I GOOFED UP! Installing Subdrainage in Clay Soil - The Big Dig Part 3 

It's not a "screw-up" its an educational process. Live and learn is a real thing.

One of my favorite sayings: Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from bad decisions. Actually, you are enjoying the process, and, so are we! Thanks for sharing with us!!!

It takes integrity to stand up and say, "I messed up". I admire that more and more as I age. You have integrity, Pete, and that is why so many of us are so committed to following your channel. No matter the story, no matter the result, we understand you'll give us the straight info as you see it. Priceless in today's miasma of noise.

In this video we had architect Pete, it was awesome to see the depth of knowledge he has. It was like sitting across his desk as he explained the project. Always enjoy the videos!

Hi Pete, loved your explanation of how things are going for you. You didn't screw up, you added to your education, in a very modest way. You're a great diplomat. Regards to all in the USA from Ireland.

This is why I like your channel so much you do your homework on projects for long term affects not quick fixes these kids now a days don't think long term and when they don't it will make it harder on them as they get older.You never know what can and will happen as you do get older.Bless you and yours ❤

If you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything. I'm enjoying your process and problem solving. Another good video.

Midwest farmer here: We deal with installing subsurface drainage into clay subsoils all the time. Our solution is to just decrease the distance between the runs (or laterals). 50 or 60 ft intervals are common and if needed we go down to 20 to 30 feet. We install typcially 3 to 4 feet deep, depending on how much fall we have to the outlet and tile length.

I was in drainage business for 50 yrs. The latest of your drawings is the best. You don’t have to use filter cloth over the rock. You can use a couple of layers of cardboard. It will last until layers figure out who they are then they stay that way!🧑🏻‍🌾👍🇨🇦

I love videos like this. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only one who makes mistakes. I appreciate your honesty. It's nice to be reminded that we're all human.

As usual, Pete you are one of the best "teachers" I have have experienced in my 82 years. Thanks............My best wishes to you and Hillary. JR, Gorham, ME

Thanks for a great discussion. I have done a lot of drainage work on golf courses and athletic fields, which are fairly demanding situations. You explained this well. I was taught to locate the discharge end early in the process to assure that we were taking all water to daylight. That is for soil applications like you have. Managing the movement of water off grass and infield dirt surfaces is a different animal, especially on youth fields that get too much use and, too often, not enough preventative or keep-up maintenance. Skinned baseball and softball infields need positive surface drainage or you could be waiting days for a 2” rain to perc through. With heavy use in the wear areas, it’s a constant process of light re-grading and grooming those playing surfaces every day. I had one rule for myself that served me well: I never move the same water twice; if you’re going to get rid of it then go to the trouble of getting all-the-way rid of it. Good luck with the rest of your drainage project. I do not comment often but enjoy your channel, your story, and your approach to things. 64 yeard old, from southwest Michigan. Thank you, Pete.

We've done the solution that you come up with for decades. Actually we did our neighbors over 35 years ago and they still have no water issue. I still see it everyday going out my drive.

Really nice to meet you at the market yesterday! I am really enjoying the progress on the drainage system.

Pete, You have SO MUCH in common with my favorite H.S.teacher. Thank you for continually educated your viewers. jmp

I helped install a few drain fields and remember rock around the perforated pipe with red rosin paper on top of the rock before backfilling. This was 30 plus years ago so I’m sure things have changed but remember the rosin paper made a barrier that held together until the soil settled preventing debris from entering from the surface. Love the channel Pete !

Really enjoy the details in your explanation on each design. Appreciate how each time I watch your videos I feel not only have I learned something new, I feel I am a much better person. The past 15 months gave been difficult with the loss of my youngest daughter and in some strange way your videos have brought me some simblance of peace.

We do it right because we do it twice... Three times LOL. Thanks for the video, Pete. 😃

Fantastic video - I love how naturally good you are at communicating the challenges you're facing on your farm, and talking through the solutions. Makes for awesome viewing and thank you for sharing!

A good lesson on drainage. I enjoyed it and all the ins and outs or the good the bad and the ugly. Thank you Peter for in depth video. Enjoyed as always.

I have no reason to learn about clay soil drainage yet here I am listening attentively… you’re a wonderful teacher.

I found myself completely enjoying your video today - you are speaking my language, as I was an environmental science major, and ended up with a double major degree in soil science and conservation. Been decades since I heard anyone talk knowledgeably and sensibly on the subject. My dream would have been to do land reclamation and rehabilitation, strip mines and such, etc. Had an advanced degree program all lined up in that, but I met my dear departed Hubs and the rest was history. As it happened, I ended up doing mostly R&D and quality control type jobs with lots of computer work, specializing in ISO at several different places. I admit I sort of glaze over when you work on your tractors, kind of like I did when Hubs tried to interest me in his work on old Harley Davidsons and his beloved antique British bikes, haha! But when you started talking clay, then silt, etc. - I had a most pleasant flashback, I knew exactly what you were speaking about, and I must thank you for that. :D

We call them blind ditches here in NC…we’ve dug miles of them across bottom land and we always put a layer of hay in the ditch with the pipe to keep the dirt from clogging the slits in the pipe…i remember a couple dad did when the ditch was complete and finished backfilling there would be gallons a minute coming out the pipe…so they will work in clay!

I almost had a bad day with no video from Pete. Glad to see my day had improved tremendously. Lol😅

My family and I love watching the work you are doing. We also love how you took the time to explain everything in this video. Thank you Pete for all you do to help us learn along the way. May God's grace continue to be with you and your family.

Issue with the burrito is that when they fail and we deconstruct, we find the wooven fabric is clogged by mold. That's one reason it's fallen out of favor. Now, you surround the pipe with drain stone then add a layer of smaller stone (pea or rice depending on what the native soil is. The layer of smaller stone slows the native soils/fines from making it to the drain stone while allowing the water to get through.

Professor Pete, you could not have explained your situation any better. My background in soils construction via US Army Engineer School brought back memories. I hope folks and vocal Patty appreciate your fix. Trench safe 👍👍👍

The path to success is paved with failure, however the willingness to adjust and adapt is the key. You will persevere and succeed Pete, you have a great attitude, common sense, and highly educated background. Remember that the last perfect person to come along got nailed to a cross on a hill. Cheers Pete!

I enjoy watching your videos. I watch them all the time. If my husband comes in to watch TV I always say It's a new one. 😂 for this video he had the control of selecting a video and when I saw it was your channel he said It's a new one. I said yay. We need more people to share their wisdom and common sense. I'm grateful I found your channel.

Pete really enjoyed this video. You took a situation, figured out the root of the problem and then did the research to determine a fix for the root problem. You did a great job doing a walk through and explaining all variables and how they play into your field drainage solution. Great job!!! Thank you. Have a great rest of your Sunday and an awesome start to your week. Looking forward to your next video.

Very good. Lots of good common sence involved in drainage.

Who knew dirt and clay could be so interesting. Pete you could make boiling water interesting.

Good day to all.

Pete, as a person who has dealt with numerous drainage problems with numerous soil types, I can whole heartedly agree with your remarks at the end about Building codes. Sometimes they can be good but a lot of times the one size fits all thinking is way off the mark. There really is no such thing as the perfect solution for every problem. But as humans, to be successful in our given careers, we will make mistakes, but the important thing is what will we learn from our mistakes. That is where real progress is born. learning from our mistakes and then finding ways to avoid them next time. As always, your reasoning is sound. Thanks for sharing.

Pete I really appreciate your effort to explain how each system works and why you are choosing the best system that works for you.

I ALWAYS learn from you Pete. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences.

Good thing you’re realizing this now and not after a few years when the systems has failed. Seems like a perfectly thought out solution that will provide a long life of drainage for you!

Thank you for this weeks lesson. Super informative and thank you for showing uour learning curve. Makes us less intimidated to face projects head on

Cole the Cornstar is renovating his whole farm house, top to bottom. He has been working in his basement recently pouring footings to already present foundation walls. But todays episode he is waterproofing his basement floor using the burrito method you mentioned with a parimeter tile around the inside of the basement wall. Also he dug a sump pump hole and installed a plastic sump pump housing as a secondary means. He plans on also installing a second parimeter tile around the outside of his foundation of the house aswell. He really doesn't want water in his basement.

My goodness Pete, that sounds REAL serious. I am 73 years old and I have never heard of ANYBODY that didn't have positive flow on their wetness. This sounds like a job for some college professors with the Army Corp of Engineers. This certainly is not something to be tackled by a single ordinary human without a cape. Art from Ohio

this was a beautiful sharing of "in the field" and intellectual theory brought to an elegant application. This was you with the sum total of mature solution. It was awesome. Thanks, Pete. I'll bet this brought an immense felling of completeness and satisfaction to you. Well done.

Cool video Pete. I agree with you on the rain gutters. No gutters on any of my buildings. I agree with you on building codes as well.

Very interesting video on drainage Pete sounds like a project!!!! Good luck Pete!

Good morning Pete...the process continues..you show great resolve with all that you do.....genius don't stop trying!!! Hope it works out!!

Great video! I saw your response about running “level” (in certain conditions)and I chose not to comment back. There are so many variables and solutions it’s indefinite. Pipe size, structures, type of drainage etc. excellent explanation that unfortunately some civil engineers I have worked with over the years can’t understand because they’ve never physically done the work. Accurate as builts and pre construction site visits using surveyors checking accuracy is vital. A sluice is an example of extreme slope but catches the “heavies”. A strong flow keeps the pipe clean during the life span of the system.

Wow Pete that would drive me nuts.

Hi Pete,, Thank You for your interesting tutorial on various approaches to drain tiling farm land . With various top soil and subsoil conditions . Your technical knowledge and expertise from you former professional life is certainly helpful. Many of your viewers would admire that you're not afraid to admit you made a mistake .We can all learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others as well.

Enjoying the procesas from my desk chair while planning my own backyard drain system.

Have been following you from India... not a farmer ... but a farming enthusiast .... There are differences in culture, traditions, and physical and climatic settings ... but many of your practices have UNIVERSAL APPLICATIONS..... Salute to you for the kind of dedication and enthusiasm. All the best

I live in Australia and in locations where you can’t use guttering on roofs you dig a shallow trench where the water runs off the roof and hits the ground and fill the trench with gravel then put your drainage in to run the water to where you would like the water to go.

Pete I think you missed your calling. I think you would have been a great Teacher. Professor as you explained that too a point many could understand. I think that is what makes your videos so popular. You are very good at a number of things. Outstanding mechanic and pretty good at most anything else you run into!

Fun, fun, fun! God bless you Pete. May your solution work exceedingly well for you.

Admitting the error is half the battle. Glad you figured out a solution. Happy digging.

You still need to grade the trench. But the stone can be used to grade the tile. Have a great Sunday. Thanks, Pete!

Hay we were on pins and needles waiting for your joke. We love your jokes. God Bless

It is so very important to be be able to "think". "Ideation"... using experience and your education... not "one" or "the other"... creating a synthesis.

Your a great teacher, I could listen to you all day, you must have been a really good father, we enjoy your videos very much

Use open ditching. Our farm was totally clay soil. Years later a scraper pan was available free of charge and I used it on the main farm (200 acres). At first the Soil Service layed out stakes with how deep to make ditch. That first field I was very meticulous on the slope. Then I played with it on the remainder on the farm without having surveying the depth. It worked fine just on sight. My worst ditch had expanded to 50' of width. After scraping down the ditch it is only 6' wide. I was very satisfied with using the scraper pan. Now the crop farmer plants all through the ditches with his big equipment.

I love watching your projects do what ever you like to do I will watch it

Very informative. So enjoyable to be part of your process.

Great video , your solution is how we installed septic drain lines in central Illinois when I was installing them in the 50’s and 60’s and it worked fine. Side humor here, one time I had every thing installed except the stone got delayed I needed to cover the tile but over night we had a lot of rain and next morning all the tile was floating out of the trench . Took me two days to finish the job. Hard lesson learned. I greatly enjoy your videos as our farm operation was similar to yours. Lots of good memories. Lee Bretzlaff

I think you do a great job Pete. I love seeing the additions you make to the farm

Thank you for this video, Pete! Sorry about your "clay" problem. But I sometimes WISH I had a "clay problem" because here (Fl.) the "soils" (i.e. sand...) won't hold water worth a toot, and a clay underlayment would be welcome. Always enjoy your videos! Thanks again!

Awesome video Pete! I loved the explanation of the different types of drainage systems and what works best where. Very helpful

I just learned something new, never too old to learn something new.

This was a very educational video and makes sense of what farmers in my area have done with drainage systems. I live in an area in the midwest where extensive tile drainage systems are the norm to maximize grain production. Over the past 40 years or more, farmers have went from tile "where there were wet spots" to pattern tiling the whole farm on 60' to 100' centers. New pattern tiling is typically put in on 30' to 40' spacing and often farmers are running another line to split the old 60' to 100' systems. In our area, the common phase is "you pay for tile whether you have it or don't have it''. The yield penalty for poor drainage is bigger as yield potential increases. Also, as grain farmers farm more and more land, they want to be able to get started early and keep going. They don't want to go around wet spots and come back a second time.

as a former excavation site superintendent I understood the different pipe and instalation methods but not the intracasies in reguard to soil type to achieve success, I find t's never to late nor is anyone to old learn something,,!! THANKS for sharing your knowledge and expertise Pete and Enjoy your day..!!

Drainage has been quite a challenge for us as I'm sure it has been for a lot of people. Thank you so much for your video on this. It was very helpful.

Hello Pete enjoyed your video I've put tile in so I've learned something today. Thankyou. Have a great day.

Pete I surely am happy when you have a video. I think of you and your wife, hoping that you both are doing great. Have a great day and weekend. Take care and enjoy the market

Pete kudos on your drainage design. Food for thought... while digging trench, imagine a sluice (1/8” to 1/4” fall) with a pipe to allow for periodic increased flows: however the trench bottom is constantly flowing. Great care in digging, crumbing out and slope in clay soils will pay off. The 30# felt is better with 6”” of straw and another layer of felt before backfill. This will again allow fora porous channel for rainwater to flow and filter sediment from clean rock. I learned this from my contractor dad, and there are drain systems I worked for him 4 decades ago that are still operational. I have used this design for the. 45 years of my own business. These drainage fields have outlasted the clients.

I live in a red clay region in West Virginia. I’ve been told by an old timer farmer that he always uses hay on the bottom then the pipe, then backfills with clay. He says it last a very long time. Sometimes he says you can just do hay by itself and leave out the pipe. That seems like a cheap and repeatable option

You live and learn. Life is an experiment. Great video

This was right up my alley, the true engineering situation behind it is always the fascinating part.

You explained it very well, Pete! I would have loved to have had a teacher/professor like you, in school!

Wow you are so smart. How interesting. Thanks so very much.

😯oh Pete you both rushed back to work too fast after being so sick! Take your time we'll be here when you get back next time! Appreciate your transparency and wisdom.

Pete , you never goofed up ! You were training for doing the actual job . I recently watched a farmer in Scotland on you tube whose field had developed wet patches and when he dug it out the old clay pipe drain had collapsed and he replaced the drain exactly how you explained you were doing . Very interesting and informative video 👍

I love watching your channel. It is entertaining, informative, relaxing and pleasant. As someone who lived on a farm as a kid it is also nostalgic. I will probably never be able to have my own farm but I love watching yours.

What a great video. Thank you, Pete.

Very,very informative. Great job, Pete, as always.

thanks for sharing your do over situations. and explaining drainage options.

Hi mate at the end of the day we are all human and we have to learn from our mistakes no matter how old you are all the best to you and your family and your friends.

Pete, this is a learning situation. In the UK we have a lot of clay lands and a simple solution used to drain clay soils is MOLE draining system. This involves running mole drains relatively close to each other and using a high horse power tractor to pull the mole through the soil at about 18” to 24” deep. No digging of trenches.

Love the development of the trench! Thanks for teaching us along the way!!

I'm really enjoying your drainage project. My brother and I did something similar on the family farm. We had two trenches dug and 4" perforated pipe with crushed #2 stone on top, covering it 4" to 6" deep. We had weed block fabric (its what what he had on hand) over that them back filled. Our water was coming from a spring above this area, so our drainage goal was to get the water down to the pipe from the surface. So far, so good.

That's awesome! Thank you so much for the lesson in drainage Pete! I appreciate it! Blessings!

thank you Pete, you really are a teacher .

I love, love, love learning from you. And your honesty and thinking process. TY.

Mechanical engineer here...I'm not a civil guy but your explanation makes sense to me. Very good explanation Pete

My comment is concerning one of your videos in MarchI think. You showed us how you cooked a piece of pork belly. I followed your advice today with outstanding results. My husband said it was possibly the best pork belly he’d had in a long long time. So…. Thank You very much.

I was wondering about that. Seems to me, you would be better off bringing in a minimal amount of fill after scraping off the top soil, adding the fill to create a level above the surrounding pasture, and then reapplying the top soil. Depending on the pasture grasses, they might be able to get roots back into the subsoil, and a well drained fill will not hold the water the clay will, in winter.

Pete, I really enjoyed this video about installing draining pipe in clay soil! Great knowledge in your presentation!

Pete, you didn’t throw a joke in this one! I NEED IT! Hahaha great informative video!

Back in the day doing septic systems, laying orangeburg then reg sch 40 perfect plastic, we'd cover the stone bed with a generous layer of wheat straw. My home system was done that way, although she got the mine,... so far as I'm aware that still works from 65. It is however in porous ground. Thanks for sharing Pete. Enjoy your videos. Blessings 🇺🇲👍😎

This was the most informative you tube video I have ever seen. Thank you for preparing this and sharing your vast knowledge

So very well done. I started my career in agricultural drainage and later with water quality issues. I share your “code” concerns. I worked with creative problem solving and in a situation where codes were everything. The code world was confining and frustrating. Thank you for your very thoughtful and insightful explanation.

Excellent lesson on drainage solutions. Thank you for the detailed explanation.

Videos are the best need two videos a week and some more restoration videos very helpful and extremely informative thank you and entertaining 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Most informative drainage video I've ever seen. Will be very helpful on our farm. We have clay soils in western PA also. Thanks, Pete.