How French Drains Work
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- Опубликовано: 22 окт 2024
- An overview of subsurface drains
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Whether you’re trying to protect a multi-million dollar structure or just keep your basement dry, subsurface drains get the water out without getting the soil out too.
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I love the energy you bring to the fascinating world of civil engineering!
It’s a good thing that you didn’t use the curse of oak island intro again as an example of what tv is now, because French Drains are mentioned a lot in that show.
Are you a communist? We call them freedom drains where I'm from. When I think of France I think "never been fired only dropped once".
fun fact Henry French also "invented" french kissing.
also anyone how likes to know how stuff work is a philosopher. as the word translates to lover of wisdom..
One suggestion with Nebula, but have a way of sharing a link on there with friends. Maybe each account could share one video a month, that could be viewed for that one month only, by anyone that has that link?
Basically, as a way for "influencers" (really just anyone who has a bunch of friends that like to share awesome content) to keep their friends up to date with some topic they really like, and to encourage more memberships (since you could advertise other videos from the same creator and try to push new sign-ups through that video).
The hardest job I ever did was digging a French drain around my house built in 1780. The roots the roots!!!
Bloody roots 😅😅
Sawzall is always a nice helper.
@@StormyWeather93 this. I built a privacy fence, and every post hole I had to use a sawzall with a hedge trimming blade to cut the roots up.
I still have nightmares about the roots
Yep. I know the pain well. 😅
I've worked construction for 30+ years, and one mantra that's served me well is "you cannot stop water; you can only direct it." Forget who told me that, but I hope I thanked them.
Tom Silva's quote comes to mind as well, I believe it was "Water is the enemy". Very much the mantra of a craftsman.
I liked subsurface drainage when it was still underground
@BlueBoy0 take your filthy upvote and get out… 😃
I work in basement waterproofing and structural repair. I tell people all the time we install water management systems, not basement waterproofing systems. It’s Judo; use the physics and principles of water against itself
Control the water and you can control the job... one of the first things I learned in construction
One of my favorite fields of study is Engineering Philosophy. Questions like "to what degree is the engineer responsible for protecting idiots from themselves?" Based on that criteria, I would absolutely call you a philosopher, Grady. You have helped shape my perspective on engineering ethics, and I teach high school engineering, so your philosophies and opinions (no matter how mild) are permeating multiple generations of engineers. Keep up the good work!
You might even say that his knowledge is.... *draining* down to students?? 😃😃😃
High school teaching engineering? That is cool. They didn't have anything close at my HS. I'm assuming ME. How deep does it go into: statics/dynamics/...? Or, is it more general about different engineering fields as a degree path?
Engineers have no chance: they're always inventing better idiots.
That’s a fascinating subject I never thought about! Any book or video recommendations?
@@benejeneb trickle down engineering. It actually works.
I am a Stormwater Management/Sediment Erosion Control Inspector for the state of MD, and we don't allow French drains for the exact reason Grady stated. No matter how much you try to regulate sand/gravel size, any smaller sediment particles above, and in contact with, larger stones, will enter and clog the spaces between the gravel. We typically use very similar devices like Bio-retentions/Micro-bios in residential areas between houses. There is a whole world of mildly interesting devices and structures used just for moving around the water that comes from the sky, and the ultimate goal is to have the water end up in the exact same place it was before it was developed. Its also always changing, and things we were doing 5-10years ago is already considered out of date, but awesome video as always. Absolutely nailed all the nuance in this field! Keep up the great work!
Yes, in the state of MD we try to handle water in a way so as we limit the changes we make in how the overall watershed is affected by our development. Such as when we divert surface water around an area, we try to outlet in a way that it doesn’t negatively affect the natural soil and vegetation, usually through a designed stable outlet to reduce the velocity before we transition back to original ground.
Could you give a quick description of the kinds of things your putting around residential homes? Does it work with homes with basements?
Use a geotextile fabric around the gravel to keep the fines out. That's probably easiest solution
@@chinese_carmichaelugh, did you watch the video? Have you ever used fabric? It’s the SAME story. Instead of blocking the up the gravel, it blocks up the mesh of the fabric. It almost always fails faster than no fabric at all
You really only have two choices, right? Either a geotextile fabric, which itself will get clogged, or sand over top gravel. Seems like sand over top gravel is actually the best solution. Since sand is an excellent filter medium. In fact, sand pool filters are very common.
Redirect water for me like one of your French drains
🤣👏
🚤 🧊 😂
😳
You mean draw water
Dam son!
I just finished installing a French drain in my yard, and it’s working great. During the digging process, I discovered that my yard was flooding due to a large granite slab just below the surface. The combination of the slab, clay soil, and sod erosion made the water retention issue clear. Since my dig, I’ve learned not to take porous soil for ‘granite.’ 🥁
lol
"It made a heck of a mess, pardon my French drain" is one of the all time great Grady jokes 😂
It definitely is😂
It is the joke grad(y)ation we have come to appreciate
one hell of a diarrhea moment🤭
Dam good ;)
aha. being a french person myself, i did not even get it until you mentioned it there :). i've said "pardon my french", many times, but that was too clever for me... 😂.
As a USACE engineer who has designed some of these toe drains I have to say this video is very well researched, up to date, and easy to understand. Keep up the great work.
So during a piece of road construction I was inspecting a few summers ago in northern Michigan, we suddenly tapped into a spring that we didn't know was there late in the afternoon and needed to be ready traffic the next day for paving. I was pretty inexperienced at the time and had no idea what to do but one of the construction guys on the crew suggested using a French drain. I knew two things, water flowing underneath the road would ruin it and the guy talking about the drain knew more than I did. We were there until 4am adding stone and blanket. Let my boss know the next day and he was happy with the French drain
Good story
Oh yeah, we heard about that at the TSC.
I would have just clogged it back up. Who knows who needs that spring water.
@@ThePickledsoulthat’s a good point.
all my life I've been confused by the phrase "weeping tile" because us non-specialists think of tiles as flat. But you showing tiles built like pipes explains a lot.
As an environmental engineer, this is one of my favorite channels. I deal entirely with groundwater but never in the context of how it interacts with and affects structures. Thank you for your amazing content, Grady!
This channel is just fabulous! Way to go, Grady!
I just realized that the drainage pipe on the back side of the wall has to be the lower than the finish grade, or floor, on the other side.
Mr. French only slightly missed the mark on rocks in New England.
Rocks, and the heaves and sinkholes they facilitate, are one of our primary crops.
Sadly, there is little demand in the produce aisle for that crop.
I work as a geotechnical engineer in Canada, some municipal governments have made it a policy that new additions to houses or house rebuilds that are larger than the original building footprint require a soak away pit (if the sub soils are favourable enough that is). I have spent many hours watching water infiltrate into the ground when doing in-situation testing for these pits, truly riveting stuff.
Why tho?
Just learned from this: here in Quebec we call them "Les drains Français" where we should be calling them "Les drains French".
Indeed! Well, you're halfway there, capitalizing Français, which you wouldn't if it just meant "de la France". (:
@@ps.2 Good point - my English always overrides my French - which allows for spectacular grammar errors.
@@AlanTheBeast100 Ha. Well, regardless.
For a moment I thought perhaps it should be "les drains Frenchs", but Google Translate doesn't think so (it says "les fioles Erlenmeyer", e.g.)
@@ps.2 That's interesting! Thanks. But man it will be hard for me to remember that name until the day when I can cleverly use it in a conversation!
FRACASSE%
0:53 yes those dam engineers
arrrgh
Came here for this
That dam pressure
Saw this at the perfect time
Brilliant
You don't just explain the Science but 'Why it matters'. That's philosophy in my book.
The how it works isn't the science but the mechanics. The science is the process of determining if the mechanics are correct. Why it is good to be correct or know the mechanics is definitely philosophical.
That’s the difference between Science and Engineering 😊
The term "natural philosopher" is an old term for _scientist_ and at that time there was no term for "engineering."
A lot of teachers have forgotten how critical it is to impart the "why." You can tell someone "how," but if you don't teach them "why," then they will never be able to innovate and they won't have the passion for making sure it's done right.
@@Synergy7Studios for sure! I feel like that is one of the parts of our education system that is fundamentally broken. Because students are not given Real Concrete reasons why learning things they see as unimportant actually matter, the system is failing them.
I absolutely adore the way you convey information in your videos. From engineering handbooks to failure analysis, your use of references and practical demonstrations always leave me with a feeling of greater understanding. I'm not even a civil engineer (electrical over here), but the content you deliver is always interesting and widely accessible.
When I was younger, I watched my dad build a French drain and he told me the holes had to go on the bottom. The entire thing completely baffled me and it was a burning question for _years_ about how it worked. Thanks for finally answering the question I had when I was younger, but forgot about 😅
Glory to me, the 69th like.
Im a civil projects inspector on pipeline and well pad projects in the oil and gas industry. I oversee large landslide repairs and mitigation. I love seeing content that explains what I do everyday!
I used to install French drains. Common practice was to drill the holes in two lines at 90 degrees from each other, and orient them down at 45 degrees off center on both sides. This left a channel in the center for water to flow
I was just about to say that it seems like holes at 5 and 7 o’clock or thereabouts would be ideal, with the holes still low enough while also allowing a free fast flowing channel down the middle. It’s nice to see my minimally-informed hypothesis lines up with someone who actually knows what they’re talking about 😁
Seems too be the best way.
This is the way
Exactly what I was thinking! The only thing I can see being a possible problem would be reduction in weight bearing capacity
Used to do this on the farm but with an offset like in a spiral... never had a problem with it.
This is my favorite STEM-channel in YT. Explanations and presentation are top notch and clear practical demonstrations are amazing. Most of the phenomena are easy to understand but since the problems have already been solved, I've never had to think about subsurface seepage etc. Your channel helps to appreciate the bewildering amount of accumulated substance expertise and experience that keeps our world in place and ticking. The videos of soil and concrete have been my personal favorites but all of the videos have been worth the watch. I also also appreciate the no-nonsense approach, little fluff and lot of substance, it shows that you value your audience's time. Please keep this up!
6:51 I bet that bug is having the most bizarre day ever.
"Once you know the base soil's grain size distribution, there are a number of engineering methods to find a material that will both allow water to flow while still holding the soil back." Would you be willing to cover this in more detail, or at least provide some references to this sort of thing? I want to know more!
The first report I mentioned it a great starting place: www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-08/filters_embankment_dams_update.pdf
I second this motion! But maybe I'm just biased because having Grady explain the intricacies of engineering in lengthy detail is music to my ears.
I was trying to imagine the cost of having engineers out there measuring soil particles haha. It seems there must be averages / heuristics to make a statistically valid estimate of the grain size distro?
@@bruce-le-smithWhen a sufficiently large project is involved, it's not that expensive (relatively speaking) to send someone out, take core samples in a nice distribution across your site and send them in for testing.
@@bruce-le-smiththe category’s are clay sand etc just google the definition of sand and go up in the grain size …. Experienced farmers and landscapers can say if it works just by looking and smearing some of it on the back of their hand …. No expensive test needed as long as you don’t built massive structures
My wife and I have truly enjoyed your channel.
As you, we enjoyed the older shows that were truly educational and not biased. Those same shows now are reality shows, and not worth the time to watch.
We enjoy your presentation, clarity, and desire to use practical things we live with for content. Keep up the great work!
Replying to @temoswalt2371:
**I IMAGINE YOU AND YOUR WIFE VOMITING 🤮🤮🤮🤮 ON EACH OTHER WHILE LISTENING TO "ENDLESS LOVE" BY LIONEL RICHIE AND DIANA ROSS!!** --- ROSEANNE BARR
Literally calling companies two days ago to get quotes for a french drain. This video gives me so much info on what I need to know. Thanks for posting.
If you're doing it for the sake of removing water that is pooling on the surface, you'll want catch basins as well. If it's to remove water away from your foundation, also make sure they grade the soil away from your foundation. These are things that they should know, but these help a lot more for surface water than French drains do. Whether they use the textile fabric or not should depend on what soil you have locally. Recommend looking at French Drain Man for more info, which as always take with a grain of sand because he's selling DIY materials.
@@imadork123 part of my house is literally in a bowl. i dont sere any way to grade it away from the foundation.
@@cryengine_x Have you considered building a moat around your house, that way the moat is lower than where your foundation is :)
@@imadork123 well like i said its only part, maybe 75% of the house is ok. i think a french drain in that area might go a long way to solve it, routing the water away. but i dont think completely. the design of the landscape/drainage just isnt correct. when i bought the house i didnt think at all about such things.
@@cryengine_x If your house is in a valley like you said, it would perhaps be better to collect water around the house with french drains that would collect in a catch basin with a sump pump. Gate City Foundation and Drainage has quite a lot of informative videos about this subject. Just a channel drain wouldn't cut it and ask when given quotations about where the excess water will be directed too. Water doesn't travel upwards, especially in a valley. I'm not trying to be the online expert, but want to make sure you get done what you need!
Water ALWAYS wins. Thank you for recording and posting this valuable educational video.
💧We are just left trying to let the water win *somewhere else* . And even that ain't easy! 💧
You have to admire the simplicity of the humble French drain. I'm from Connecticut and we have tons of these all over the place. Truly, you cannot understate the amount of rock in the soil here. So its no wonder why we have so many of them. It makes it pretty easy to see how well they work as long as you know what to look for.
Every time I watch this channel, I learn so much! Great work! Also, it’s criminal how everyone hasn’t heard of this channel!
Last year it rained a lot here. My fathers fields are mostly clay and crops drowned. It was a good demonstration where the drainage was as there were clear lines where crops were doing better.
I'm working with a farmer to test the effectiveness of a product on improving field drainage rate next spring. I could share the results with you once we get them if you would like.
How horrible. Sorry about the loss of your crops. RIP.
Helped my dad put in a French Drain & it was SO MUCH WORK & SO MUCH GRAVEL....I will never forget it💯🙏
When I used to work in road resurfacing, we would use the opportunity provided by the removal of the asphalt to install French drains along the curbs and retaining pits at all the storm drain entrances. It was basically a quick and dirty way of improving the century-old storm water drainage system without having to totally tear out the entire road and dig up the old storm sewers.
Grady, I'm sure you've heard it thousands of times over. Your content is top-notch it really doesn't get much better than Practical Engineering on RUclips. Scratch that. Anywhere
You are, indeed, a philosopher. The pursuit of knowledge about the natural world and how it works is exactly what the original philosophers were.
This is why it was called natural philosophy before the term science and scientist were coined. It's still visible in "PhD". That's a doctor of philosophy, not science.
How is it possible that a video about French drains can captivate me so I spend 16 minutes watching? You are GREAT Grady! I wish all my teachers of the past were as good as you are.
Thank you!
14:15 you threw me off for a bit with the sudden appearance of beard and hair 🤣
That's Grady's impression of a studio executive. 🙄
Same 😄! He does look good too 😅
Can you imagine a few centuries ago you got your farm drainage book from the mail in catalogue and you're just super pumped to read it.
I do grading for a construction company on new and existing developments and it’s super helpful to understand why I’m doing what I’m doing not just what thank you
Loving your videos.
I find that the best French drain is the one that never sees a drop of water. Of course in many large structures this might be impossible
For one family homes though, there are options.
1) grading the surrounding area to lead surface water away from the home.
2) overhangs can help keep water away from a building
3) the Porch/Veranda, 6 feet deep around the entire structure with an additional 1-2 foot overhang should, theoretically keep basements dry and the French drain empty.
4) bonus: French drain the surrounding area to lead sub-surface water away from the building
#1 is a huge obstacle for existing homes with established plants and hardscapes. BUT, it is the best solution. You are also dependent on the original grading, structure pad, and native soils. It's a riddle.
@@wayneblanchard4347 yes, existing structures have a harder time implementing good water management.
And it’s usually more expensive too. However if you already have water issues, it’s well worth it.
Man I helped my old man put a few French drains in his yard, some to help channel water across a dirt mountain road, and another to help drain a pond retention embankment/wall/ pile of dirt. All of them work most of the time, and the first year they even drained well during the high rain periods in the fall, with lots of leaf litter. Now, although they drain well most of the time, during the really rainy months they don't have enough flow due to clay infiltration of the geotextiles.
If only I had know to put some sand in, it wouldn't have taken any longer, we already had to transport the gravel and dig trenches with equipment.
If only we had known! The drainage guys we talked to said the drains we did should be more than enough, as they are very wide!
Now at least we can stop the seepage coming from the retention embankment before it becomes liquifaction
Great info! This is such an important topic for a lot of homeowners to understand. I've a house on a hill and it can't be overstated how powerful and damaging water is. We got the house after the damage was already done but, because whatever drainage systems that were put in place 30 years ago had long quick working, a whole section of the house had pretty significant foundation damage, all attributed to the force of water, that required many thousands of dollars to remediate. It is simply the most destructive, persistent force working relentlessly to destroy your house and none of that damage is covered by insurance. So don't cheap out on your drainage systems!
We could use a lot more water management practical, personal advice. I've had to learn about slopes, swales, and drains for runoff. Next I have to learn about septic systems, percolation tests, and how regulations among restrict what you can do--or what you have to do. Friend of mine is struggling with erosion from tides, and I don't fully understand if what the neighbors are doing (laying down large walls of boulders, stacked 6x6s, or concrete) is the end-all-be-all or if friend's planting of ground cover could be good enough, or if there's something more smart they could do by analyzing the specific fluid dynamics of that waterfront.
A wise old guy told me to avoid french drains with ribbing, for example--they clog easily, apparently. He said to stick with smooth piping.
When I did landscaping, we used both and they were fine. Of the stuff we used the smooth piping had thicker, sturdier walls. Hence better choice for shallow high load areas. Otherwise, in most cases the cheaper ribbed drain pipe was more than enough.
For your friend, it will depend. Ground cover is great, but easily replaceable rabble can take the brunt of the forces and provide time for the vegetation to take root.
Agree. Learning about water mgmt has been critical as home owner. There was a lot i didn't know for a long time and taking a multi pronged approach to address different problem areas has been hugely beneficial.
Modern ribbed drain pipes have a smooth inner surface, at least those that I can buy in Northern Europe. The ribs are for crush resistance and there's a separate very smooth inner liner for cloggage prevention.
I’m a house builder in the Colorado mountains who does foundation too. Rocky and sandy soil negates the need for a French drains. However I am building a house in eastern Colorado at the moment for my son.
Heavy clay and it’s in flood plane (low hazard). The house is fully engineered. Over excavated 80”x36” for structural fill underneath 24”wide footing and a full gravity French drain system. Thanks for educating me on this subject!
As a homeowner, French drains may be as practical as engineering gets! Thanks for your great work on these videos!
Where I live, we use a sort of "coffin channel", a channel with rectangular cross-section built of large rocks to create the channel itself, then smaller rocks and then gravel around it. They don't last forever, and we recently almost had a tractor tip over on a 30 degree incline when the lower front wheel suddenly opened a small sinkhole where the drainage was clogged. We serviced a different one that was still mostly intact when putting down fiber for better internet in the same area. We live along a fjord, so all our farmland is on the mountainside - drainage is still incredibly important, as our weather is very wet, and tractors would just sink or slide without it.
Agricultural engineering is frankly super interesting.
Funny thing... I've used the black all-round-perforated pipe professionally before, waaaaaay back when I was an electrician's apprentice (since our company had the trencher, we were also tasked with installing the stuff)... and we called it "drain tile" (even though it was plastic). TODAY, forty years later, I've learnt why it's called that.
Nice. I never understood why it was called "tile" either.
The sinkhole forming and rushing out was a surprisingly effective demonstration of chaos and failure even at a tiny scale
"Pardon my French drain" is one of the better dad jokes I've heard lately.
Especially when the profanity he's apologising for is "heck"
I recently(roughly a month ago) inspected a drainage pipe system being installed under a future reservoir locally and they had two sets of holes, one set was put at 7 o'clock or half past 7 and the other set at 3. I think it's a good choice since it still allows for faster flow since the bottom of the pipe has an uninterrupted invert to help wash silt buildup through the system and without forcing the water level in the envelope to rise too high. They used a bed of smooth river rock wrapped in a filter cloth around the piping.
I put french drains behind a cement block retaining wall I rebuilt 15 years ago. Dig out behind wall-put geo cloth in with lots of excess on both sides-lay in perforated drain pipe with a cap on one end-back fill with gravel-fold geo cloth over top if gravel with a big overlap-backfill with soil. It hasn't budged in 15 years.
It isn't engineered if it isn't overengineered.
Nothing built too strong ever broke.
I just built one too- 100 foot length
@@jonanderson5137 It could get someone broke.
bro i just wanna thank you for putting out quality content for all of these years. you are truly a legend. big ups for Practical Engineering
5:20 except when we say 'holes down' they aren't actually on the bottom, they're at 8 & 4. The bottom of the pvc forms a trough for the water to run and just above that are the hole on either side.
"8 and 4 or turds on your floor" is what I always say. Always.
This is an absolutely fantastic demonstration of drainage. As a geologist, this illustrates a concept that is very difficult to explain. Very well done, as is expected from this channel.
Fascinating presentation. I'm thinking of putting in a French Drain in my front yard to help with the lousy drainage left by the builder. (No curbs so I get a lake at the bottom of my driveway/yard when it rains) This helped my understanding a LOT.
I wish the sand method was better known in the trades. I hired some plumbers, and they sub-contracted some excavators, and I at least had the common sense to stop the excavator crew piling pure clay on top of the perimeter drains around our house. They were looking at me like I was from Mars saying 'well we put they clay back in lots of other places, not sure why you're fussing'. I feel bad for all those other places! At least I have a good layer of 3/4" crushed rock - But I sure do wish it was surrounded by some sand. Next time.
As someone that's trained as a landscape architect I really appreciate your explanations and they always make me think deeper. Thanks G
I love the fact Brady complained that TV is all just reality TV shows and rhen proceeded to promote the Getaway which while a great show is still yet another reality show.
Gotta make money somehow.
@@Michael-yx2un To be fair, I'm certain that an average modern reality show and a Nebula "reality show" will be fundamentally different... namely, without the nonsensical over-the-top drama and ridiculous fights.
Isn't this a game show rather than a reality show?
But Brady IS a reality show. The BEST kind.
Grady*
10:39 Ok cause I was gonna say, you can use varying sized gravels to make a filter system, just like you were making a water filter to purify, using sand, charcoal, and membranes.
Every time I clean my aquarium I classify the rocks (and take out snails) then put the largest down first, then the medium, then plants and small. Makes the under gravel system flow so much better
I was in oroville on the day of the spillway disaster. When we saw a big cars lined up away from the city my dad joked at first there might be a gun show but it was a lot scarier when we found the dam to our backs was collapsing.
Should of at least turned around so you could see it.
*Not the dam, but the spillways both "normal" and emergency.
Worked on the circa1879 "French house" in Concord Ma. It was built on the "Old FairGrounds" that was once an ancient flat floodplain and was prone to flooding (parts of Concord are below sea level). That basement is still dry to this day! Great video.
I LOVE french drains. I have been waiting for everr for a video on them!!!
French drain, French fries, French press, French kiss. Vive la France!
Oui, oui! @@StefanReich
@@StefanReichfrench poop
Please tell your leader Emmanuel Microbe to clean the seine river i can smell 💩 from miles
I bought a house and found out it flodeed during monsoon season. I dug trenches around thr shop and patio and backfilled it with rocks. Inalso graded the trenches to the back corner of the yard and it has worked really well so far.
About 35 years ago, my parents decided to dig a perforated drain from our back yard, down a hill and draining into the stream at the bottom of the property. My father was sick of his lawn tractor bogging down in the marshy spot when he was trying to mow the giant lawn. God bless them, the two of them slogged away at it all summer and for once, didn't try to dragoon my siblings and I into the project. They kept at it, hip high in mud and eventually got the perforated pipe, the fabric, the sand and the gravel over the trench. My dad planted grass seed over the spot. During really wet or really dry weather, we'd go down to the stream to see what was coming out of the drain. I think that they had to do some maintenance about seven or so years later but as far as I know, that drain is still working and keeping the damp out of the upper part of the back garden. I'm guessing that the family who bought the house a couple of years ago don't even realize that the drain is there.
Were you able to help, but did not care to?
@@mch2359 I did not care to, but I think I made a half-hearted, insincere offer. My father didn't want to risk teenagers or twenty-somethings galumphing around and collapsing the narrow trench. My mother probably didn't trust us not to track mud into the house. All of us, at the time, had either school, jobs, or musical theatre practice. My older brother, who might have actually been useful, was away in the military.
@mch2359 the parents kept them away from the project
2:20 I would think to pay even a bit more attention to those tabs on the left. This shows how powerful the primary message of proper drainage can effect the overall system.
Had a basement that flooded every time it rained, we then had "water proofing" work done about 10 years ago and its never flooded since. I remember they dug trenches around the house and in the basement, as well as a sump pump with a backup battery. I remember they added lots of rocks to the trenches but I didnt get to see most of the work, I wonder if they did french drains?
Most home foundations are skirted in French drains
I recall, many years ago when my late father had a new drainage system installed on our family farm, there was some kind of filter integrated onto the outside of the plastic pipes. (The farm had a previous system of clay tile drains, but they were installed relatively shallow, making them more vulnerable to damage, and in the clay and loam topsoil layer, making them highly vulnerable to clogging. The plastic tiles were installed in the much sandier subsoil, where it was easier to keep the soil out. Heavy machinery allows a lot of nice options.)
6:51 That bug must be having the weirdest day.
your joy in the mundane that works inspires us! When I visited the construction site of the Mica Dam in BC, at its construction, one of the highest earth-fill dams in the world, the interpretation center stressed the layering of materials---coarsest materials on the outside, with an inner core of glacial till--the finest particle sizes imaginable--forming an completely impermeable core, with the layers around securing it and able to carry away internal water.
12:34 Depends on where you live. In flat areas (like Houston) it's true that basements will be completely underground. But, if there is enough of a slope where a house is built, it's not unusual to have a "walk-in basement" where the basement slab sits just above the lowest ground level and the other side is partially or fully underground.
In fact, I've had one house where the slope was so severe that it had 2 levels that were partially below grade.
They aren't mutually exclusive. I have a walkout basement that still requires a sump pump for drainage along the front of the foundation, which collects and moves a surprising amount of water during heavy rain events.
Reminds me of "taverne" in Northern Italy houses
@@ferrisr Thank you for calling it by the correct term, a "walkout" basement. Guess they call them "walk-in" in Houston. Guess that makes the half-height "lookout" basement with a picture window but no door a "look-in" basement there which is just creepy.
Why would a house in Houston even have a basement? Heating is generally not a great concern and the ground is definitely not going to freeze.
@@Keenath Basements (especially walk-out basements) are desired by many buyers and add a lot of value to homes. With a basement under a 2 story home, you get 50% more floor space (ignoring garage) for what is usually far less than 50% cost... And often homes are sold with the basements unfinished, thus keeping initial price down and giving the buyer the option to finish the basement to their tastes down the road, as money/time permit.
Thank you for explaining about how drains are in some ways similar even as the structures they need to drain around get bigger! It was really interesting to learn about the drainage near a dam.
I exclaimed out loud when you revealed the other filtration method is sand! That’s so simple that it’s not obvious you could stop soil using another type of earth! Thank you for making this video, I’ll be sure to remember this!
Let's hear what kind of sound you make when you hear that depending on soil type etc, it's possible to use tree tops/branches and straw instead of pipe+sand. :)
The problem is that sand can get "clogged" with smaller soil particles the same way pebbles or geotextile can. It's sort of an unsolvable problem: no matter what you use as a filter, the stuff you're filtering out inevitably gets stuck in the filter and blocks it up. The best you can really hope for is to make your sand layer wide enough that it won't get badly degraded during the intended lifetime of the drain.
Yeah or find a way to back flush the filter media 😂
9 min 54 sec. The Hume wier wall in Albury nsw Australia!!!That things been moving for years and the engineering to help hold it in place is incredible.
As Tropical Storm Debbie roars over us, this is especially timely. Thank you.
::furiously burying stones in the rain::
Thanks for the explanation. I had water intrusion in the concrete floor of my basement level condo and the HOA tried for weeks to find the source. Finally they gave up and put in a French Drain across and under my Condo floor. If they couldn't stop the water, then at least they could divert it. I've never had a problem since.. I wasn't sure what that was, but all I knew was it worked and I had no more pooling water. Now I know how they built it. Very cool.
Thank you for touching on drainage used in agriculture. Usually gets missed on these kinds of videos.
I once helped a mate dig out and create a french drain behind a shower block on a caravan site, drilled out our own drain backfilled with the outlet towards a ditch and I was amazed to see this in action with an impressive flow, it was only about 6metres but that piece of land would just not drain on its own but the french drain took care of that
Love how you explain engineering feats with a permanent smile.
Your videos are better than the lectures I sat in for hours.
Thank you.
13:58 In that context, “philosopher” meant _natural philosopher_ - someone who studies physics (nature and the physical universe). Natural philosophy was the precursor of natural (empirical) science.
It's also the Ph part of a PhD.
Originally, a doctorate was a well-rounded education in a variety of subjects, including logic and discourse.
Similarly, _science_ at the time was essentially a synonym for _knowledge_ - a _man of general science_ would be a person who is interested in knowledge and study... a.k.a. all of us watching!
2:43 I am absolutely paying attention to those dye tablets going to the left because it interests me how they each go in a line to the closest drain instead of spreading out/splitting up.
Not 24 hours ago I was looking in to how a French drain works, and here comes my favorite civil engineer to explain it!
Growing up in Northern Minnesota, it was always amazing how snowmelt could find its way into our house, especially a well-sealed basement.
0:52 Those dam engineers!
Thought about the same joke, great minds think alike :D
God dam your pun!
not funny
I was gonna post the exact same comment, but on 00:53 :))
0:53
Love your stuff, Grady! I'm not an engineer, according to the licensing boards, but have worked in the CE field for the past 47 years. I spent the first 22 years of my career as a surveyor (mostly highway construction stakeout) and the last 25 as a construction (new bridges, primarily) inspector. Many of the "lessons" in your videos are things I've learned over the years, but your explanations are presented in an entertaining and easy to understand manner. I particularly love your math classes 😅
I was unable to compIete a degree, but was fortunate enough to find a path that has led to an interesting and rewading career in engineering and heavy construction. With the soaring costs of a post high school education, there is plenty of room in this field for anyone willing to work hard, to learn, and who is unafraid to get their hands dirty. If someone is willing, the pay is good, the work is always exciting and I'm not stuck behind a desk staring at a computer screen all day. Heck, I even got to witness firsthand the clearing of a major harbor after a fairly recent bridge disaster.
Please keep doing what you do! Hopefully, some will find it interesting enough to come and find out what really happens on the other side of all those orange barrels.
Yay 😀
I asked for a video about these. I find them fascinating (yes, I said it).
I’m under no illusion that that’s why the video was created, I’m just really glad that it was.
Thank you very much. I appreciate you and all your hard work that brings us these videos.
🙂🐿🌈❤️
[sydney australia]
What is the significance of the squirrel in your avatar and emojis? I haven't ever seen a squirrel in Australia.
We had installed when we built our garage. Helps drain the water away from the foundation
hey! loved this video as usual, and it's a small thing but I wanted to say a particular thanks to y'all for having a human voice Henry French (and crediting Wesley for his work!) instead of handing it to an AI text to speech service, which feels more and more common.
My grandfather worked in the Forest Service and later the Sea Bees back before perforated pipe was really a thing, and they commonly did three-stage filters (or sometimes more) instead. Same idea as the two-stage, just with some 2" river rock for lots of voids in place of the perforated pipe, and then successively finer layers until you got to something the local soil wouldn't migrate through. The pipe is easier to lay and more consistent, but just rocks of graded sizes will do in a pinch if you don't have it.
I bet French drains pride themselves on taking more vacation days than any other european drain
So that's why my basement is wet in August? 🤔
That'd be funny if the French Drain wasn't named after an American whose last name was French
I was waiting for a comment like this to upvote, haha! The French enjoy mocking the English too, so it's all in good fun.
Except French Drains are as American as apple pie now. Though apparently as old as civil engineering it took a guy named French to popularize the term.
This is perfectly timed. Perkins builder brothers just did a video on French drains and had a whole discussion on which way holes should be oriented.
Just keeping gutters clean can keep water out of your basement. Make sure all of your downspouts carry water away from your foundation.
This, right here, is the answer for much of a houses water problems. The first thing, and best thing, it to route surface water away and downhill from your house, if at all possible. In many situations, that will fix your problem. The other thing to know is if you gutters go into the ground and are old, they may very well be leaking and bringing water straight to your foundation.
In that case, you can simply route the gutter water onto the surface of your property if you have even a slight slope away from your house. And, like was mentioned, grade the soil near your house to slope away from the house.
Obviously, if you are in a flat area, then it may be hard to impossible to route surface water completely away, so then you have to have those french drains also to help route route away that goes to the bottom of your foundation.
Interesting video. The mechanics of drainage well explained.
I just built a french drain around my house and also a retaining wall with drainage behind. All been built relatively well regarding the information in this video.
Except for one thing, I now have soil directly on top of the geotextile, which I should replace with sand. the soil is fine silt and gets almost water tight over time, and from the video I just learnt that sand allows the water to flow more freely into the drainage and prevents the geotextile from clogging up.
So I'm going to do that before I replace the pavement.
I have a suggestion for a future full length video that would be super interesting to me for this channel to tackle. It would need to be at least an hour long, if not an hour and a half.
That would be a video on the Mississippi River/Atchafalaya River control structure, showing how it works, the affect of the river switching channels, and also a full in depth look at things like the new 18 mile long barrier being built around the west shore of Lake Pontchartrain and other existing and new drainage structures being built to safeguard New Orleans from flooding. There is a shocking lack of long form content about the New Orleans flood protection systems. There’s videos from 1-5 minutes, but they all feel very abbreviated. This channel would do it better than anyone else!
I'm not certain but I thought he had already done that
It could help if you donate to the channel or his patron. Suggesting he make long form content is expensive, and quite unrealistic if you and others don't support him financially.
@@alexrogers777 It is a two-part video. Part 1 is Why Rivers Move (ruclips.net/video/UBivwxBgdPQ/видео.html); Part 2 is Why Engineers Can't Control Rivers (ruclips.net/video/vLZElIYHmAI/видео.html).
@@lizj5740 I knew it!
@@alexrogers777 he did a short one that mentioned the Old River Control Structure but it wasn’t super in depth about that, just more generally about river control methods. I’d really like a longer video that was more about the Louisiana flood control system, including the New Orleans area showcasing the $15Bn worth of hard systems built by USACE post-Katrina.
This is really important! And, as per your title, Practical. - I had a house where after heavy rains the basement window well would fill a foot and a half deep with water, which slowly flowed into the house. But because the adjacent landscaping was graded downward I was able to dig down and install a French drain starting just below the window, which completely stopped the problem. And come to think of it. I'm lucky we saw water in the window well! Because regardless, there must have been a great amount of water deep in the soil by the basement concrete wall, which would have eventually found its way in or caused damage from expansion from freezing. - Why wasn't all this considered by the builder? Seems a serious oversight.
So many times, when I watch your videos, I find myself thinking, 'Yeah, I've wondered about this'. But I do the wondering while driving along the highway, or lying in bed at night, and then never get around to looking for information on the thing I pondered. Back in the day, not so long ago, I would have needed to go to the library to search for articles, books, or government documents to answer my amorphous questions. Now, the information is, as we say at my house, 'always within the reach of your fingertips'. But how do you research something you 'wonder about' when you don't know even enough to define what it is you want to know? The library would have layers of knowledge, from the broad to the very specific; knowledge curated by editors, publishers, and the library itself. The internet? Um, no. The noise is only getting more abundant than the signal, and search engines are becoming frustrating; almost useless.
So I'm so grateful for channels like yours, where topics are carefully explained, with models (I love me some models!), clear language, fantastic visuals, and great editing. You bring up things that let me reach for more specific information, if I want to, and that is so rewarding to someone likes me, who gets a curiosity itch that needs scratching in rabbit holes!
Your channel is ne of the best on RUclips. I've installed many French Drains, and understand how they work; yet, I never knew where the name came from.
Correction @ 4:22 . The reader should read, "it seems to most inexperienced persons" and not "it seems to be the most inexperienced person".
Thanks for this breakdown, which sounds excellent thus far.
Yeah, I noticed that sentence sounded out of place
Good catch.
@@lizj5740 ty
Putting a drain in my moms yard and this is the detailed information my brain has been searching for so I can make the best decisions.
Thank you.
9:37 Get RCE on the phone.
Perfect timing I’m putting in a French drain in a couple weeks!
What's the dam at 9:12?
Good question
It looks like new bullards bar dam in northern California. I could be wrong though.
I hope someone answers this
The more I learn about water tables, hydrostatic pressure and water removal the more appreciation I have for engineering. We live in the North East US. Seven years ago, my basement was dry as a bone (which is one reason we bought the house). But with the increase of storms and the huge amount of the water they bring now, my basement is now flooding.
We spent thousands of dollars trying to fix it. Namely, with French drains. But the water table is so high it’s been a challenge. I’d love to see a video on the function of sump pumps.
I don't understand why French drains are installed directly against a building's foundation. This guarantees water will drain directly against the foundation. Wouldn't you want to install the French drain away from the foundation or make sure the water flows away from the foundation to begin with.
A French Drain works on both sides of its cross section. By having it against the house foundation you ensure water cannot build up against the foundation as it has a direct and easy path into the drain.
@@kjdude8765 But you are still forcing the water against the foundation to begin with? Just confused as why you would want to 'guide' the water against the foundation just to get rid of it.
@@netposerx There is no forcing in this case. The pressure gradient is due to gravity acting on the water outside of the house foundation. If you follow the dye trails in Grady's demonstration they all flow toward the pipe, even the ones closest to the right hand side of the box.
@@netposerxa drain doesn't "force" anything. yes, there is a very slow *flow* of water toward the drain (and so, the wall), but an actually lower water *pressure* within the soil because there's a releasing of the water. so the wall being protected is subject to less force.
basically, the only *force* involved is gravity, which is true with or without the drain.
@@WaterMonger12 Thanks for that info.