Easiest DIY Drain Solution 

For 30 years I thought you were meant to rush into every job, cut corners and ignore the potential issues 2 yrs down the line🤭. Your steady and meticulous work is great to watch and a good lesson.

I enjoy your videos immensely. You are a superb craftsman. I wish to give you a million thanks for: NO MUSIC! It truly has become the bane of RU-vid.

Nicely done. Others have mentioned the desirability of geotextile wrap and of siting the pipe at the base of the trench. My observation would be that the soakaway may prove a bit small for the area being drained, and a way to see this would be to sink a vertical piece of perforated soil pipe into it to its base. Lifting a cap placed over the top would allow you to see the water level. A refinement would be to add a float inside the pipe with a rod set into it, cut to a length that it just protrudes through a hole in the cap when the soakaway is empty. The rod will then rise up out of the hole as the soakaway fills to give a readily visible gauge. And your observations of this will tell you when the pipe is silting up.

Your finished work is so sympathetic to the region where you are. Thank you for showing us all your considerable and pragmatic skill.

"Whenever it rains, water runs down the driveway gouging deep cuts..." - you said it! A French drain like this removes sub-surface water, not surface run-off, especially if you then plug the top of the trench by re-filling on top of the gravel with the excavated clay. You need to camber the road, put some angled cross drainage and a cement side flume. And you need to deal with the discharge end on the (public?) road, either with a ditch excavated along the upside to the next lowest drainage point, or preferably a culvert under the road to the downside. This is just going to pond water in the road sub-bed and destroy it. I won't even go into the issue of too thick a gravel layer below the pipe (which will, cause constant static saturation below the pipe), failure to line the ditch or top the gravel with fabric, to install clean-cut (stand pipes), or to cap the pipe ends. 10:1 your road will still wash out and you'll be digging the whole lot up in three years. Great carpentry and tiling though, which is what I came got. Keep it up!

This might clog up eventually as your meant to use a membrane to seperate the clay from the gravel. The clay will be allowed to mix with the gravel over time and will block the water from reaching the pipe. It was lot of hard work. I hope it stays good for you.

Watching your truck going out is like the “I make a new one” from My Mechanics

Really enjoying your videos. Thank you! The only thing I would have done differently on your French drain would be the addition of drainage fabric first in your trench, then place your grade drainage gravel, then the perforated pipe cover with gravel, then fold over the fabric like a burito (shout out to the French drain guy, great videos too), then top with finished stone, soil or what ever. This will keep your drainage stone from sitting in. Never use a ”socked” pipe. Keep up the great videos. Editing and presentation is amazing.

couple things wrong to know for next time, the rock creating the slope at the bottom of the ditch do nothing as the clay is what the water will run on, so basically the ditch has to fill up before it runs away instead of following a slope. Next is you need drain cloth or weedmat encasing the rock and pipe otherwise it will all just eventually fill with silt and dirt and do nothing.

I wouldn`t have worried about the water, once the drain is in the water will be gone. If you were concerned about the sides collapsing, then complete that part first with the pipe sticking out the ground at the end of the trench. And geo textile, Terram or similar, is the way to go. I built 300 houses in a place called New Springs, any time we broke ground , water appeared. I wore wellies every day for two years! All drainage, foul, surface and french drains, as well as all other services, were laid in trenches that were nearly always full of ground water. That was thirty odd years ago, if I`d tried pumping every trench, I`d still be there today! Love watching your vids mate, that is some refurb project!

I always look forward to your videos and you never disapoint . Thank you .

Well done Mr Rogers. There is a recommend plumbing fall for drainage pipe. Both too much fall or too fall little affects silting. The water needs to travel at a rate that carries silt with it. It's ideal to work within those parameters but often the contour determines what can be done. I thought you were doing this with your string line. Anyway great work. I wish I owned a digger!

I could watch you work all day but I’d better go walk the dog. Great video!

I am EXHAUSTED watching this! GREAT JOB!

Super vidéo d'explication pour la réalisation d'un drain longeant la route. La prise en compte des moments répétitifs en mettant en place des accélérations et passage un peu lassant est une très bonne idée afin de rester objectif et garder ainsi le public. Sinon, pour la partie technique de réalisation, il aurait été préférable pour perdurer la durée d'utilisation du drain, de mettre en place un géotextile autour du fourreau pour éviter d'obstruer les percements et permettre de drainer au maximum pour une meilleure efficacité et sur une plus longue durée de vie... continue tes vidéos, c'est super... 😁😉

I live in the States but the house and property your on is amazing from what I have seen so far.

your videos are so interesting. :) so nice to see ppl put the work into to do things right. esp repairs.

Your all projects are very interesting and it's most.

I always enjoy your videos.

I love the little clips you added in So funny

There’s something very satisfying about watching somebody else do all the hard work! Whereabouts are you in France? Near Tarbes?

Can you do a tour of the property? It would be nice to see what the buildings you have and their layout

Nice little project! 👍🏻

Beautifully done!

Nice work Carl .... more videos soon 👍👍👍

That was a very therapeutic short not to mention the good work l have subscribed

Still like the gate you guy’s built, great job

Oh! That a lot of work! Good job.

Thank you for sharing these wonderful videos of your very expertly done work on ( what appears to be ) an old Belgian or French Farm house. What made me realize most in this series is that we were "...not in Kansas any more Toto...." was your digging the trench for the French Drain. I believe it was 5 or 6 inches ( 15 Centimeters ) of top soil, and the BAM a solid mass of absolutely pure ceramic grade clay. In my part of the world ( Pacific Northwest USA ) the average Basalt Jory topsoil is 60+ inches ( 150 Centimeters ). This creates a completely different water abortion issue that you do not have there. Thankfully you have a helpful and trusted Dog Helper to manage the work process.

Here's an old farmer's trick for finding level over long distances. I'll use your ditch as an example. Get a sufficient length of clear plastic hose (1/2" or 5/8" diameter is large enough). Affix one end of the hose to the top of the stake at the top end of the ditch. String the hose to the stake at the bottom end of the ditch, and affix the hose to the top of the stake. Then fill the hose with water until the hose is nearly full. Since water levels itself, simply mark both stakes even with the water level in the hose. Voila -- perfectly leveled marks on the two stakes.

What a superb job.

This was an important Video for me THX for shareing.

Great job, well done

O lucrare corectă! Direct like 👍

Another big job well done. Did it help as you hoped for?

Hi Carl, whats the brand of the little pump at 14.05?

Given it's been two years, perhaps a follow up? I'm curious on how the water worked it's way out of the bottom of the hill. It seems to me that the water would collect and be directed to the bottom, but without anyplace for it to go, it would percolate up thru the dirt and onto the road.

Great job 👏

In this video, as in many others, there is this lovely soothing sound of a wind gong. My question is if you actually have one hanging there or is it mixed in afterwards? If is it a real on where did you get it? I have never come across one of these gongs that sound so good Thank you for the great videos. I enjoy watching your work.

This is the next job at my house where we have ground water continually running through the basement. Great video and the comments.

If only all were done to this standard. Well done. Done once and minimum maintenance, soil loss and mess.

Great job, Crowning the driveway would also help.

Great job-water is the first enemy of any builder) only one question moment-it is possible that additional water will cause bad affection on road layers under asphalt - at the place where you ended up your tube... time will show! Good luck!

Nice to see this tracked vehicle in france - it is its natural habitat. 😁

Hello Carl, I follow your projects. You make a good job! I wondered how you do all the work like the roof and the combination of the French Regulations or the Government. Can you say something about that?

I installed a drain and shore up further in my garden using the same type of hose going underground to run into my main drain but that was years ago when I wouldnt have thought of putting a strainer in front of the hose and it did get blocked at times but I cleared the blockage using my watering hose with the water running to soften the clogged area and used the hose to push the clogging through when softened and the weight of the backfill of water helped push everything out clearing the hose and now I use chimbney rods instead of garden hose to clear it

This lad does some great work. Obviously the open chequebook presumably of father makes life just that bit easier, but nonetheless great work, always.

❣ Great job ❣

very good job

Quality as usual Carl and you make it all look like parting with lego for us plebs LOL

Where abouts in the Gers you at ? I am in saint jean de luz and my parents are next to mielan and Marciac

idea - you should be raising the center of the road, not skimming to fill. Maybe when you are done, lay a layer over the center of the road to make it a little high in the center and then the water will run off the sides and hopefully help to keep the road dry - just thinking outloud. good luckj.

great video...

Just watched, it's been a year, how's the drain doing? Performing as expected? Thanks.

Love that little excavator.

finally new video :D

as soon as you put that pipe in I was thinking oh no, hes not wrapping it.

... left to this guy guy, the world would be where everyone kept their ideas and techniques to themselves...

Just found your channel, pretty lit , beautiful country side 😁

that tiny shovel cracks me up

I found that quite Draining !

that was fun ...thanks

You should take a look at the American diggers with hands free bucket attachment plus they have thumbs so you can pick things up 😉😁

Watching this drained me.

Good work s,I'm working seem ,I'm from Albania, thanks,

Great job, but you should've packed your corrugated pipe with geotextile. Now sand can clog it up and with the textile, the sand couldn't penetrate your pipe. How many days did your back hurt? 😉

Was there a drain you tapped into beside the road?

Un fortunately I think you will find you have not gone deep enough the first ute/ truck that cuts the corner in the wet, is going to drive over your pipe and flatten it. Hope I'm wrong,, you have done a real pretty job

I'm no expert on this but weren't you meant to line the Trench with Drainage Fabric to prevent Soil from washing through into the Drainage Pipe and eventually Clogging it with Dirt?

Hard work, Carl! .-) But I'm puzzled: why didn't you redirect the rainwater, using the same pipe, to an underground water tank - which you ought to build!- a pond, or the septic tank? In summer that water will become useful. Water is after all a commodity.

I am amazed that even works at all. By back filling the trench with heavy clay soil on top, most of the surface run off won’t be penetrating down to the pipe. Should have filled to the top with pebbles. …and where the pipe terminates there will be a huge waterlogged patch flooding out over the road…which I’m surprised the local authority allowed., but I’m no drainage expert, so I guess if it works….

Is that baughman drain tile?

And finally the bells 🔔

I need this blokes detergent or secret - not once did that super fly white t-shirt get a speck of dirt on it. If it were me I would have been covered in mud by the third minute

좋은 영상 잘봤어요

I see your work, you love, I wish you good luck, I work as a master of internal repair work, sometimes you need to come up with something new 👍✌️✌️✌️

Have done this twice. The second time we put grated gutters _across_ the drive catching water and directing it to the drain. The first effort, without them, the water just carried on going down the drive, carrying the surface with it! You live and learn, they say. They also say, f*** the f******* French f****** drain! At least, we said that. Quite a lot. 😀

Qual a finalidade desse projeto?

Why is it that every time you try to dig a holes or do concreet work out side it rains it never fails that at least for me. You did it right by doing a section at a time. I realy like your place my friend.

I was waiting for you to use landscape fabric on top of the pipe ! It dosent work and gets blocked up with mud and soil :I know this through experience ; Although the holes in pipe will eventualy get blocked Good work, but a concrete chanel would last longer ! What you think Again good work

Сколько у вас стоит метр дренажной трубы?

How does the water get through the dirty gravel material you have on top of the stones? Did you really need the perforated pipe? I would've made the trench wider and filled to the top with angular stones and not covered them. Where does the water go at the end of the pipe? Looks like the end is blocked. I didn't see a ditch.

This french drain would have done the job admirably WITHOUT the pipe. the stones are more than capable of draining away the water and they're pretty much self cleaning with every storm they take!

Чаще выпускай видео🎥🎬👀. Смотрю постоянно...

Excelente

Cool!

What is to stop leaves and twigs from getting into the entrance and float down the pipe to build up at the bottom? I don't get it.

It was a mistake not placing the stone and the pipe in filter fabric. Considering the soil type in that drive you should also have installed laterals into the main line to keep the drive drained.

Where would we be without our mini pele! You certainly worked hard on that project, are you going to resurface the drive with more castine to get the level up ?

Shouldn't the drainage go under street little road to the field to flow down to the little river... can the ground at the end absorb enough?

Some good sized rocks in there.

Super boulot toi et ton père et ton ami le tout tout super trop trop bien j'en France 62 pas de calais

Interesting, how long main road foundation (near drain end) will stay solid without coverage collapse.

For this application No pipe or cloth needed. Trench for proper slope backfill with rock only to top of trench and never use native soil on fill. In a commercial operation…ie subdivision of homes, then the membrane and pipe comes into play due to volume of water. On the farm… not so much.

I am wondering where you are with such beautiful countryside?

I would have put a camber on the drive and had shallow ditches, what your doing is more to do with removing ground water from the side of a building to help with damp rather than removing rainwater. That said I hope it works 👍

perfectly...!

Il est préférable de faire un " chaussette drainante " en posant un géotextile qui jouera le rôle d'anticontaminant .

Не знаю как у вас там в гидрологическом плане обстоят дела , но тебе не кажется что дорогу будет размывать в месте где выходит твой дренаж???

Huge job done. But the end of drainage can undermine Your road in future be aware of it ☝🏼. Water can not disappear. If it can not suck in it will continue to the field across the road