DIY French Drain | Cheap Yard Drainage Solution | pt. 1
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- Опубликовано: 8 май 2020
- This is an easy DIY french drain project for any homeowner looking for a cheap drainage solution.
This might not be an expensive project but it will produce professional grade results that work. I have installed a few drains like this in the past and they have worked amazing. Using a lot of stone in combination with a non woven geotextile drainage fabric will keep this drain flowing for many years to come. Maybe forever.
If you have any questions please let me know in the comments
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Where is this magical land where the shovel can be pressed easily into the ground and comes up with dirt? Everywhere I dig is roots and rocks till I'm down about 3 feet and then it's just rocks.
I was thinking the same thing 😂 that’s some Hollywood dirt there 😁
I would like to buy a plot at this magical easy to shovel place. Y’all selling?
Where I live.. (in the middle of Sweden) The soil consists of three things: about 10% earth, 20% gravel and 150% rocks. You'd be happy when you get about 2 inches into the ground in one swoop.
I buy a load of top soil and the shovel can't penetrate more than 1/2 an inch per hit. Yes it has been sitting for 3 months but still.
i know right, here in uk its just rocks and roots, digging a simple trench requires, shovel, pickaxe, root cutter and a whole lot of energy xD
I love these locations with NO ROOTS. Man, what a wonderful world it would be . . . .
Or rocks. Just showed this to my wife from when we built ours. Power trencher was my friend
I live in the Ozarks 😭
@@someguyyoudontknow719 yeah I live on table ROCK lake in STONE county on top of a hill. My yard is a danm rock garden.
For real, I have so many full grown trees around my house, roots everywhere.
@@humanofearth7524
I bet you have a solid foundation. I like sound of that. Solid roof and foundation, house should last forever.
I've watched this 3 times now and I'm starting to think that this guy might know more about that drain near the sidewalk then he's letting on.
Nah, that's just hypothetical.
@@jamescrud i didn’t hypothetically understand how to hook into the main sewer drain
@@TheBooban He's very close to that man hole. So hypothetically speaking...you would driil a hypothetical hole through the concrete man hole casing and pass you pvc drain pipe into aforementioned hypothetical hole.
@@jamescrud ah had to hypothetically drill, i see now. Ok thanks.
@@TheBooban and hypothetically you would want to make everything look legit just incase someone stopped by to take peek oh and probably delete these comments hypothetically
Looks like a tidy job to me.
Was nice of the city to come out and do the section under the sidewalk under cover of darkness 😂
The neatest and cleanest hand dug trench I’ve seen. Nice work!
Thanks 👍
Great comment friend I don't nead to write one you said it
helps to have zero root systems or a rocky base!!!
Have you seen the indians?
A shovel master, I've shoveled for 35 years, consider myself a master...... he's master shoveler
Sod laid directly on gravel will impede grass growth and cause bare spots, as experienced at my place. I'd recommend at least 2-3 inches of soil on top of the burrito before placing the sod.
Could always spray the burrito with Profile Products' - Proganics.
I had the same thought
@@deanrobbins8102
I think the point is, less maintenance. Guy will have to dedicate a lot of time and money, to keep that 35ft long line, in his yard, from showing. The second I saw how little soil he had, I knew he was screwed. He should have dug down a few more inches. Or less stone.
It will dry up but the more dirt you put on a French drain, the slower water will flow into it. If you have clay soil don't even think about putting it back on top of the gravel.
If ya yard is sour a d wet half the year the grass is half dead any how, this saved my yard over all grass grew healthy every where as water could drain out, yes it took some time but in the end, grass will grow over it, .mine did, worth the result if you have a yard that is sour wet after rain winter time my yard would be boggy wet mess after this i had a yard again, with a full cover of health grass. Really depends how important the drainage is too someone verse the off set of a ascetics at first, how i took it on resukt briugh over all results even the grass . I live in australia queensland had a boggy yard for half the year.
This is such a well made video. It was helpful in so many ways and nothing was said/done that didn't need to be included. Thank you!
In addition to digging the trench a bit deeper so that a couple of inches of good soil can be placed on top of the "burrito", consider laying an inexpensive, single-wire electrical cable along top of the burrito* so that the drain can be easily located in the future using a metal detector. With that curved trench, you don't want to accidentally dig up all that hard work.
* Zig-zag the cable so that the entire width of the trench can be found.
That’s why they put the wire over pipes!! I always saw that and never knew what it was for. Thanks my g
Genius!
lol it's not a "metal detector". It's a radio receiver locator. You put a transmitter on the locate wire and locate it with a receiver.
@@BrettMcNary A metal detector can easily find wires at this shallow of a depth. So yes it is a metal detector. Maybe you can pull your radio receiver locator out of your rear end and attempt to locate a braincell with it.
@@cqpzg ever seen a plastic (poly) gas line with what this commenter is calling "a single wire electrical cable"? It's a locate wire that PROFESSIONAL LOCATORS (unlike you) use radio frequency to locate with. You sir, are a dim bulb.
I did exactly the same. It's been 20 years and still does the job.
Thanks for sharing that. I have one like this that is about 12 now with no problems. There are many people who hate the fabric.
Professional level drain? I worked as a pipe-layer. I never saw a trench that neat. That was artistry.
Credit where credit is due. Love it
I'm always amazed at videos of people digging. There are so many rocks in the ground here it takes me half an hour to dig a hole for a tomato plant, digging a 35 foot long trench with a shovel would be a year-long project.
I love how the "hypothetical" under sidewalk stretch of the drain just happens to match your description of how YOU would do it. :) well played!!
Ryan, glad to see how well your channel is taking off, putting your skills to good use teaching more people instead of just your students. Looking forward to where this takes you in the future.
Thanks me too.
I did this over twenty years ago using drainage pipe without using the material. Put down the the stones, laid the pipe covered with remaining stones. Sifted some earth and laid it on top of stones about 1 inch/25mm then laid the turf I dug up on top and gave it a good watering. Still going good. Queensland, Australia.
The geotextile is more essential in areas with high clay/silt content that is more likely to be picked up by water flow and plug up the perforated pipe.
Did you use the filter wrap?
Im in Qld too, I thought the turf on top might die no?
I really would not bother digging all of that up just to put down fabric.
@@adammadtin8451 yes of course. There was nowhere for it to root.
Love the stone block trick for centering the pipe by yourself!
I can’t believe you did all this in just 8 mins...
Your work here is higher quality than most professional jobs I've seen. Great lawn, too!
You "Hypothetically" have gotten a thumbs up from this guy I know that's totally not me.
😂
Hypothetically!!!
Lmao, Hilarious!!! 👍🏾👊🏾✌🏾🇳🇬🇺🇸
Such a neat and tidy work well done man. Wish all workmen do a great job like you do .
That was one neatly dug trench, mine would be all over the place. Good video, thanks for that !
This is why I love the internet. Before today, I had never heard of a French Drain but saw that someone made a video on it and I figured, why not? I'll find out what a French Drain is. Thank you for the interesting video. I don't know if it will ever be useful for me in particular but if it ever is, I'll remember this video.
If you think this “French Drain” is good, then you should look up the term “French Cleat”, ... I used it to hang my 42” tv, on the wall, ...
@@johne.osmaniii7217 Thank you sir. You have changed my life.
ruclips.net/video/WYuoiefb2uk/видео.html
I built ione years ago never knowing its name why i stopped and had a look, when you have a problem you think how too fix it. How i went about it, also i needed a long term answer at a cheap cost. I did all the work. Over a weekend.saveed $ labour and any small digging machine, as most guys will not want too work these days, if i had cash sure a small trench machine could had saved a good days work.
@@ev8870 it did mine i got a yard back from a bog in winter
Judging by the neat trench, absolutely no beers were harmed as a result of this project.
lol
Thank you so much for posting this I'm challenged with a French drain myself and you did an excellent job communicating the way I need to approach mine Thank you again.
I am empress of the way you are doing all your projects. God bless you young man!!!👍🙏
Thank you so much
I did the same style drain the entire length of my backyard (135 feet). I went with a Bachman yellow drain tile it was a bit stronger and had more slots than the black that you but at the DIY stores. I used the geotechnical fabric. This type of drain will move a lot of water. My soil is really clay based. I topped my drain burrito with stone. Doing the job myself saved me about $5000. It took me a while but it was worth it. Nice video.
Awesome! Thanks!
Late respond but just found your comments. So appreciative that you shared because I have been following French Drain Man and he use Bachman high octane 8-inch slot pipe in all his videos. I have about 150ft of French drain I need to do on the side of the metal building. My challenge is finding about the right size of rocks to work with Bachman pipes. We lived in rural farming area. The only closest rock company is about 15minutes, and they have pea gravel size rocks with VERY FEW 1 to 3" round rocks, mostly are some sand, very small to small pea gravel rock. So, I will be paying for very few rocks that I can use. Right now, I am trying to think what else I can use with Bachman pipes to make it work or what is my other options. If I can't think of anything, I may just try to work with whatever pipes big box stores have. Thank you.
Update did it work? ruclips.net/video/lH0uWQWgTtM/видео.html
Similar Drain Project: ruclips.net/video/SjZ95sGaD-k/видео.html
French Drain & Downspout: ruclips.net/video/hDS-5SFywNs/видео.html
Actually I did enjoy the video and enjoyed it and got inspired by learning new things from your video...thank you.
Thanks!
One of the best videos I’ve seen and what an excellent job, that trench is amazing!
how many feet was that?
@@ThatTechTeacher427 I wanted to make a French drain for my backyard, because a mini river forms whenever it rains. I just had the question, won't the sod impede flowing water from tricking into the trench? Is it okay if I don't replace the sod?
Great video. I've only watched 2 minutes so far and I already know way more than I did 2 minutes ago. Thanks.
Every step was so aesthetically pleasing
"hypothetically may have happened" - love it :)
😉
Just like lab leak. I mean hypothetical lab leak.
Your video was right on time for my upcoming DIY French drain. Great job. Keep it up 😉
Awesome! Thank you!
That was really good. I've saved it for my husband to see. Years ago, before computers, I watched some guys on TV who were making a little patio with sand and bricks and plastic. I memorized it and "we" did it one afternoon. There was a puddle forming beneath the corner of a little front porch I had had built on the front of the house. The bricks did the trick. 50 years ago. We could only afford so many bricks. About 10 years later we added another section to make it a bit bigger. It's still there and it is a good spot for planters. So we ladies look at stuff too. That was brilliant the way you did that. Sweet youth, eh?
You are a “real man” to be able to do all of that yourself! Wow! I’m impressed!!!
Thanks lol
Nice work!!
Hands down that's the most precise, neatest trench I've ever seen. 👍👍
Thanks 👍
Yeah that trench was a thing of beauty.
This is one of the best How-To videos on RUclips!
Thanks!
here is Spain that is a very common type of drain particularly in the more rural parts. They work well. You did a good job Sir :)
having accessible cleanouts also makes is easier to locate the drain via fish taping down the road. Well done.
Bro! Sweetest looking trench that was dug by hand I’ve ever seen. My OCD was triggered too much. LOL great job and thanks for sharing.
Thanks!
I love it, "hypothetically" someone magically put a drain in for you :)
😉
I'm French and I was a bit confused by the name so I looked online and now I understand!
Henry Flagg French made this popular.
Great idea👍
Thank you so much, videos like these are the reason I started using youtube to begin with. Thanks!
My father did something similar to this. What he did differently to what was done here is he added the socks for the weeping title in addition to the black drainage fabric. He also connected all the downspouts of the house to the weeping title and wrapped it around the house in a horse shoe shape. In addition to that he even made a drainage inside the garage and hooked it up to it as well. It doesn't connect to the storm sewer instead during a heavy rainstorm it manages to better water the lawn by storing it under ground longer than without one. This is actually a better way of watering your lawn than by connecting the downspouts to a rain barrel and using the water stored inside it to water it.
Not just the lawn. If one had a tree that was having constant issues with not getting enough moisture to it's base, the Big O could be dug over to it. Assuming of course that was feasible.
This is a great video man. I have built some smaller french drains and have found them easy and very handy. However, I am preparing to start a much larger french drain project, and this gave me some excellent pointers I did not think about prior. Thanks, and keep on keeping on! :)
Thanks for doing this in fast speed! Great video. Thank you.
Thanks for watching
My yard looks like a lake right now. With every rainfall it gets worse. This was the best video I have watched. We are definitely going to try this. Thank you for your clarity in this video. Everything is clear to understand and follow. I have subscribed to your channel. Thank you so much!
"hypothetically"
Love it
😉
Don't worry 100+ years from now construction workers are going to be like finally a break!
We gotta contract the boss, who contacts the contractor who contacts the bidder who contacts the owner...
Lets just say paradise week until it gets resolved higher up.
Hopefully bureaucracy allows the poor fellas to take a break.
Hypothetically speaking of course!
Nice job!!
I also installed a couple of frech drains 4 years ago, 2 downspouts drain into them and flow into the backyard which slopes away from the house, thank goodness. Each year the drains flood, and there is some water pooling at the bottom, but this is absorbed by the soil (sandy loam) after a couple of days. Used a Bobcat excavator, cause I'm getting on. One had a 3" pvc installed underneath for a future project.
Topped mine with white dolomite. Liked the look.
Even during the winter (Canada) when there are some mild spells the drains work great.
I've seen many homes where the downspouts went into the storm drains, then paid for water for their lawns.
Awesome!
this kid made this look way to easy, way to easy. great job
Artificial grass on top of the burrito that could be removed if needed...just an idea. I absolutely love this project! Need to do it on the side of the house. This is definitely the solution to a problem Ive been having for years!!! I can’t Thank you enough for sharing! 👍👍👍
Cool idea and it good to hear it can help!
Really nice work. If you can do mostly straight runs, consider perforated pipe (PVC pipe with holes drilled into it) instead of elephant trunk. If it ever clogs from silt or roots or even collapses, can clean out with a Roto-Rooter or similar.
“And hypothetically….” I love it 🤣🤣🤣
Wow ! Literally so easy to understand! I love this video. Copying it to the fullest . Yard is soaked . Can't wait to complete this..
Hope it works for you
@@ThatTechTeacher427 IT did.. we just finished it.. thanks
The hypothetical is the best part … hypothetically speaking, of course 😎
Well done sir … I’d hire you!
Looks great! When I dig a ditch like that I use a rototiller to break up the ground. It’s much easier to shovel lose dirt. We have hard clay or rocks in KY so it helps a lot.
Here in SC, was thinking of doing the same!
I'm jealous of your dirt. Recently attempted this myself only to find chunks of brick and debris under the first 4 inches of dirt. Was a nightmare to dig
Impressed by your work. I'm doing the same in my yard.
Great video, & wow can you dig nicely. I had researched these types of drains for many hours. Had my plan down pat, using the very pipe you used, gravel, etc. Then a developer of the newer part of our subdivision said it would be filled up (with silt & soil) within a year. Back before the 1950s, our subdivision was a swamp. Then they built a big GE plant & this subdivision began. We have a high water table (& lakes around the area).
My yard had a pretty deep drainage ditch along each side, when I bought this house 15 years ago. Now, they're both almost not even there. The soil has washed down them so badly, it has filled them. Have thought of dry stream beds. Maybe your way would work, though, since you've wrapped it in the drainage fabric like, as you say, a burrito. I have a guy who does grading coming soon, will run this by him. Maybe it would work at least for a few years. When it rains hard, water runs through my gently sloped yard like a river!
Wow, your workmanship is so much better than majority if landscapers I've used. No short cuts!
I wish I would've seen this video before doing my French Drain. That burrito idea should keep out the silt.
Thats the hope 👊. I'm sure yours will be fine it is not required
Same here Brian.
I’m a new homeowner and I tried to bury a corrugated pipe and it’s popped out of the ground in several locations. If I were to do it again I would follow these instructions. Thank you for posting this video.
Great video. Helped me a ton with my French drain project.
I just randomly got recommended this. I actually didn’t know what these were called. Like a year ago someone in the neighborhood put in one but it rather bizarrely goes from a next door neighbors drain spout to cutting across the house next doors entire front lawn. Seems like there are better solutions than taking a solid portion of the neighbors lawn. But I guess props to the neighbors for being friendly. It seriously diagonals across their entire lawn. Doesn’t particularly look bad but has to be a huge pain when mowing for the guy with 95% of it in his lawn.
Thought this was a French drain man video for a minute. Nice install!
Be cool to see some footage of it running when it rains
Thanks! That's coming soon!
As he mentioned it’s very important to hold the drain pipe at the bottom of the hole while adding rock. The rock will lift the pipe up if you dump rock. The first time installed a culver I dumped a load of dirt over the culvert with the tractor and it pushed the culvert pipe out. Then I had to re-dig the trench. (You should only have to do this once until you learn)
Great instructional video! You may have saved a lot of people a lot of time.
Thanks!
I have had the same experience. You learn fast when you are digging trenches twice!
That Tech Teacher
Good judgement comes from experience and much of that comes from bad judgement.
It certainly looks like a professional job. Well done. It was great to be able to see it. I always wondered how people got water away from the property. Thank you.
Thank you very much!
Post 10 would be so proud of your drainage system. No clogging here!
Excellent video, Ryan, and thanks for making it. Hypothetically, if one were to extend the drain under the sidewalk (which may or may not have been done here), what might you recommend?
I make these for a living idk where u live I’m in Portland Oregon where it rains heavy a drain this style in a place that rains as much as here only last about 10 years that being said this is the cleanest diy drain I have ever seen good job
Thanks I appreciate it. I'm in Ohio. What do you do different to make them last longer than 10 years?
I'm a General Contractor and you know most people get bad comments and I really appreciated yours your a great young man thumbs up friend
Now that's the way to do a French drain great job👌
Excellent report from start to finish.
You gave me all of the information I needed. Thank you
The product information was very helpful.
Thank you
Thanks glad it could help
Looks effective. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to run it through that flower bed or along its edge until I had to angle to the hard drainage pipe to the hypothetical connection to the sewer. So the ground cover over most of it would have been the mulched bed. Then I wouldn't have a 1'x35' strip of sod struggling summer after summer.
Not a bad idea
I'd be curious to see how well that sod above the french drain looks after a small period of drought. I assume you have lawn sprinklers which I'm sure helps. But I'd recommend leaving a little more root mass (minimum of 4"). Overall, great job!
Great suggestion! I have found it is more stressed than the rest of the yard. I should have left more soil.
@@ThatTechTeacher427 It might be an idea to take new strips of grass from somewhere else in the garden and replace the strips above the drain with them (and moving the strips above the drain to the area you just removed , you'll likely need some top soil to keep it level.) This will definitely be beneficial once the lawn has settled again.
hypothetically brilliant!
Very good video, good editing, good information and doesn’t become boring
New sub.... awesome and amazing 😍 video..... well spoken, well demonstrated.
Exceptionally well planned.....I will use every bit of knowledge you shared if I hypothetically need a French Drain.....
You are a good Citizen to us all.
God bless you and your family
Çhief
Awesome! Thank you and I really appreciate it!
File this one under "stuff you can't do in San Antonio. (without a few days of jackhammering)
Unless you were my dad who whipped his 4 sons...
Watching this in the Odenwald in Germany and thinking the same thing :-)
very quality, clean job, clear explanation, better than professionals
Thanks!
You made this look too easy. That is back breaking work. Great job!
I live in an apartment why am I watching this
I appreciate it!
Bro me too but I enjoyed it
Because you could “hypothetically” do it too
One can dream!!
@@nvrguru22 Ha ha!
I noticed the height of the drain is very close to the surface leaving only a thin layer of soil for the grass to grow in. Is that enough? I though the grass would need at least 2-3 inches of soil for the roots to remain healthy.
Wondering the same thing
.y grass endded up growing over gravel on the side of the yard over time you would never know, i just wanted my yard not wated logged for mths in the end i had a full covereage of grass.
I am almost 60 year old retiree, I'll try this. Thanks for the video!
Awesome I hope it goes well.
This is super helpful! Thanks for the video, I will have to do this in my yard soon.
Great how-to video for a DIY French drain. When the "check foundation light" SlabSure foundation monitoring system shows poor drainage is affecting the foundation, we typically recommend a solution just like this one! By measuring the foundation every hour, we can also tell if a French drain helped cure the solution with a straightforward comparison of the data before and after the French drain is installed.
'Your honor, I am hypothetically representing this man...'
A functional work of art.
You are soooooo lucky to have soft ground there. I had to do about the same length of trench and it took the better part of a week because it was super hard clay. Pick axe, the hee-man tooth pick and a half a bottle of extra strength Advil. Nice video work 'Luke', the force was with you.
Thanks! lol That sounds rough!
"Hypothetically" Haha!
👍
that reminded me of tj smoking 100% legal tobacco
@@sabin97 TJ the Amazing Atheist? Smoke pan everyday
All I could think of during the trench shot was... STAY ON TARGET...
😂
💯
And use the force....
Now THIS is podracing
LET GO! ... The force is strong with this one...
thats a lot of digging by hand. respect
Whoa! When you went down the trench with the camera, I had a flashback to star wars 1977 when I saw the movie in the theater. Flying through the trench to destroy the death star! Woohoo!
Any chance you can post a video of the system working during a rain event? It’s obvious you’ve taken FDM’s, and well done. One of my biggest beefs with his videos is that he doesn’t post his systems in action in real rain events. A lot of demonstration videos and installation videos, but nothing post installation. Nice to see this method being done DIY.
I'm glad you asked I am doing exactly that. Filming the last part of it today and hope to have it up this weekend. We just had a series of storms go through and I cant believe how excited I was to film water in a drain. 😃
Do not use fabric I bought fancy yellow pipe almost tripple price with nonwoven geofabric last spring 3 weeks ago started digging it up last fall and this spring a pond! Do not do burrito use fabric money buy more rock!
David White no idea if this is even English.
French drain man would be proud
That's an honor!
Nicely done is my opinion. I'm old and appreciate your initiative.
Much appreciated!
Impressive. I learned from this video how to fix the problem in my yard... Thanks for sharing.
Glad it was helpful
So..."hypothetically...this dead body over here, if it was me who did it...I probably would have used a knife like they did, but it probably just happened..." Best defense ever!
Just curious how well your grass grew back. It seems like maybe you didn't allow enough depth from the top of the geofabric to the sod to allow the roots to get deep.
That's exactly what I was wondering, how the grass is doing after a year on top of the gravel. Curious minds want to know. :)
I would suggest around 4" of soil above the fabric to help retain some moisture. My grass did yellow in the summer but came back in the fall.
@@ThatTechTeacher427 noted, thanks
Great video, going to dig out drain today. Thanks for the know how 👍🇬🇧
Great job my man! You help me make the decision of what to use on my drain project, thanks.
Glad I could help!
“This is Red Five. I’m going in.”
How does the sod grow over that landscape fabric???
With water. The sod will root to it
Almost cried watching that ditch be dug. I dug 3 ditches this week and i live in newfoundland(nicknamed the rock). I swear there were more rocks than dirt. Heaviest one i pulled out was probably 60lbs.
Very nice! We did this actually at my farmhouse 3-yrs ago, same technique but used pvc drain pipes put together, not as clean as we could do it as it is an acre area. Now I’m doing this again on my other property. This time i would need help, this is a 6 acre open ranch, trenches about 400-700 feet.
Thanks! Wow thats a big project, hope you are not digging it by hand.