As an Electrician, I have been involved with many trenching operations, not just limited to Electrical. One of the funnier things I heard was that, here in King County WA, we were required, for a while, to fill any sewer trenches with River Rock. As a result, the sewer lines going to the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) were acting as French Drains, channelling groundwater from the surrounding countryside directly to the Plant. So, we switched over to filling the trenches with crushed rock, and compacted it, because these trenches needed to be stable, generally following roads (down the middle!), and/or crossing underneath them. This acted like a dam and prevented the natural flow of water through the soil, resulting in a soupy swamp arising uphill from the trench. The solution, as I understood it, was to have River Rock for 20', and then a 3' band of compacted crushed rock, with mandatory compacted crushed rock for road crossings. This allowed for the natural flow of groundwater around the sewer line, while preventing the funnelling of it to the STP.
King County is hilly and the folks there never understood ground drainage. They will put basements on hillsides and not understand why they flood. It's because the rain flows on the surface and just under it but above the hardpan soil which is only a couple feet below grade and nearly entirely impervious. A basement creates a bathtub even at a high elevation. There's a similar problem with these trenches they struggle with. The linear depression in the hardpan forms an underground stream. They should either try to restore the imperviousness to the previous level or just give the stream an outlet to a body of water. Sounds like instead, they are mixed up and switching back and forth.
@@zane43 And let's mention all the houses in flood plains that have basements, like, say, the entire Kent Valley, and the flatlands of Puyallup as just a couple examples. My Landlord is a Licensed Contractor, and made himself a new road on his farm. He basically cut a ditch 3' deep to make this "Driveway." Now he's driving across wet clay and complaining about the mess. And he's too cheap to buy any crushed rock to put on it. Our Glacial Till is a trip.
The entire Puget Sound Basin is a mess when it comes to ground water control - and so are the codes that stipulate how to deal with it. The counties here will issue a building permit on virtually any slope, just to increase the property taxes.
A lot of people don’t like the fabric because it can easily get clogged up after a few years of grass/roots growing into the fabric. When it does this (which it will with the type of grass we have here) the water won’t drain down through the sod. With that said, you clarify that the drain is mostly intended to drain the water that is in the ground, not the water on top. For this I think it’s more important to keep the pipe free of dirt and roots and the fabric should help with that.
i can't explain how much you inspire me to install a drain. i'm nervous as heck that i will get it wrong but with your videos i feel i'm prepared to try. THANK You
Thanks for the video. It's about 18 years too late, lol I remember arguing with someone having me install pipe for them they wanted holes up to catch the water and carry it away. I had to start packing up to leave. I said I would absolutely not install it wrong. That was a crummy morning. This video is proof to show people who don't understand ground water is what makes surface water. Thx
that's TRUE! i did see one video put up by AppleGate that had a certain type of soil (clay maybe) that did not allow water to sink beyond 3 inches below the surface. as they dug it up, it was dry soil below 3 inches which makes the case for a catch basin in addition to french drain.
Hard pipe wrapped with gravel that is wrapped with fabric. The hard smooth perforated pipe can clear itself out with a good flow, corrugated does not do as well. The amount of dirt filled corrugated I have seen, and replaced, has convinced me I will never willingly install corrugated in a drain.
Its all relevant to the environment and the job its required to do. Regardless it will have a lifespan. The only ones I have had to fix were caused by owners and landscapers damaging them. The only silt filled ones I found were from improper slope. I told those customers you can jet it out every three or four years or we get a bid going to dig it out and replace.
Based on personal experience after going thru three hurricanes and water runoff from three neighboring properties. I would say ‘hell yes’ the French drains with that peanut and fabric cover is worth its weight in gold. It’s works very very well. I would say I would put gravel over the top of the pipe. It’s allows better water follow thru and run off and drainage.
About 13 years ago I installed around my house 1 inch perforated PVC pipe, only in gravel, no fabric. Keep working flawless till now,. The flow is as good as in first day, the water gets drained very fast after a strong rain.
I dont doubt what you say is true but eventually the surrounding soil will percolate into the spaces between the gravel and clog the drain. Geotextile keeps most of that soil out so the drain will last much longer; thats why its done.
@@supernom The surface area of the textile is much greater than the surface area of the pipe, so it can keep working even if partially clogged. Civil Engineers use Geotex all the time, and for good reason.
Fabric enclosing the pipe at the bottom of the fabric with 14'' or so inches of 1.5'' clean cobble, all wrapped in the fabric, - then the silt, clay, and other small grain soil goes/flows through the fabric with rainfall events and flows through the french drain, and on the outside of the fabric there will be larger grit soil particles, which are beneficial to the drain system@@supernom
This is merely my opinion, and it won't matter to you now, but maybe someone else reads this: I don't use socks around the pipes because I would rather have dirt migrate into the pipe where water will carry it away or you can snake it. Even though the gravel is "washed," there is still plenty of sediment on it. I do think filter fabric lining the trench is mandatory for longevity. And ALWAYS install a clean out at the top!
@@SeanBaker God bless, man. Hope you get many years use out of yours. I think much depends on the nature of the soil. My new place has great, sandy soil, but there is no elevation to make a drain work. Unless of course I want to deal with an outdoor sump pump. There is no risk of the house flooding, and the flooding disappears in less than 24 hours, so I think this time around I'm just going to let nature do it's thing. The first couple torrential downpours, where I could have paddled a canoe around the yard, were a bit stressful, but I've been assured by all my neighbors that even the worst hurricane in the neighborhood (Sally) didn't flood the houses here out. Anyways....cheers, and have a great weekend.
By using a sock on just the pipe that is the smallest surface area compared to placing the fabric between the drain rock and the clay. A smaller surface area would clog up faster with any silt materials from the clay. So in theory the gravel should remain functional longer with the filter fabric on the outside of the gravel. The sock only protects the drain pipe and not the gravel. Once the gravel clogs the drain pipe is pretty useless. I’m planning on placing the appropriate clay soil geotextile fabric between the gravel and soil to protect the gravel/drain rock from clogging up. I’m thinking of using the 1-1/2” rounded rock (with minimum fines) because that has bigger spaces between the rocks for better drainage. Bigger spaces will drain faster and it rains 75”/year here in Crescent City, CA so the water volume is huge in a 4” rainstorm. Locals have described 7” of rain in a single storm! I’ll run the gravel to the surface to also catch ground run-off and place catch basins every 30’ or so to enhance surface water collection but to importantly double as clean outs to deal with clogs. I read that 1 catch basin is equivalent to 40’ of French drain. I worry about corrugated pipe getting torn up with a big snake’s cutter head; ie catching on the ridges and the corrugated pipes are all relatively thin. So I plan to invest in the thick walled and smooth schedule 40 PVC. I looked at the high octane corrugated pipe but the shipping to the west coast was 3x the cost of the pipe! $500 to ship a 100’ coil is outrageous!
For draining surface water from my orchards, I have found it beneficial to lay weed fabric down, then cover with gravel. Within a couple of years, the grasses grow over the whole thing, and it turns muddy spots into dry land, via the drainage the gravel provides. The grass cover then allows easy orchard floor work.
I wrongly never put fabric around the 1 1/2” stone I used in my drain system. After a couple years I had places where dirt fines filled the side and top layer of stone and it prevents the water from getting into the French drain especially in winter when those places freeze. I brought my stone to the surface because if I put the sod back on it would prevent the surface water from going in when it freezes. Wish I knew to use the fabric when I did the work. Never thought enough soil and fines would work their way in between that 1 1/2” stone to a point it’s blocking water flow. Stone is so big I can’t shovel and clean it out. Backhoe would probably destroy the pipe if I used that. Lesson learned I guess.
My father put a french drain in the unfinished basement. He did not use fabric (id don't know if they wrapped it the 70's. Anyway it worked well for 30 years. Water started to perk up in the center of the basement and I ran a snake into it. It was clogged with mud.
Now you tell us!!! You preached corrugated drain pipe before now you change it up after I installed 300ft of it. 2 years ago. No worries it still works.
I'm a 70 yr old woman and I can't tell which way is correct. I've watched many of both these and the French Drain Man's and they are both so different. I wonder if it has to do with climate.
Thanks for advice I will use this for my drain, have a field at the back of us about 2mtrs above our ground and when it rains with the slope water had been collecting behind causing waterlogged ground , I’ll need approx 50 ‘ to go full length and down side to bottom of drive which slopes away . Thanks for your time and sharing .
I put perf PVC hole side up where pipe is next to house, then hole side down where I want the water to percolate into the soil. The whole point is to move the water away from the house, and since my gutters drain into the system, I don't need to percolate right next to my basement. I actually have a catchment basin at the end to keep my koi pond full. Obviously the stone and fabric will allow water to carry around for any blockages. No floods in my basement since I installed.
Awesome to see in action! You can have the concept in your head, but when you see it it "clicks" a little better. You also want some slope on the tubing, right?
Personally I find using any geotex fabric a waste of money . In time it forms a barrier to water ingress ,if for example you have clay or heavy soil ,,the same goes for corrugated pipe ,the ribs collect debris which builds up in time causing blockages . Smooth bore pipe eliminates all of that accelerating the water flow the longer the stretch ,Its the sizeof stone that is the factor .
Another important standard is to NOT use perforated pipe once you are out of the area needing drainage. I have seen multiple times where they used perforated pipe the whole way and all it did was transfer groundwater to another location underground and causing slips.
A French drain does not have pipe in it, they are made entirely out of rock or stone. A drain uses solid pipe and a weeper uses pipe with holes or slit, a weeper can also be wrapped in a “sock” or not. Schools out!
Fantastic video! Wow! The PVC moved that water so much more rapidly! Proof PVC is better in most circumstances, easier to clean and will last longer. Very important to have the gravel and fabric too as proven. 👍
Depends on the application…. I have PVC carry water (from downspouts) about 6-8’ from house to corrugated, perforated drainage pipe buried in planting beds and then to street/storm drain.
PVC pipe will be better in transporting water the corrugated pipe. But does that matter? If it is not over capacity and it is just a question how how long it takes to transport away the water, does it matter if the water after a rain is drained in 1 versus 2 hours? Solip PVC pipe transports water faster because it has smooth internals. The drawback is that you can bend PVC pipe, that's what corrugated pipe is designed for. Both exist in perforated and no perforated variants. So better is a question of what you prioritized and the intended paths of the pipe. If it is in a straight line versus if there is lots of bend will change what is better or at least simplest and cheapest to install.
during storm, our backyard is flooding and looking for a solution. I watched many channels about French drain and like it, also curious how does it work? Your video answered that. Thank you
Probably whatever allows you to maintain a minimum 1% slope (required for wster to drain) all the way to the outlet. If you're asking about how much material should be between the surface of the ground and the top of the pipe I'm not sure
We dig according to the frost line,or if installed at footer.we go just below the depth of the footer,so the water flows at a lower level Than the top of footer,Works good for us,we use lots of gravel,im talking several tons around a 2200 square foot home,
I did something similar last year behind a good sized retaining wall. The ground leading up to it has a little ground running down to the wall so it catches a lot of water from the yard and even overflow from the street sometimes. I was worried about the wall's stability over time with too much water piled up behind it so I put a bunch of stone at the base, the perf pipe, more stone and then covered it with fabric before back filling. The wall is filled with stone also so I figure any water that makes to the wall will drain down to the pipe and eventually out from the behind the wall. All I can say so far is the wall hasn't moved and I am not a civil engineer.
I think it's only important for the PVC version with holes on the bottom. French Drain Man uses a corrugated pipe with knife cuts all around and recommends not putting rocks underneath.
I've used the black weed fabric to wrap the "burrito". It degrades in a few years. Does the green fabric last longer? Is there something really heavy duty so I don't have to redo the system?
I want to install a footer tile in my crawl space. The ground is clay, to wrap the pipe or not wrap the pipe? I've also seen conflicting videos on just setting pipe directly in the trench vs. setting a base of gravel then the pipe?
My downspout drain from the back of the house goes to the street in buried 4-inch corrugated pipe, under my side yard. But two of the downspouts of a neighbor also hook into this main line out to the street. A common thing in this development, they tell me. So the pipe can't hold all 3 feeds, and rainwater floods my yard through the pipe junctions. I thought I might French drain it, but the "soil" is all black clay and won't perk at all. Should I run a gravel trench the whole way, or what? Have repaired these pipes in several places, and thanks for showing me how. You're right, Lowe's has more than Home Depot in this department.
Did it handle the water at one time? Maybe the pipe needs to be cleaned out? If it never worked well due to volume then I'd just disconnect from your common line and run a line just for your house. Add a yard drain if you need it.
Ah.. From someone who does real testing in commercial systems, I'd suggest doing more stress testing with video, like adding leaves, small pebbles and mud with grass in the pipes. The manufacture claim that's the advantage of corrigated over straight pipe.. You showed how both work in perfect world..we need to see debris in it and worst case so we know when each case benefits..
The real testing is letting these systems go for a year and then looking at their output quantity as well as quality of water coming out. The type of gravel you use could also greatly affect the effectiveness of these systems.
@@BobDevV yea, I'm in exactly the same boat... I did it as per spec but after years feel straight is better..they claim the ridges create turbulence that creates a self cleaning effect but I agree that if it does, it is outweighed by sediment accumulation trashing up the line.. And to your very point water stayn in those spaces is bad all the way around.. I think its just cheaper and they tryn to justify it with excuses..
Wow that PVC flows really nice! I never liked the perforated pipe myself.. Interested in the grass, are you missing a layer of top soil? Cause that grass won’t grow. Thinking on my French drain to just have 57 stone and then river rock on top, no soil or grass to containment the system.
Great vids but there's one thing that I don't understand... I can see how these systems work when newly installed, but why doesn't the mesh on any drain tube get blocked with sand, clay/soil etc or the slots/holes get blocked up (without mesh) until it doesn't flow (just like a vacuum cleaner bag or filter getting blocked up)?
That's what the fabric is for. To filter that out so it doesn't get into the perforations. Of course. What prevents the fabric from clogging up is the next question 😉
@@DannyBowen25 Not the next question. It was the analogy used in my 1st question - copy/paste "(just like a vacuum cleaner bag or filter getting blocked up)"
I don't like corrugated piping because it holds water in the small ridges which can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I prefer smooth, perforated piping for that reason in my area.
Thx, Australia we call them subsoil drains… black slotted pipe is known as ag pipe / agricultural pipe, socked or unsocked. Plus the good old rubble drain .
I have watched a few videos on french drains and this is definitely the best! My only concern is laying sod directly back onto pipe with out any base soil for sod?
put drain rock over the pipe, enclosed with fabric, so that none of the soil flows into the system. I'd use a layer of sand over the fabric then another layer of fabric before adding soil, as a buffer for the roots.
If you put stone under the French Drain pipe water will accumulate in the stone and will not run off in the pipe. I think the pipe should lay on the fabric at the bottom of the trench. This was all the water enters the pipe and drains away.
You are watching too many false videos! We wrote the book on Rainwater Drainage! Over 60 million views and helping so many people every day! Don’t be fooled by some random guy that does 8 jobs a year and puts down everyone that installs drains!! Thanks for your comment
@@appledrains With all due respect, you didn't answer the question. Can you lay the pipe on the fabric? If the answer is no, then please state why not. I'd like to know because this is a project I will be doing in the very near future and I want to make sure I do it right the first time. Thanks.
Not sure the video answers this specifically. If you put the drain on top of fabric the water at the base can only go through the very small areas of fabric next to the pipe holes at the pipe base and tiny soil particles will quickly block these fabric areas , so then only the holes higher up the pipe circumference can take water that has gone through the much larger areas of fabric and through the large volume of stone. Putting stone under the pipe will hold some water there but it does not matter as beneath the pipe will be full of water if it is soil, sand or anything else.
@@ColinCarFanYou're absolutely right their video does not touch on why the gravel below the pipe is important. I'll tell you why as the guy from Apple drains, here, is too proud to admit that they don't in the video. Basically, the stone gravel isn't permeable and this allows the water to rise up relatively free of soil particles thus aiding the movement and flow of water into and along the drainpipes interior channel.
According to this video, the perforated PVC pipe moves water faster. The holes are only at the bottom of the pipe because as the water fills in the trench under the pipe, the water level in the trench rises. Once the water level hits the holes on the bottom of the pipe, the water will enter the pipe and the pipe will carry the water away (via the central bottom section of the pipe, between the two holes). Water rises from the bottom of the trench - hence why the holes are at the bottom of the pipe.
Thanks for the demonstration. I'm wondering if anyone ever used groundwater or surface collected water to move away to a different point in the garden and use for irrigation in a dripping system? I need to install a french pipe in my garden but I won't be able to direct the pipes into an IBC tank due to difficult terrain and placement of the tanks themselves. So I'm thinking I'll try and accumulate the rainwater in solid pipes close to my raised beds where I'm able to open a tap and water them when needed. My only concern with this solution is low water pressure and simply using gravity, but for a dripping system this might be more than enough. Has anyone got a similar solution? Thanks!
@@greadore I suggest you Stop watching the Moron in Michigan. He has no idea what he talking about.. but fabric is not needed unless your in a sandy soil. I would use StaGreen. Available at Lowe’s
Hey my wife and I just recently bought property and had a trailer put on it but our yard is flooding something awful I really don’t know how to fix the situation if anyone has any insight I will gladly hear it
Put a catch basin in the middle of where the flood is, have solid pipe running from it to a discharge area with a pop up emitter. Make sure your slope is down hill, because water runs down hill, if you don’t have the slope to do so you will need to use a sump pump.
Scrape away topsoil where water is building up and set aside for gardening. Dig a pond, and mound that dirt up as a hill twice the area of your trailer. Park the trailer on your new hill. Grade the property to drain away from your home. Dig a drain system around your home and feed it to drain into the pond. Dig a pit at the lowest edge of your property and fill with gravel. You can set a simple solar pump in the gravel pit to top off your pond daily.
Great... for a season or two but if you want it to last make sure to cover the landscape fabric with at least a couple of inches of straw. Straw transmits moisture without carrying silt which will eventually fill up both situations offered here. Start with a bed of straw, lay fabric on top, then 3/4 washed crushed stone then lay your pipe, more stone, wrap with fabric and cover with straw. You're welcome.
@@anthonyelledge7475 Left on the surface yes but can last decades when deprived of oxidation and even when decomposed creates a path for water transmission.
@@anthonyelledge7475 Trust me. It works. They use straw to transmit water in highway construction. It was used on the TransCanada highway going through the swampland in Burnaby BC. It leaves behind a permanent pathway.
Great idea and I absolutely believe it will too. I think I'm going to try it with my French drain too that I'm planning to install very soon. Thanks for the suggestion. 👍
That I suppose depends where you are running the pipe. If it is going into bare soil, then it would need to be covered. If as in the video the turf/sod has been removed properly it can just be replaced . Good quality turf will have the roots in the layer just below the grass.
Anywhere I have added a French drain grass does very poorly above it. I’m in Oregon so it will sometimes do okay in winter but craps out early in summer. Dandelions do okay over them.
I just hired a company to do a FD and he put the drain in and then put in the gravel. I fired him knowing the gravel had to go first, after watching this video. Unfortunately the pipe was too difficult to remove so I lifted the pipe as high as I could and shoved as much gravel underneath as I could. Hope it works. Lots of videos show workers placing the pipe over dirt - no gravel and no fabric - good luck with that. It would be nice if more contractors watch this video.
I have a friend who is an engineer and his sites they never put gravel down first. Why would you? It just holds the water below and stops it from getting in the pipe
@@AlexSilis IDK because when I did my first drain I lined the drain with fabric then a layer of gravel, then the pipe, more gravel and burritoed the drain and it works fine. If any dirt gets into the drain and dirt will the dirt is going to smash between the pipe and fabric and clog. The pipe is less likely to clog with dirt when the pipe sits on the gravel.
@@AlexSilis IDK because when I did my first drain I lined the drain with fabric then a layer of gravel, then the pipe, more gravel and burritoed the drain and it works fine. If any dirt gets into the drain and dirt will the dirt is going to smash between the pipe and fabric and clog. The pipe is less likely to clog with dirt when the pipe sits on the gravel.
If I just get a lot of water off my roof (no gutters) that forms surface water next to my house what would be the best drain for me to try and install?
Hi .. I think you should install gutters and downspouts with drain from downspout out to street or storm.. but if you cannot do that, this system would work to help collect the water on the yard
so i would like to know how this works in the winter when that bank has 2 ft of snow on it and freezes over, as well as the ground around the perforated tile
Thank you for your video. I have a question. I see that you use the pipe with two holes. However, every store I go sells the one with three holes. So, which one is the most efficient and why? Thanks
How do you end the French drain. I don't want to have an open exit like that.. Rodents and snakes can go up the drain and have a nice dark cool place during summer. Any ideas ...
@@appledrains I don't need to make a French drain. It's a thought I always have wondered about. Nothing more than an exercise in thought. I promise, if I ever need a French Drain, I will do a proper one...but I still wonder if one with just stone would work. Even if slowly. Yes? It seems like it would---but you're the professional. What say you?
Your biggest cons are leaves from your gutters, and percolating water at the edge of your house. You can put in filters or rain barrels to resolve the leaf issue, then make sure the pipes are not perforated right next to your house. My system has no problem catching gutter water and moving it to my catch basin which keeps my koi pond topped off. No basement flooding since the install.
Many folks run two pipes in one trench for that scenario. But the downspout pipe has to be solid - you really don't want to be introducing a roof-worth of water into ground that already has issues. Plus as others have said you don't want roof-debris in your french-drain-pipe if you can avoid it.
Yes, but you need to run it to a sump pump. Preferably two basins opposite each other. If the grading isn't level, locate the sump basin at the lowest grade.
A sock over the pipe will eventually clog up and significantly reduce the amount of water that seeps into the pipe through the slits/holes, which reduces the effectiveness of the system. That's why he is not recommending using a sock, but rather lining the trench with a geo-textile fabric.
How deep are you making these. My project is in Indiana (18’ frost line) and specifically for sump pump from basement out to yard that floods and we put a drain to the creek but the people who did it did it wrong and it’s as if there is no pipe at all. The total distance is 800 feet from sump to creek. There is a “natural” drain here from back yard to back yard and the guy next to me made a cement foundation for a shed right on the natural drain and now it backs up to my yard. I’ve spent too much already. I’m willing to make a pond where the natural drain goes in my yard (250 feet from sump pump) and then make a stream to the back to the creek. It can stop at point 150 feet from creek to facilitate a watering hole for my livestock. It’s an intolerable mess for sure. How deep do I need to buy these pipes ? AND what can I use to make the desired watering holes/ponds? Pond plastic/Edpm ? And where do I place the pipes in regards to the ponds….I’d think if the pipes were too low, they could back up(?)
Best French drain vids I've seen. I'm doing one soon but it will be driven over. I'd like to use the PVC but the flexible pipe with the flex tube with the corrugated ridges looks like it will hold up and flex better. Any thoughts?
In my very limited experience, it appears that PVC will flow MUCH better and give longer life. Granted, it isn't flexible like the corrugated, but if you spend the time/labor doing it the first time with PVC, you'll not likely need to do it again. Keep checking RUclips for comparisons.
Corrugated pipe will clog easier and be harder to clear out than PVC. It will also collapse. Every downspout corrugated drain my builder installed lasted about 4 years before I had to dig them up. The PVC I replaced it with has been trouble free for 20 years. Everything that goes down the gutters flushes right out. PVC costs more, but not as much as having someone try to unclog a corrugated pipe--if they can.
@@barrygrant2907 I have no experience with corrugated, so thank you for sharing. I've seen enough videos where corrugated will simply hold water & debris that I'll never use it.
The fabric and the gravel together work like a larger more perforated pipe. The pipe itself ensures the fastest flow of water. If your soil can clog the fabric, essentially preventing water from flowing through the membrane, then you do not have a problem with water in your soil. You might have a surface water problem because your soil cannot absorb water.
The fabric works to prevent soil migration into the stone and eventually into and out the drain. Why are you installing in thin strips though? Should be laid lengthwise and envelope the stone. You can get rolls up to 6m wide and if you do need to oveap you want 1m full lap. And you're going to want more topsoil cover over the stone, if you can't achieve more cover due to grade limitations then just run the stone to grade. There's other good ways to cheaply promote infiltration into the subsoil and/or storage capacity within the French drain system.
As an Electrician, I have been involved with many trenching operations, not just limited to Electrical.
One of the funnier things I heard was that, here in King County WA, we were required, for a while, to fill any sewer trenches with River Rock. As a result, the sewer lines going to the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) were acting as French Drains, channelling groundwater from the surrounding countryside directly to the Plant.
So, we switched over to filling the trenches with crushed rock, and compacted it, because these trenches needed to be stable, generally following roads (down the middle!), and/or crossing underneath them.
This acted like a dam and prevented the natural flow of water through the soil, resulting in a soupy swamp arising uphill from the trench.
The solution, as I understood it, was to have River Rock for 20', and then a 3' band of compacted crushed rock, with mandatory compacted crushed rock for road crossings. This allowed for the natural flow of groundwater around the sewer line, while preventing the funnelling of it to the STP.
King County is hilly and the folks there never understood ground drainage. They will put basements on hillsides and not understand why they flood. It's because the rain flows on the surface and just under it but above the hardpan soil which is only a couple feet below grade and nearly entirely impervious. A basement creates a bathtub even at a high elevation. There's a similar problem with these trenches they struggle with. The linear depression in the hardpan forms an underground stream. They should either try to restore the imperviousness to the previous level or just give the stream an outlet to a body of water. Sounds like instead, they are mixed up and switching back and forth.
@@zane43 And let's mention all the houses in flood plains that have basements, like, say, the entire Kent Valley, and the flatlands of Puyallup as just a couple examples.
My Landlord is a Licensed Contractor, and made himself a new road on his farm.
He basically cut a ditch 3' deep to make this "Driveway." Now he's driving across wet clay and complaining about the mess.
And he's too cheap to buy any crushed rock to put on it. Our Glacial Till is a trip.
The entire Puget Sound Basin is a mess when it comes to ground water control - and so are the codes that stipulate how to deal with it. The counties here will issue a building permit on virtually any slope, just to increase the property taxes.
A lot of people don’t like the fabric because it can easily get clogged up after a few years of grass/roots growing into the fabric. When it does this (which it will with the type of grass we have here) the water won’t drain down through the sod. With that said, you clarify that the drain is mostly intended to drain the water that is in the ground, not the water on top. For this I think it’s more important to keep the pipe free of dirt and roots and the fabric should help with that.
i can't explain how much you inspire me to install a drain. i'm nervous as heck that i will get it wrong but with your videos i feel i'm prepared to try. THANK You
french works for a few years. Then it's full of grass roots and blocked. Changing my to PVC with all precautions.
If u believe u can do it u probably can.... or a similar qoute.. weather u believe u can do it or believe u cant your right
Thanks for the video. It's about 18 years too late, lol I remember arguing with someone having me install pipe for them they wanted holes up to catch the water and carry it away. I had to start packing up to leave. I said I would absolutely not install it wrong. That was a crummy morning. This video is proof to show people who don't understand ground water is what makes surface water. Thx
that's TRUE! i did see one video put up by AppleGate that had a certain type of soil (clay maybe) that did not allow water to sink beyond 3 inches below the surface. as they dug it up, it was dry soil below 3 inches which makes the case for a catch basin in addition to french drain.
Hard pipe wrapped with gravel that is wrapped with fabric. The hard smooth perforated pipe can clear itself out with a good flow, corrugated does not do as well. The amount of dirt filled corrugated I have seen, and replaced, has convinced me I will never willingly install corrugated in a drain.
Yeah, this was not super obvious in the demo. Thx!
Its all relevant to the environment and the job its required to do. Regardless it will have a lifespan. The only ones I have had to fix were caused by owners and landscapers damaging them. The only silt filled ones I found were from improper slope. I told those customers you can jet it out every three or four years or we get a bid going to dig it out and replace.
I install what my cheap boss buys..
What an excellent video. I can tell that a lot of effort went into making and editing it. Thank you so much!
Best in the business. Been watching you for years and installed my crawlspace “footer tile” based off of your videos 👍
Based on personal experience after going thru three hurricanes and water runoff from three neighboring properties. I would say ‘hell yes’ the French drains with that peanut and fabric cover is worth its weight in gold. It’s works very very well. I would say I would put gravel over the top of the pipe. It’s allows better water follow thru and run off and drainage.
About 13 years ago I installed around my house 1 inch perforated PVC pipe, only in gravel, no fabric. Keep working flawless till now,. The flow is as good as in first day, the water gets drained very fast after a strong rain.
I dont doubt what you say is true but eventually the surrounding soil will percolate into the spaces between the gravel and clog the drain. Geotextile keeps most of that soil out so the drain will last much longer; thats why its done.
@@hazmat5749 the soil just clogs the fabric instead
@@supernom The surface area of the textile is much greater than the surface area of the pipe, so it can keep working even if partially clogged. Civil Engineers use Geotex all the time, and for good reason.
Fabric enclosing the pipe at the bottom of the fabric with 14'' or so inches of 1.5'' clean cobble, all wrapped in the fabric, - then the silt, clay, and other small grain soil goes/flows through the fabric with rainfall events and flows through the french drain, and on the outside of the fabric there will be larger grit soil particles, which are beneficial to the drain system@@supernom
Maybe I missed something. Was one of the approaches better?
Is it just me…. What happened? 😅
I feel like we went to commercials or something wth
smooth pipe flowed much smoother
My PVC French drain has a thin sock around the pipe and the size gravel you mentioned. It's worked well since it got installed about a year ago.
This is merely my opinion, and it won't matter to you now, but maybe someone else reads this: I don't use socks around the pipes because I would rather have dirt migrate into the pipe where water will carry it away or you can snake it. Even though the gravel is "washed," there is still plenty of sediment on it. I do think filter fabric lining the trench is mandatory for longevity. And ALWAYS install a clean out at the top!
@@Keifsanderson Good reply. My French drain has three catch basins, also.
@@SeanBaker God bless, man. Hope you get many years use out of yours. I think much depends on the nature of the soil. My new place has great, sandy soil, but there is no elevation to make a drain work. Unless of course I want to deal with an outdoor sump pump. There is no risk of the house flooding, and the flooding disappears in less than 24 hours, so I think this time around I'm just going to let nature do it's thing. The first couple torrential downpours, where I could have paddled a canoe around the yard, were a bit stressful, but I've been assured by all my neighbors that even the worst hurricane in the neighborhood (Sally) didn't flood the houses here out.
Anyways....cheers, and have a great weekend.
By using a sock on just the pipe that is the smallest surface area compared to placing the fabric between the drain rock and the clay. A smaller surface area would clog up faster with any silt materials from the clay. So in theory the gravel should remain functional longer with the filter fabric on the outside of the gravel.
The sock only protects the drain pipe and not the gravel. Once the gravel clogs the drain pipe is pretty useless.
I’m planning on placing the appropriate clay soil geotextile fabric between the gravel and soil to protect the gravel/drain rock from clogging up.
I’m thinking of using the 1-1/2” rounded rock (with minimum fines) because that has bigger spaces between the rocks for better drainage. Bigger spaces will drain faster and it rains 75”/year here in Crescent City, CA so the water volume is huge in a 4” rainstorm. Locals have described 7” of rain in a single storm!
I’ll run the gravel to the surface to also catch ground run-off and place catch basins every 30’ or so to enhance surface water collection but to importantly double as clean outs to deal with clogs. I read that 1 catch basin is equivalent to 40’ of French drain.
I worry about corrugated pipe getting torn up with a big snake’s cutter head; ie catching on the ridges and the corrugated pipes are all relatively thin. So I plan to invest in the thick walled and smooth schedule 40 PVC.
I looked at the high octane corrugated pipe but the shipping to the west coast was 3x the cost of the pipe! $500 to ship a 100’ coil is outrageous!
I just did one with a barito wrap and fabric.
For draining surface water from my orchards, I have found it beneficial to lay weed fabric down, then cover with gravel.
Within a couple of years, the grasses grow over the whole thing, and it turns muddy spots into dry land, via the drainage
the gravel provides. The grass cover then allows easy orchard floor work.
I wrongly never put fabric around the 1 1/2” stone I used in my drain system. After a couple years I had places where dirt fines filled the side and top layer of stone and it prevents the water from getting into the French drain especially in winter when those places freeze. I brought my stone to the surface because if I put the sod back on it would prevent the surface water from going in when it freezes. Wish I knew to use the fabric when I did the work. Never thought enough soil and fines would work their way in between that 1 1/2” stone to a point it’s blocking water flow. Stone is so big I can’t shovel and clean it out. Backhoe would probably destroy the pipe if I used that. Lesson learned I guess.
$140.00 for 250' of 4" dig it up and fix it.
My father put a french drain in the unfinished basement. He did not use fabric (id don't know if they wrapped it the 70's. Anyway it worked well for 30 years. Water started to perk up in the center of the basement and I ran a snake into it. It was clogged with mud.
How’s you clean the mud out?
Now you tell us!!! You preached corrugated drain pipe before now you change it up after I installed 300ft of it. 2 years ago. No worries it still works.
Thanks Chuck from a 60 year-old woman, your explanations were good, your visual were great!
I'm a 70 yr old woman and I can't tell which way is correct. I've watched many of both these and the French Drain Man's and they are both so different. I wonder if it has to do with climate.
@@fewferfev Or sponsors.
Thanks for advice I will use this for my drain, have a field at the back of us about 2mtrs above our ground and when it rains with the slope water had been collecting behind causing waterlogged ground , I’ll need approx 50 ‘ to go full length and down side to bottom of drive which slopes away . Thanks for your time and sharing .
What an awesome demonstration of how it works! Thanks for your effort!
I put perf PVC hole side up where pipe is next to house, then hole side down where I want the water to percolate into the soil. The whole point is to move the water away from the house, and since my gutters drain into the system, I don't need to percolate right next to my basement. I actually have a catchment basin at the end to keep my koi pond full. Obviously the stone and fabric will allow water to carry around for any blockages. No floods in my basement since I installed.
All good- thanks for your input
Really helpful 👌 Thank you for this video!!!
U mentioned “pinning” the fabric. What do u use to pin?
The pins are sold in bags in the same spot that you buy the pipe.
What's better? How deep do we make it? 8 to 12 in??
Awesome to see in action! You can have the concept in your head, but when you see it it "clicks" a little better. You also want some slope on the tubing, right?
Personally I find using any geotex fabric a waste of money . In time it forms a barrier to water ingress ,if for example you have clay or heavy soil ,,the same goes for corrugated pipe ,the ribs collect debris which builds up in time causing blockages . Smooth bore pipe eliminates all of that accelerating the water flow the longer the stretch ,Its the sizeof stone that is the factor .
Another important standard is to NOT use perforated pipe once you are out of the area needing drainage. I have seen multiple times where they used perforated pipe the whole way and all it did was transfer groundwater to another location underground and causing slips.
A French drain does not have pipe in it, they are made entirely out of rock or stone. A drain uses solid pipe and a weeper uses pipe with holes or slit, a weeper can also be wrapped in a “sock” or not.
Schools out!
I think you will find, that Henry French, who was the one who came up with the idea, actually describes using a 'tile pipe' in the drain...
Ok, so what’s the best route to go between the two pipes?
The water running out of the pvc pipe at the end seems really muddy considering that the fabric should have kept dirt from entering the pipe. Why?
Fantastic video! Wow! The PVC moved that water so much more rapidly! Proof PVC is better in most circumstances, easier to clean and will last longer.
Very important to have the gravel and fabric too as proven. 👍
HDPE or double wall corrugated hdpe would be even better.
Depends on the application…. I have PVC carry water (from downspouts) about 6-8’ from house to corrugated, perforated drainage pipe buried in planting beds and then to street/storm drain.
PVC pipe will be better in transporting water the corrugated pipe. But does that matter? If it is not over capacity and it is just a question how how long it takes to transport away the water, does it matter if the water after a rain is drained in 1 versus 2 hours?
Solip PVC pipe transports water faster because it has smooth internals. The drawback is that you can bend PVC pipe, that's what corrugated pipe is designed for. Both exist in perforated and no perforated variants. So better is a question of what you prioritized and the intended paths of the pipe. If it is in a straight line versus if there is lots of bend will change what is better or at least simplest and cheapest to install.
during storm, our backyard is flooding and looking for a solution.
I watched many channels about French drain and like it, also curious how does it work?
Your video answered that. Thank you
Got it , a French Burrito Drain. Lol. Thanks for the vid. We use this method in SoCal.
Multipe versions of Sta-Green fabric available. Can you provide a link to what you used in this video? Thanks!
Seems like a good place to ask, when depth do you usually dig a french drain? Redoing mine soon and want to learn
Probably whatever allows you to maintain a minimum 1% slope (required for wster to drain) all the way to the outlet. If you're asking about how much material should be between the surface of the ground and the top of the pipe I'm not sure
We dig according to the frost line,or if installed at footer.we go just below the depth of the footer,so the water flows at a lower level Than the top of footer,Works good for us,we use lots of gravel,im talking several tons around a 2200 square foot home,
WOW, what a difference between the corrugated pipe and the PVC pipe! There's no comparison. The PVC is the clear winner.
I did something similar last year behind a good sized retaining wall. The ground leading up to it has a little ground running down to the wall so it catches a lot of water from the yard and even overflow from the street sometimes. I was worried about the wall's stability over time with too much water piled up behind it so I put a bunch of stone at the base, the perf pipe, more stone and then covered it with fabric before back filling. The wall is filled with stone also so I figure any water that makes to the wall will drain down to the pipe and eventually out from the behind the wall. All I can say so far is the wall hasn't moved and I am not a civil engineer.
Why put gravel *underneath* the pipe? Why not just lay the pipe on top of the geotextile to catch every inch of water at the bottom of the trench?
I think there are holes on the underside of the PVC. I would guess if it sat flush with the ground the ground / fabric, it would block it.
Gravel helps to transmit water better, and during installation it is better to overdig, then fill in with gravel to set the right slope.
In time roots, dirt, bugs will block the holes.
I think it's only important for the PVC version with holes on the bottom. French Drain Man uses a corrugated pipe with knife cuts all around and recommends not putting rocks underneath.
Chuck you're the best! Great info - thorough and educated. I believe I can do this!
@1:47 Did he say "Sod off" ?
I've used the black weed fabric to wrap the "burrito". It degrades in a few years.
Does the green fabric last longer?
Is there something really heavy duty so I don't have to redo the system?
I want to install a footer tile in my crawl space. The ground is clay, to wrap the pipe or not wrap the pipe? I've also seen conflicting videos on just setting pipe directly in the trench vs. setting a base of gravel then the pipe?
My downspout drain from the back of the house goes to the street in buried 4-inch corrugated pipe, under my side yard. But two of the downspouts of a neighbor also hook into this main line out to the street. A common thing in this development, they tell me. So the pipe can't hold all 3 feeds, and rainwater floods my yard through the pipe junctions. I thought I might French drain it, but the "soil" is all black clay and won't perk at all. Should I run a gravel trench the whole way, or what?
Have repaired these pipes in several places, and thanks for showing me how. You're right, Lowe's has more than Home Depot in this department.
Did it handle the water at one time? Maybe the pipe needs to be cleaned out? If it never worked well due to volume then I'd just disconnect from your common line and run a line just for your house. Add a yard drain if you need it.
Downspout drains COMMONLY clog where downspout meets corrugated pipe. The grit from the shingles piles up there in no time. Corrugated is crap
Ah.. From someone who does real testing in commercial systems, I'd suggest doing more stress testing with video, like adding leaves, small pebbles and mud with grass in the pipes. The manufacture claim that's the advantage of corrigated over straight pipe.. You showed how both work in perfect world..we need to see debris in it and worst case so we know when each case benefits..
The real testing is letting these systems go for a year and then looking at their output quantity as well as quality of water coming out. The type of gravel you use could also greatly affect the effectiveness of these systems.
@@daveharness70 yea, that would is a must as well..or at least throughout the four seasons... Yea totally agree
@@BobDevV yea, I'm in exactly the same boat... I did it as per spec but after years feel straight is better..they claim the ridges create turbulence that creates a self cleaning effect but I agree that if it does, it is outweighed by sediment accumulation trashing up the line.. And to your very point water stayn in those spaces is bad all the way around.. I think its just cheaper and they tryn to justify it with excuses..
Wow that PVC flows really nice! I never liked the perforated pipe myself..
Interested in the grass, are you missing a layer of top soil? Cause that grass won’t grow.
Thinking on my French drain to just have 57 stone and then river rock on top, no soil or grass to containment the system.
Great vids but there's one thing that I don't understand... I can see how these systems work when newly installed, but why doesn't the mesh on any drain tube get blocked with sand, clay/soil etc or the slots/holes get blocked up (without mesh) until it doesn't flow (just like a vacuum cleaner bag or filter getting blocked up)?
That's what the fabric is for. To filter that out so it doesn't get into the perforations. Of course. What prevents the fabric from clogging up is the next question 😉
@@DannyBowen25 Not the next question. It was the analogy used in my 1st question - copy/paste "(just like a vacuum cleaner bag or filter getting blocked up)"
@@takleteck7008 oh, I see. I missed the word mesh. My bad
I don't like corrugated piping because it holds water in the small ridges which can be a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I prefer smooth, perforated piping for that reason in my area.
Great Illustration!
Thx, Australia we call them subsoil drains… black slotted pipe is known as ag pipe / agricultural pipe, socked or unsocked. Plus the good old rubble drain .
What about in clay soil chuck. You used to advise not to use fabric. Has new fabrics now changed your recommendation?
Coconut wrapped pipes to the rescue.
I used broken bricks instead of stone wrapped in fabric. Works great.
Did you use any wrapping material?
@@fewferfev Yes wrapped in fabric for drains. Had plenty and nowhere to use else.
Where in France does the water drain?
Mainly in the plain
You forgot to tell us which is better! PVC looks to be much easier to maintain / clean out if it's ever needed.
PVC flows much better and will last longer
It's a lot easier to set your angle with PVC.
The PVC looks to be carrying a lot more dirt/soil away down the drain. May have substantial settlement line if that continues.
Pvc twice as expensive if not more
I think the camera falling off the pipe is shows which is better.🤷♂️
Thank you very much for sharing. Your video inspires me to look into this option for my irrigation system at home.
I have watched a few videos on french drains and this is definitely the best! My only concern is laying sod directly back onto pipe with out any base soil for sod?
put drain rock over the pipe, enclosed with fabric, so that none of the soil flows into the system. I'd use a layer of sand over the fabric then another layer of fabric before adding soil, as a buffer for the roots.
If you put stone under the French Drain pipe water will accumulate in the stone and will not run off in the pipe. I think the pipe should lay on the fabric at the bottom of the trench. This was all the water enters the pipe and drains away.
You are watching too many false videos!
We wrote the book on Rainwater Drainage! Over 60 million views and helping so many people every day! Don’t be fooled by some random guy that does 8 jobs a year and puts down everyone that installs drains!!
Thanks for your comment
@@appledrains With all due respect, you didn't answer the question. Can you lay the pipe on the fabric? If the answer is no, then please state why not. I'd like to know because this is a project I will be doing in the very near future and I want to make sure I do it right the first time. Thanks.
I’m pretty sure if you watch my videos you will get your answer!
Thanks
Not sure the video answers this specifically. If you put the drain on top of fabric the water at the base can only go through the very small areas of fabric next to the pipe holes at the pipe base and tiny soil particles will quickly block these fabric areas , so then only the holes higher up the pipe circumference can take water that has gone through the much larger areas of fabric and through the large volume of stone. Putting stone under the pipe will hold some water there but it does not matter as beneath the pipe will be full of water if it is soil, sand or anything else.
@@ColinCarFanYou're absolutely right their video does not touch on why the gravel below the pipe is important. I'll tell you why as the guy from Apple drains, here, is too proud to admit that they don't in the video. Basically, the stone gravel isn't permeable and this allows the water to rise up relatively free of soil particles thus aiding the movement and flow of water into and along the drainpipes interior channel.
Do you have a model or item number for the stagreen fabric? Seems to be a few different choices. Thanks!
Why isn't the pvc pipe perforated all around instead of only at the bottom? And which is preferred: pvc or corrugated pipe?
According to this video, the perforated PVC pipe moves water faster. The holes are only at the bottom of the pipe because as the water fills in the trench under the pipe, the water level in the trench rises. Once the water level hits the holes on the bottom of the pipe, the water will enter the pipe and the pipe will carry the water away (via the central bottom section of the pipe, between the two holes). Water rises from the bottom of the trench - hence why the holes are at the bottom of the pipe.
thank you very much for your brief explanation
Thanks for the demonstration. I'm wondering if anyone ever used groundwater or surface collected water to move away to a different point in the garden and use for irrigation in a dripping system?
I need to install a french pipe in my garden but I won't be able to direct the pipes into an IBC tank due to difficult terrain and placement of the tanks themselves. So I'm thinking I'll try and accumulate the rainwater in solid pipes close to my raised beds where I'm able to open a tap and water them when needed. My only concern with this solution is low water pressure and simply using gravity, but for a dripping system this might be more than enough. Has anyone got a similar solution? Thanks!
I wonder would using 1 -2 inch River rock work is good ?
Hey Chuck, can you please define the ratios of gravel below the pipe and above the pipe? I'm guessing about 1/3 below, 2/3 above?
what fabric are u using?
🔥🔥🔥 THANKS FOR SHARING CHUCK!!!
So which is/was the best pipe to use ????????????????????????????????????????
How often do those French drain fill with grass and weeds?
I have a question. Is the fabric necessary if there will be no grass over the drain or is it recommended for all installations?
No
@@appledrainswhat is the purpose for the fabric then? Thanks!
@@greadore I suggest you Stop watching the Moron in Michigan. He has no idea what he talking about.. but fabric is not needed unless your in a sandy soil. I would use StaGreen. Available at Lowe’s
Hey my wife and I just recently bought property and had a trailer put on it but our yard is flooding something awful I really don’t know how to fix the situation if anyone has any insight I will gladly hear it
Put a catch basin in the middle of where the flood is, have solid pipe running from it to a discharge area with a pop up emitter. Make sure your slope is down hill, because water runs down hill, if you don’t have the slope to do so you will need to use a sump pump.
Scrape away topsoil where water is building up and set aside for gardening. Dig a pond, and mound that dirt up as a hill twice the area of your trailer. Park the trailer on your new hill. Grade the property to drain away from your home. Dig a drain system around your home and feed it to drain into the pond. Dig a pit at the lowest edge of your property and fill with gravel. You can set a simple solar pump in the gravel pit to top off your pond daily.
Thanks for this experiment chuck - always great content from you - keep em coming :)
Great... for a season or two but if you want it to last make sure to cover the landscape fabric with at least a couple of inches of straw. Straw transmits moisture without carrying silt which will eventually fill up both situations offered here. Start with a bed of straw, lay fabric on top, then 3/4 washed crushed stone then lay your pipe, more stone, wrap with fabric and cover with straw. You're welcome.
Straw decomposes really fast though, right?
@@anthonyelledge7475 Left on the surface yes but can last decades when deprived of oxidation and even when decomposed creates a path for water transmission.
@@Thephilipcartmelexperience If you put straw around a drain and in a ditch with water, it wont decompose?
@@anthonyelledge7475 Trust me. It works. They use straw to transmit water in highway construction. It was used on the TransCanada highway going through the swampland in Burnaby BC. It leaves behind a permanent pathway.
Great idea and I absolutely believe it will too. I think I'm going to try it with my French drain too that I'm planning to install very soon. Thanks for the suggestion. 👍
That Sta green fabric only comes in 4ft wide rolls at Lowe’s. Where can I get 6ft?
Great info. Question though, would you not need to add soil on top of the pipe for the grass to grow?.
That I suppose depends where you are running the pipe. If it is going into bare soil, then it would need to be covered. If as in the video the turf/sod has been removed properly it can just be replaced . Good quality turf will have the roots in the layer just below the grass.
Anywhere I have added a French drain grass does very poorly above it. I’m in Oregon so it will sometimes do okay in winter but craps out early in summer. Dandelions do okay over them.
I just hired a company to do a FD and he put the drain in and then put in the gravel. I fired him knowing the gravel had to go first, after watching this video. Unfortunately the pipe was too difficult to remove so I lifted the pipe as high as I could and shoved as much gravel underneath as I could. Hope it works. Lots of videos show workers placing the pipe over dirt - no gravel and no fabric - good luck with that. It would be nice if more contractors watch this video.
His own earlier videos show pipe on dirt then gravel..
I have a friend who is an engineer and his sites they never put gravel down first. Why would you? It just holds the water below and stops it from getting in the pipe
@@AlexSilis IDK because when I did my first drain I lined the drain with fabric then a layer of gravel, then the pipe, more gravel and burritoed the drain and it works fine. If any dirt gets into the drain and dirt will the dirt is going to smash between the pipe and fabric and clog. The pipe is less likely to clog with dirt when the pipe sits on the gravel.
@@AlexSilis IDK because when I did my first drain I lined the drain with fabric then a layer of gravel, then the pipe, more gravel and burritoed the drain and it works fine. If any dirt gets into the drain and dirt will the dirt is going to smash between the pipe and fabric and clog. The pipe is less likely to clog with dirt when the pipe sits on the gravel.
😅eeeeeede we😊
The holes down? Shouldn’t the bottom have no holes so the water flows without impeding the flow? I was always told the holes go on the sides.
You may have been misinformed 👍
Bet the grass dries a nice long stripe in dry conditions where the soil is shallow over the pipe .Seems to fix your flooding problem though 👍
So, I make my own decision?
If I just get a lot of water off my roof (no gutters) that forms surface water next to my house what would be the best drain for me to try and install?
Hi .. I think you should install gutters and downspouts with drain from downspout out to street or storm.. but if you cannot do that, this system would work to help collect the water on the yard
@@appledrains You are the best, I like your videos, thank you!
Hi thinks you
Something without holes in it, get the water away as fast as possible and pvc's Mannings Number is about as slick as it gets.
Is there a long-lasting nonplastic alternative to geotextile fabrics?
Will it work to connect two french drains pipes perpendicularly? I want to run a few feet to an existing one
Sure!
Thanks for answering! The caveat is I would have to cut a hole in the side of the main one to run the shorter one into it. I suppose with a connector
hey chuck which sta green fabric width is best 3 ft or 4 ft ??
4 or 6 feet is best
pvc it looks to be far better to use than a corrugated pipe?
so i would like to know how this works in the winter when that bank has 2 ft of snow on it and freezes over, as well as the ground around the perforated tile
If the water is frozen why does it matter?
Was you drunk when you asked that ?
Thank you for your video. I have a question. I see that you use the pipe with two holes. However, every store I go sells the one with three holes. So, which one is the most efficient and why? Thanks
The same
@@appledrains so, is there a difference which one I want to place behind my retaining wall? Or If one is more preferable than the other one? Thank you
@@andriybond5221 Different manufacturers will vary slightly. No real difference between them. Use what ever is available in your area.
Chuck, are there catch basins for the rigid PVC? I saw in your catch basin video you tied it into a corrugated pipe.
How do you end the French drain. I don't want to have an open exit like that.. Rodents and snakes can go up the drain and have a nice dark cool place during summer. Any ideas ...
Terminate into a gravel pit, and mark with a paver in case you need to clean it out.
Is faster better?
home deppo is clutch for all things drainage
I'm curious....is it possible to make a french drain using only stone? It wouldn't flow as efficiently as a pipe, but would just stone work?
@@cluelessbeekeeping1322 it might. But better off to put the pipe in there.
@@cluelessbeekeeping1322 I mean, why would you do all that labor and not put the pipe in. The pipe is what really moves the water.
@@appledrains I don't need to make a French drain. It's a thought I always have wondered about. Nothing more than an exercise in thought. I promise, if I ever need a French Drain, I will do a proper one...but I still wonder if one with just stone would work. Even if slowly. Yes? It seems like it would---but you're the professional. What say you?
Just what I needed, thanks for the demonstration chuck.
Now can you build us the French drain from oak island season 2😁
I used very similar fabric to this, looks exactly the same but it's gray instead of green. It works ok but doesn't appear to work as well as this.
Are u buying pvc and drilling the holes
Chuck, could you combine subsurface drain with downspouts by having downspouts connect at the top of the french drain ?
That's not recommended. Most say gutters go to solid pipe to daylight or basin. French drain is only ground water.
Your biggest cons are leaves from your gutters, and percolating water at the edge of your house. You can put in filters or rain barrels to resolve the leaf issue, then make sure the pipes are not perforated right next to your house. My system has no problem catching gutter water and moving it to my catch basin which keeps my koi pond topped off. No basement flooding since the install.
Many folks run two pipes in one trench for that scenario. But the downspout pipe has to be solid - you really don't want to be introducing a roof-worth of water into ground that already has issues. Plus as others have said you don't want roof-debris in your french-drain-pipe if you can avoid it.
Hi, my house has a crawl space it is an old house. It collect lots of water under the space. Would this helps.
Yes, but you need to run it to a sump pump. Preferably two basins opposite each other. If the grading isn't level, locate the sump basin at the lowest grade.
There's a fabric like a sock that is used to slide the pipe into to keep dirt out
A sock over the pipe will eventually clog up and significantly reduce the amount of water that seeps into the pipe through the slits/holes, which reduces the effectiveness of the system. That's why he is not recommending using a sock, but rather lining the trench with a geo-textile fabric.
Are you peeing at 3:45? hahaha Very informative and well thought-out video.
How deep are you making these. My project is in Indiana (18’ frost line) and specifically for sump pump from basement out to yard that floods and we put a drain to the creek but the people who did it did it wrong and it’s as if there is no pipe at all. The total distance is 800 feet from sump to creek. There is a “natural” drain here from back yard to back yard and the guy next to me made a cement foundation for a shed right on the natural drain and now it backs up to my yard. I’ve spent too much already. I’m willing to make a pond where the natural drain goes in my yard (250 feet from sump pump) and then make a stream to the back to the creek. It can stop at point 150 feet from creek to facilitate a watering hole for my livestock. It’s an intolerable mess for sure. How deep do I need to buy these pipes ? AND what can I use to make the desired watering holes/ponds? Pond plastic/Edpm ? And where do I place the pipes in regards to the ponds….I’d think if the pipes were too low, they could back up(?)
Best French drain vids I've seen. I'm doing one soon but it will be driven over. I'd like to use the PVC but the flexible pipe with the flex tube with the corrugated ridges looks like it will hold up and flex better. Any thoughts?
In my very limited experience, it appears that PVC will flow MUCH better and give longer life. Granted, it isn't flexible like the corrugated, but if you spend the time/labor doing it the first time with PVC, you'll not likely need to do it again.
Keep checking RUclips for comparisons.
@@rusosure7 Thanks I appreciate that.
Corrugated pipe will clog easier and be harder to clear out than PVC. It will also collapse. Every downspout corrugated drain my builder installed lasted about 4 years before I had to dig them up. The PVC I replaced it with has been trouble free for 20 years. Everything that goes down the gutters flushes right out. PVC costs more, but not as much as having someone try to unclog a corrugated pipe--if they can.
@@barrygrant2907 I have no experience with corrugated, so thank you for sharing. I've seen enough videos where corrugated will simply hold water & debris that I'll never use it.
This great try using Capiphon belt with this system it help drain the whole garden
how about non corrugated 4 inch HDPE pipe fused together?
my french drain was installed upside down according to your video. the holes were put on top.
Water builds up, drains in from the top, flows out. It will work, but you're allowing more water to settle.
Will the fabric eventually get clogged?
The fabric and the gravel together work like a larger more perforated pipe. The pipe itself ensures the fastest flow of water. If your soil can clog the fabric, essentially preventing water from flowing through the membrane, then you do not have a problem with water in your soil. You might have a surface water problem because your soil cannot absorb water.
The fabric works to prevent soil migration into the stone and eventually into and out the drain. Why are you installing in thin strips though? Should be laid lengthwise and envelope the stone. You can get rolls up to 6m wide and if you do need to oveap you want 1m full lap. And you're going to want more topsoil cover over the stone, if you can't achieve more cover due to grade limitations then just run the stone to grade. There's other good ways to cheaply promote infiltration into the subsoil and/or storage capacity within the French drain system.
The video was just a demonstration and not actual install, so they used scrap fabric
Demonstration... demonstration... demonstration...🙋
Why put a layer of stone under the pipe and not just have the pipe on the bottom directly on the fabric?