French Drain 16 Months Post-Install Update: Drought and Clay Soil Fissures in Central Texas
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- Опубликовано: 12 окт 2023
- It has been 16 months since I installed my backyard French Drain.
This was a really fun project to work on, and really helpful for our yard. Since the installation, the standing water in my backyard has disappeared and the misquotes have gone with it. Now that its been nearly a year and a half, I decided to make an update showing the post-drought season's impact on the French Drain.
As the video shows, the drought in central Texas has caused fissures to open up in the clay soil of my backyard. These fissures are swallowing some of the granite used for the french drain!
This is common for central Texas and a good reminder to keep your home's foundation watered.
Thanks again for watching Austin Texas Gardening!
#austintexas #landscaping #heatwaves #drought
If you haven't seen the french drain installation video, it is here:
ruclips.net/video/JsV4fFDxM9s/видео.htmlsi=XuuFqHGOquj5K8Bw
Woah those fissures are scary
Texas clay soil for you
I actually liked it with the rocks showing.
I liked it too, but now that it’s starting to get overgrown I’m thinking about putting sod on top of it
Looks exactly like the issues I have with my backyard in Elgin, TX. I have been filling in the openings with gravel and sand so it could mix into the clay soil when rain will expand soil again. Also did the same to the gaps at foundation of the house, which is a long-term solution as opposed to watering around the foundation. I used free wood chips to re-grade my backyard and hopefully improve drainage.
Ive heard that you should not fill these cracks near your home's foundation, when the soil rehydrates, the additional pressure can result in a crack
watering your foundation is crazy
Great update thanks
Thanks for watching!
Thank you 😊
Thanks for watching!
Thanks much
You're welcome!
DANG! Thanks for the update! I'm sorry you encountered this problem. Hopefully the extra granite will fix it for you!
I'm curious if there's anyway to collect the excess water you get to save for the dry months? Like burying large containers in the ditch outside your gate to catch it all or something..? I'm sure that would probably end up being difficult and/or costly to achieve... Plus it would probably end up being another possible mosquito breeding ground :-( Oh well, I guess.
Its not a bad idea, and yes I'm sure its possible. Something that I dont have the budget to invest in for now
@@AustinTexasGardeningI feel you on that! I think when we finally install our french drain we will also need to line it with hardware cloth first, as we have gophers.... or moles... or voles... or SOMETHING tunneling ALL OVER! 😟 ...It's gonna add a "pretty penny" to do so!
Ive been thinking about doing this
Its a lot of work, but worth it!
if you close the outlet with a cap, water is captured in the pipe, no? i don't see no holes or gaps from that cap where water suppose to come out. What am i not seeing or missing?
It's a pop-up cap. So the when the water fills up the pipe, the pressure of it pushes the cap up, thus letting the water out. It pops back down if there isn't enough pressure from the water, so you don't have to constantly worry about mosquitoes and the like
As another user commented, it’s a pop-up cap, but it doesn’t work very well, I’ve only seen it pop up on one occasion where it was absolutely flooding and my backyard was still full of water despite the French drain. For the most part, the water pools at the southern end of the drain, but I’m okay with that, the majority of storms, the drain keeps the water out of my yard
How have you found the increased water flow from the outlet of the drain to the street (when there isn't a drought, of course)? Are there any signs of increased erosion or other problems?
Not that I’ve noticed, when the rain is very heavy and lasts for days, water will pool on the east side of my yard, but nothing like it used to be
Would it be useful in any way to fill up the fissures? Especially with a different soil material that can aid the percolation of water?
Edit: oh just read the earlier comments.
Not sure which comment you are thinking about, but I would say, if the fissures are close to the house definitely do not because when the soil is rehydrated, this could result in pressure on your foundation. If the fissures are elsewhere, it is unnecessary.
Personally, I have not done anything to fill the spaces where granite is missing, I think I will add more granite in the spring for aesthetic purposes, but im also considering putting sod over the whole thing to match the rest of the yard
I have the same issue major run off especially when u water garden
If you have standing water, I highly recommend considering installing a french drain. Its a lot of work, but its worth it!
@@AustinTexasGardening nice video cus it cuts through a lot of the jargon and is just a dude lol. that said, i have watched 5 million french drain vids and you didnt necessarily do the "standard procedure" They usually use a strong black fabric called I think landscape fabric, vs that thin sock you used. Then they also wrap around the rocks, thats called the burrito wrap. The rocks and pipe are all wrapped together. Another thing is yours is pretty shallow, I think they usually recommend at least 18" deep. The thing is I've read a million ways to do it such that I barely care anymore, I think if you bury some pipe and some rocks its gonna work lol.
Also that river of water between the houses is basically what I have in heavy rains. Unfortunately it cuts pretty close to my front porch. But your video shows me thats probably how it was intended to be and not some terrible defect, so thats nice. So i'd say if I accept the temporary stream during the rain as normal, my issue is theres a patch of land right in front of my yard (where the stream after heavy rains runs) that never dries out except for like 3 months in summer. So hopefully an eventual french drain I plan to build will solve that "soggy" area.
I had a guy from a irrigation company come out and look at it and he implied it would be at least 5k for them to do it. Sounds about right. i priced out the materials at 600 a while back, def worth to do myself. the actual french drain i will do will run i believe 30-40 feet, then i just have to run a straight drainage pipe another 30+ feet to a culvert in back, that last 30 feet will be easy since it slopes well and I will only need to bury it a few inches deep. but the 30-40 feet I have to dig 18" will be an absolute bear. I've dug up some fenceposts in my yard and honestly the ground is almost rock hard clay. I think it might be dang near impossible or very slow to hand dig. so to that end i'm thinking if i can get some guy to come out and just dig me a 40 foot trench with a heavy equipment (not the trenchers, I think they dig too shallow a trench) for say 1k, i think that will be worth it. Then I can lay the pipe, rocks, dig the 30 feet few inches deep drain line out back to connect to the french drain, and all the rest.
Interesting you used bagged rock as well, like from home depot. That would certainly be easier but more expensive. i was figuring i would have to buy a pickup truckload from a rock yard to be cost effective. We'll see I guess.
a lot of guys online say those socks/landscape fabric will get silted up over time/years and the entire drain will "have to be cleaned out" whatever that means.. i have no idea but there doesnt seem to be a way around it. i guess the alternative would be just rocks and no pipe wrap. but i'm gonna go with burrito wrap because thats the typical way and i figure there must be a reason. I guess the stated reason is to "keep roots out". Shrug.
Last issue I cant wrap my head around is, the videos will say you can only put like 2-3" of soil back on top of the drain, or water wont drain through that soil (makes sense). but that means its not deep enough for grass to take good root, and in the summer you'll have a brown strip of dead grass. You avoided that entirely by just doing a trench of open gravel which works for you cus it's tucked away. My problem area is in the front. Again I dont think theres really any solution though. I might have to just live with a gravel channel or a strip of dead grass in my front yard, dont see a way around it.
That's some very Expansive Soil. My sandy loam only shrinks 1/8th of an inch.
Oh yeah, not even the worst fissures I’ve seen, there are some gnarly ones by a drainage ditch in my neighborhood
I would not have them two trees that close to your drain. Gonna be a problem as the roots search for water and find in less than a foot away.
How much did it cost to make this French drain?
About $200 but you could do it for less if you buy your granite from a soil yard instead of by the bag at Home Depot
It sounds like you need a cistern for the dry season.
Not a bad idea, some of my neighbors have done rain barrels as well
your soil may use lots of compost
Don’t use rock. Fill with corse sand except to replace rock around french drain.
Never do that. The sand will work it's way into the drain and blind it plus it is an impediment to free flow of water into the drain. And yes, I do these for a living.
@@iwastoldtherewouldbenomath6869
So your solution is to fill all the holes in his yard with rock? Pretty sure the owner would rather go back to an occasional soggy yard than to turn his backyard into a rock quarry.
@@micahwest5347 How many of these have you actually installed? My guess is zero.
@@iwastoldtherewouldbenomath6869 so you confirm your solution is more rock?
@@micahwest5347 Why would you use sand? Also, proper placement of the drain system mitigate any issues with ponding.
Your position that occasional ponding is acceptable is indicative of someone who knows nothing about it.
granite? i think some regular gravel would be cheaper and efficient
Gravel and River rock work as well, as long as it is porous and at least 1cm pieces, it will work well!
@@AustinTexasGardening Well, I really thought the clay would plug up your drain. So, that didn't happen. I called a guy in the yellow pages and got an estimate for a French drain across my backyard. He wanted ten thousand dollars. Hahahaha. I fixed it pretty much myself by digging two narrow trenches across the yard and throwing yard waste into them. Somebody told me if you throw sand in with the yard waste, it will become a nice soil. I still am always dealing with little erosion problems starting up, because I am on a slope at the bottom of a hill and a lot of water comes down through my yard in a storm.