Today we finally take care of our French drain capacity problems as well as some erosion issues with the pond ***Affiliate Link to all our favorite tools www.amazon.com... Email us at hometownacres@outlook.com
Would loved to have seen you utilize the French drain man’s burrito wrapped French drain application to move that water toward the pond. Thanks, Adam for the videos.
Same concern. Without a liner that French drain will silt up and stop working entirely once it's filled the pipes with dirt. I just replaced a French drain that's why I learned this. My perf pipes were packed 100% full of dirt. You gotta wrap the gravel in drain fabric to keep the dirt migrating into the gravel and then pipes
Nice video series. Just a suggestion, but when you run solid pipe like that in a ditch and the bottom of that pipe isn't supported with gravel or very compacted soil, but rather has many hollow voids beneath the pipe like yours had, then when you dump dirt on top to back fill it and start driving over it with an excavator, you run a fairly good chance of either bowing the pipe or breaking it. Hopefully it wasn't the latter. Have a great day, and hopefully you'll be able to enjoy your pond to the max some day without any worries. Best of luck!
Nice job with a French drain Adam. I think that every day should be national Doug appreciation Day. I have said it before and I really mean it that you are very lucky to have Doug as a neighbor and good friend. Stay safe and healthy. Bill H from Cranberry Township
project idea: How about making a water depth gauge that mounts to the vertical overflow pipe? It would basically be a yard stick. This would allow you to see how high/low the water level is at a glance. If you decided to collaborate with Neighbor Dough, maybe incorporate a mechanism that would automatically raise as the water level rises. Therefore you can see your maximum water level each year.
Brother, you have the patience of Job with your your pond! Second, your skill level set with your excavator has expeditiously gotten so much better in the short time you've owned it. You handle that thing like a boss! Great job, and video!
Congratulations on the pond holding water. I’ve always said that the greatest gift you can give your kids is to teach them about hard work and perseverance. With those two things, a person can accomplish just about anything with the tincture of time. Never Give Up is our family’s mantra. Someone taught you the same lessons. Congratulations again.
I remember commenting when you finished that french drain that you had better put in a small swale to handle overlow like this. Even with the huge pipe you should put in a swale that diverts the excess surface water around the pond, you already know where the water likes to run now. You won't always struggle to fill and keep this pond filled.
Once the pond fills in, you should put a geotextile protect rock lined-ditches at the drainage and water fill points to protect the bank. Or bury some flexible pipe to exit under the waterline.
Awesome pond update. You were talking about adding sand for your beach area the dnr in Michigan handles that in the winter when the water is frozen. They spread a large thick plastic layer on the frozen water trucks in sand to spread on top of the plastic and as the ice melts the plastic and sand fall to the bottom. 🤔
Your proficiency on the excavator is amazing for the limited seat time you have. Excellent work and very enjoyable video as always. Shout out to neighbor Doug for his tips and tricks that made it all that much easier.
I used to run a PC27 and loved that machine and maybe 1 day I can find a deal on a used one. I have a small test pond I clay lined and also rain water cut right through the clay. I actually wanted to get some pond liner and put some sand stone over it to help slow the water down saving my clay liner.
I'd line the remaining dry area with coarse bentonite instead of any other clay and plant vetiver grass lines in the area that ends to the French drain and all around the pond. That way, there'll be no runoff
Great progress on the ponds final touch ups! Adam, You do a great job of explaining things for us viewers to enjoy. Glad to see that the pond is holding water during this past dry spell and with the wet season on the way I’m sure that the final top up is just weeks away. From what we know about Doug he is very deserving of an appreciation day. Bravo to you both! I almost forgot….who says that an accountant can’t be taught to become a competent equipment operator? 👍👍 Harry 🇨🇦
Adam, good morning! You and Doug are the quintessential dream team. There’s literally nothing you can’t accomplish together. It will be fun and informative to see the results. It’s be raining and drizzling here in Iowa so it’s headed your way. See you in the next episode.
Thanks Jim. Just went out to check on it. Not enough rain yet to over run the 4” pipe so I’m waiting for a downpour to test that 6” pipe. We’ve got about a half inch but it’s coming down slowly. No downpours so far
How about grass seeding the surround to stabilize the Top and stop the clay washing in(maybe reeds) Would look much better too. Probably too late for this year but come spring...
Nice work! Thanks for sharing this project! I'm leaning so much to apply to my own pond, which has been delayed for pretty much EVERY possible reason, but should be starting in the next few weeks. Can't wait!
Hey Adam, the pond is looking good. I would consider a catch basin at the end of your french drain and have the discharge pipes enter that. Does you drain tile vent on the upstream side? Need to give air some place to go to help get full capacity.
Yes, honestly surprised to see the end of that 6" pipe just buried in gravel. I would want the extra catch basin and yard drain grate for cleanout access
We are building out a clay lined pond in central Texas that is similar in size, with a similar amount of runoff, and a similar lack of shade. This summer was brutal- very minimal rain and lots of evaporation. So we ran 500’ of hose down to the pond and started pumping a similar amount of water as you’re currently putting in your pond (we’re estimating 5-6 gallons per minute) to keep water levels stable. Something we’re unsure about though is how much of our water is being lost due to evaporation vs a leak. You mentioned you’re pumping 4 gpm from your stream. That would mean if you are keeping the water level constant, you are losing close to 6000 gallons a day to evaporation. I’ve heard evaporation can be a killer, and maybe that amount is fairly negligible considering the total number of gallons in the pond, but it’s enough to get my brother and I brainstorming ways to reduce sun and wind exposure.
Goodness gracious, that pond is such a blessing to us... it's making for great videos!! 😉 I know it's been a lot of work for you, but you've been tough & tackled every problem - impressive!! And, y'all are going to have so much fun on/in it!! God bless you and your family! Thanks for another well-edited, great video! 👍💗🙏
GOOOOOD SATURDAY MORNING EVERYONE!!!… a wash out kind of day here in Virginia Beach…. Adam (& Neighbor Doug)… nice work! Hoping it does what it is supposed to. Thanks for sharing Have a day!
Great video. I appreciate that you and Doug share the knowledge with me. I'll be releasing a video tomorrow about putting in a French drain - and I already wish I had seen this video with ditch digging tips before did that project and I shot that video!
One thing to consider is that even though you have a 6" pipe, with the grate on the front it's probably closer to the flow capability of a 3" pipe. You can only flow as much as the greatest restriction will allow, so once you add gravel, along with the grating on the pipe - it's not like flow out of a storm sewer vault or something......it's going to flow much less than a 6" pipe is capable of. This is even more true when the restriction is at the inlet, as you don't have the benefit of the pressure of water behind it forcing it out (like if you had the grate at the other end). In other words....path of least resistance - if bubbling up and flowing across the ground is less resistance than going through the rocks that are up against the pipe and that grate on the end of the pipe....it might not take as much of a heavy rain as you think to make it overcome that setup.
I think the rocks look great for the drain, SO much better then black plastic tubes. I think the whole pond would look great with a border of stone everywhere but the beach area, but that may just be me.
Just be warned: that 6" pipe is gonna behave like a MUCH smaller pipe, since the inlet is so restricted. I'd say at least 50% of it is blocked, so it'll probably be even less effective than a fully open 4" pipe. I understand you need something to prevent stuff from entering the pipe, but that small screen cap is not an effective way of doing it. You paid for 6" pipe that you're never gonna be able to fully use. My personal suggestion would be to just drill a lot of holes in the part of the pipe that sticks out and put some kind of filter sock over it, or find a special made end that does have the right amount of inlet area. Quick calculation: a 6" (assuming inner diameter) pipe has an inlet area of 28.3 square inches. I'd say you'd want your inlet area to be at least that, and just to be safe even slightly above that. To put the surface area into context, that's roughly 144 1/2" holes, or 576 1/4" holes. Also, please do show us that rock water feature in a heavy rain if you get the chance, it's always fun to see water running the way it should.
I would be interesting to know how you calculated catchment vs watershed that you aren't diverting surface run out. Im coming off like a dweeb... how are you preventing sediment/silt build up? Very cool place dude.
That 6" pipe should help a lot. Hopefully you got some good rain today. The same system just dumped 3" at my place in MN yesterday. I'm curious if you had a major rain event, say 2-4 inches, how much your pond would fill.
This has been a dream of mine and im glad you laid out a complete roadmap on how to build the pond being said that i have a few questions i hope you find time to answer 1.) will the water turn bad as its mostly stagnant, or have you made some kind of circulation to keep it fresh and clean say once a year or so? 2.) i live in india a very hot region and so its common for the water bodies to dry up during summers, so what can we do to keep the water level constant? 3.) my land i very close to a huge river can i take advantage of some kind? id really appreciate if you answer thanks
I have no experience with the kind of stuff you’re doing with the pond. But I was surprised that you just didn’t connect both the 4” an 6” pipes directly to the perf pipe. Seems simpler to me. Lol But great job and you’re really getting good with the excavator!!
@@HometownAcres Install a drain basin that will have much more surface area for seepage from surrounding gravel, have a yard grate on top for anything that might bubble up out of the ground, and will allow a fully open 6" pipe and cleanout access
