Thanks LowCountry.. I just built my 5th French Drain on my property last week. I find many people call "Trench Drains" French Drains. My French Drain DIY: (there are a couple videos on my channel) I dig a 4 ft deep hole, about 18" round. (In clay per Virginia). I then take a 10 ft long 2" diameter PVC pipe, and start pounding it into the bottom center of my hole. At first I climb on a ladder as the pipe is so high, and swing a sledgehammer. Eventually.. long story short, I am 4 ft deep on my first hole, and the pvc is 7 ft under that hole, a total of 11 ft or so. That is where I hit white gold in my town. Pure sand. Once I hit that, I do a couple last pulls of the hole and cut the pipe so it is 3" - 4" higher than my bottom of the main hole. I cover the PVC with a cap temporarily, and pour in play sand to stabilize the pipe and seal it up. REMOVE YOUR CAP!! Then lay my fabric as Lowcountry said.. a very special fabric.. a non-woven fabric. Criss cross, spike the edges down before you pour your smooth river stone in, so the edges of the fabric don't get pulled into the hole. I pour in 3-4 bags of rocks. Then fold the fabric over the top round robin style, no holes.. I sprinkle a half bag of sand over the fabric for good measure, then pour in a bag or two of rocks to finish it off. *Videos on my channel.
Thank you! Landscapers just fight with me in how to do this, so I'm attempting to do it by myself. Backyard is a pond: clay soil, bottom of watershed from a 16 acre hillside pasture. Upstate NY. March snow melt generates muddy madness every year, getting worse.
The French man doesn't recommend French drains starting and then dumping into a catch basin tied together with a surface water system? He likes to keep them separate but together. Do you agree?
I used hdpe pipes connected them to these small basins( not really basin) connected using PVC tape and adhesive.all leading to an emitter until I can get a core drill then I'll drill under the sidewalk to the street
Interested in a video to explain installation of French drain . Do you put double corrugated pipes in yours or just one? Also gravel all along the pipes or just at the end? Last question what piece goes at the end of the corrugated pipe?
Just started working for my dad's landscape company, he does french drain jobs and I'm starting to get the hang of it, hoping to start my own drainage company, any advice on how to start?
Hey man, that’s awesome I wish great success upon your endeavors. I will be making a video soon on how I was able to find success going out on my own tomorrow!
Great vid Dorsey. So lets say you have an area in the back yard in the swale between two homes where water ponds up during a heavy rainstorm. Would a French drain be a good solution to move out that water, or would it be better to put in a catch basin at the point of the "ponding". Also could a catch basin be placed at the area of ponding, and tied into a French drain that runs say 40-50 ft outward towards the front of the homes? Thank you for the great info.
In my experience a well built French drain will solve both in ground and surface level water problems quickly. If the ground between the homes does not hold in ground water as in it’s not “squishy” when given ample time to dry I would go with drainage catch basins along the low points to evacuate the surface level water. Also a French drain with sod over the top will drain slower than a open French drain with solely aggregate over the fabric. We solve that issue commonly and sometimes use a combination of French drain and catch basins depending on the situation. More importantly either solution will Mitigate your problem, but taking the water to a place where you have sufficient fall and flow are IMO the most important thing that people fall short on. Another thing is looks. With a French drain you can have a efficient drainage system that looks like it isn’t even there. If you want more great info on French drain check out the French drain man on RU-vid. Thanks!
@@DorseyCo excellent. I like the idea of the French drain to completely dry out the swale between the two homes (which does not get much sun) couple with one, or perhaps two catch basins, where we are currently seeing the pooling. Thanks so much for your reply.
Have a ton of standing water on my patio when it rains, the backyard slopes towards the house. French drain will help, need to direct water to where a Camphor tree stump used to be.
If I have a 20’ long area of low ground that pools water and I put in catch basin drains, how far apart should I space them? I have to T them off or Y them into a main drain pipe toward a sloping drain line that runs toward the the top of a hill before dumping. How low should the basin sit when the grate cover is in it? Thanks.
For the instance where you just " burrito wrap " the rock , ( no pipe in trench), even though you have 1 % slope, what transports the water out of low end of Trench? Doesn't it just flow through water, then down to ground and soak In? Seems as pipe would be the true conduit. If pipe is not necessary, then you'd waste a lot of money on it. Not being negative, just inquisitive.
Not sure what you mean? The example I gave was just to Show you that even without a pipe the french drain system could function. Although not optimally. I have never installed a system without pipe. But it could be done. You just need to get creative. If I had a french drain without pipe I would still install a solid pipe on the lowest end of the burrito wrap to grab the water up and take it away. I don't recall this video but Maybe the point I was making was you could have a burrito wrap under the ground with no discharge. If it was deep enough it would really just be a big dry-well. Idk interesting comment you got my brain running. Thanks bro!
