pay myself at the end. Thanks buddy.

Awesome video and great instruction. I love the landscaping and the drain is exactly what I have been looking for to fix my drainage problem. Thank you!

Thanks for explaining and dumbing it down for beginners.

This was so helpful! My hubby was trying to explain the french drain concept to me and I wasn't having it.... Until I saw your video! Thank you so much‼️

Really nice video. Love the way you speed up parts and show everything clear.

I like how you married other parts of vids in to this when you explained product use. Not at all redundant...smooth editing.

I like the good job you did. You don't know how much you have helped this old lady Good info Thank.

Never quite understood a French Drain.Now I do!!!Thanks,that was a great tutorial!😊

Maybe the best made, explained and relaxing to see video on this topic on RU-vid. Thanks for taking the time to share this great info!

Great video!! I binged all of your content last weekend!!

A PLUS WORK / PLANNING, LOVE THE DRAIN CLEANOUTS AND CHOICES OF ROCK- HARD WORK PAYS OFF - BRAVO

beautiful work. That's what we like to see! Gravel surface and landscape fabric!

A lot of hard work. Looks good. We need this in areas of our home. We would have to hire someone, so it won't get done since we are seniors on a limited income. Great job 👍

Isn't life crazy? Me @00:25, "Pretty luscious bushes! I wish I could grow that in my Florida yard." Few seconds later he hacks the bushes. OMG!

Great video. That's one hard working man. And smart too!

You really did a tremendous job. It came out beautifully.

Thanks for the video. We have a house that has negative slope and water is coming through cracks in the wall. This looks like a viable option to fix that. Only issue is our grandkids and rocks done go well together. I may have to opt for rubber chunks or bark.

Wow, I'm impressed! What an awesome job with great instruction and example! Thanks for making and sharing this video!

Love this idea ..l wish I had seen this 10 years ago when I was a little younger

I am very impressed… it turned out really good… definitely will show my husband this video…. Future project…. Thanks for sharing

Totally doing my drainage area’s around my home ! Awesome job 🤩

maybe its my age speaking but man you have a strong back, my back is hurting watching you. LOL

Thank you, very interesting, and the cobbles look wonderful

I love this and it's going to conquer my problem with all the neighbors runoff coming to my corner house and running around the bottom of my home. Just poured concrete to make a 1 foot sidewalk around the edge of the home and then Im going to put this trench! Thanks for the great idea!

I appreciate the helpful reminders and/or suggestions regarding the "why" you chose rock instead of mulch; your reason for the it's; and your preference to keep plants & shrubbery vs. water seeking root trees. After 50 yrs, I'm now the owner of my childhood home where settling ground with "when needed" grading took place; water level changes in this older neighborhood & higher rainfalls then I've experienced in 40yrs; and existing several water seeking root trees & spreading english ivy have given to issues needing my attention. My parents maintained our 2 acres but were never too interested w/any landscaping around the perimeter of our home. I've found with the newer products available & the shared technics in similarity I'm hopeful to better the drainage away from my foundation and give the perimeter a low maintenance (for me) curb appeal. Thank you, Susan.

Just wanted to take a minute to thank you for this awesome, informative video. Very relaxed and detailed info at the same time.

Thxs Im make sure my hubby watches this video as we need to do a french drain on the side of the house.

Wow good job, and you did it all in 20 minutes.

I did a similar thing to my house actually in the same area of my house I did it about 2 years ago it works beautifully. I can definitely appreciate the hard work. It looks like you did a beautiful job that you can appreciate for years and years to come. Hard work is just rewarding a lot of times. I love doing things like this.

Dude...you are amazing. The quality of work for prep, installation, and finishing is my level of perfection. If I was 30 years younger, and a man, we’d be twins. 😳🤣. Seriously, this is exactly what I need in my yard, but I have my doubts that anyone around here would be able to execute your level of superiority, which (sadly) is what I would demand. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Great clarity in your presentation. Awesome. I have not questions!

great video, i learned alot and plan to implement this process in my front yard where we want to put rocks around our hedges. Thanks.

Awesome video and the drainage and landscaping looks great! I'm building a French drain around a new shed and this video is really helpful. So informative and you literally answered all my questions. Thanks for posting!

Great video, you did an amazing job on that French drain! I appreciate the lesson, this was a well put together video!

I've been looking for a video like this for ages. Thanks so much!

Thanks for that simple but infective tip. Eye opener awesome job bro.

Thank you for being detailed and forward and not so over talkative. Every minute of this was very informative! I will definitely use this advice for my spring house maintenance😊

I don’t typically reply to How To videos but this was truly impressive. I just did a similar project but smaller in scope. I can appreciate the amount of labor you put into this. You did an amazing job.

Your philosophy is great 👍 and well articulate very pleasant way to explain things for us. 😅 God bless

This is absolutely great video . Thanks for sharing 👍🏼

Great video! This may have been mentioned but if you are shoveling your stone off of asphalt or concrete use a flat shovel. Slide it on the concrete under the stone instead of digging into the pile with a spade. Much easier.

Your content is stellar and I like your easy, no-frills style…no crazy gimmicks or anything…keep it up!

that trench was a tremendous dig, very good for just using a shovel good on ya

I greatly appreciate your explanation on this project. I have a room that is flooding, and your steps will help me save my foundation. Thank you!!!

@3:53 is my favorite part of the video a glimpse of the puppy in the cone of shame lol

🔥🔥🔥 Thank you!! Have had property for a year and spent most pregnancy and post-birth DIYing and installing so much (roofing over addt’l room, sealing, insulation, plumbing, HVAC). Utility bills have gone down tremendously , home is habilitable for baby and I, but just found out half the roof has shingle overtop of rotten wood shingles. I’m done!!! Came in with so much savings - leaving with so much debt. Market is terrible rn. Still have to live here. So next thing to do? Well, can’t use kitchen sidedoor - sealed it off because area floods outside and comes in. And the sidewalk and everything there floods as well. They didn’t install or make a drain, and neighbor sits higher than me and installed a DIY drain sys to just overflow onto my property. I knew what needed to be done… not how!! I already purchased rocks and outdoor drain-line but this is soooo helpful. Sorry for the lack of brevity. Thank you!!!! 🎉

Thanks for the Preen recommendation. I'm going to try it ...

Wow looks great and the drain is doing it’s job well done

Lord, please send a tall, handsome man with skills like this. Amen.

Awesome stuff man.. you’re very talented. I really like the assorted size of cobble stone. So much better than all the same size. Weird question, but how do you end a french drain?? Let’s say I run one the length of my house.. what do I do at both ends?

This is great gives me a good idea for my backyard. I moved out of California into Texas and and it rained for about 4 days straight Last week and completely flooded my backyard patio so I'm gonna copy what you did. And then I'm gonna run the piping down the side of the house and out to the front yard and into the street

You’re making this look so easy!

Thank you for sharing! I did very similar job around my house many years ago , and helps a lot . Also the idea about the clean up after the pipes is great ,I will do it.

Looks great! We put in a curtain drain around the house 21 yrs ago and it was a huge project. Glad we did, cause we've had some huge down pours.

Love this.. thanks for sharing this easy water drainage set up

A ton of work. Great project. great use of that tractor too.

He did all that by himself , no machines no problem

Great job! Neat and clean and functional. Great attention to detail. I can tell that you take pride in doing things correctly. I work the same way. Hats off.

I really enjoyed this video! I like that you explain what you are doing and why you chose certain things.

Thank you for sharing this video..amazing job.

Dude, you certainly aren’t afraid of hard work. Love the precision used in digging the trench. Well produced video with really good info. 👍🏻

Thank you for taking the time to make this extremely helpful video. You are an excellent teacher with a chill attitude! The end result is beautiful. You inspired us to try to complete this project in the Fall.

GREAT DIY VIDEO,thanks for sharing it and personal touch!

Project came out great. Excellent video!!! Thanks!

Love it! I live on a property that floods everytime it rains. I am elderly and don't have the money to hire someone to do this so I am going to attempt to do some of this myself. At least the immediate areas around the house will not have so much water when it rains. Thanks!

Great job!!! How did you "grade" the new lawn area?

Now that's some good work! I'm currently doing something similar.

Great video! I love that you didn't put weed fabric down. Its great in certain circumstances but totally overused in others. Looking forward to the next video

Nice job, my back ached after watching this. This is the most detailed and properly executed project that I’ve seen in a long time. Thank you!!

Wish I had soil like you, mine is mostly clay and very hard to work with.

Nice job! Getting ready to take on my own project, so this was helpful.

Thanks gave me some ideas for my behind the garage / pool equipment area!

You did a amazing job! Thank you for helping me solve my drainage problem.

You are a beast! That was an impressive project. You made it look so easy. I am certain it was not an easy project. That is alot of manual labor! Awesome job

Seems like job well done. Fun to watch it take shape.

Great video!! 👏🏽 thank you for making sharing.