This 100% works... I'm in Wollongong, Australia, near a mountain and also near the sea - we get a lot of rain and the soil here is rubbish (lots of clay) with debris washed down from the mountain. My backyard was forever boggy, it would rain and then stay a bog for days which meant the kids couldn't really use it. I dug about 20 of these vertical drains 1m apart using a cordless digger (Ryobi) and hand shovel and did exactly the method chuck described with the fabric and gravel then grass on top - his videos are what inspired me to do this, and low and behold, next big rain fall, ground is wet but no longer boggy... the grass looks much healthier, there is no longer slippery muddy bits. The only thing I did different was I added new store-bought garden soil under the grass vs re-using the rubbish soil I had - so add another $10 for a few bags of garden soil. I also did this for where our gas hot water heater had its overflow onto the ground - it was going literally no where but onto the ground near the house so I bought a small drain pan with an outlet from ebay, piped it in to a re-purposed crate bought from a hardware shop and surrounded with gravel + fabric- again, works great, the water from the hot water flows into the pan, then into the pipe and then into the bigger soak-away down into the ground - we no longer have a bog next to our house! I've done AG (french drains) in our yard too and they work for areas you can pipe water "somewhere" but where you can't, this is great and totally recommended - just take your time with it, use the right tools and do it right the first time vs rushing to get it done "now".
Sir, you definitely are a genius in my eyes! Unfortunately, I live in a subdivision and where I am experiencing a soggy area of my lawn is at the fence line with my next door neighbor. He likes to run his irrigation system way too long and it always floods one area of my yard. Unfortunately I can't dig too deep because there is a gas line. I would have to have a horizontal type of drainage system
You will vastly increase the capacity if you go a bit deeper & install milk crates upside down on about 4" of gravel with geotextile underneath then wrapped up around the crates. The crates should be empty & have min. 6" of earth on top, for load distribution & turf health. Bottom of gravel should be min. 2 ft above water table for good drainage. If you have very high table you can use shallower bread baskets instead, but always no gravel inside, as this reduces capacity. Replacing gravel with hollow clay balls also further increases capacity.
your idea's are fun! I was thinking you were going to put another grated lid on the drainage pipe and fill that with rock to bury! make sure it would always be a cavity for water to penetrate the ground. the milk crate is fun since it likely wont rot for a good time. just the fabric and rock is a very cost effective solution I enjoy it!
Just an observation - When a foundation is dug in, normally drainage is also installed. Ground is back filled, but never as "tight" as original. Then flower beds are put in around house further loosening the ground. Water will travel to least resistance areas. Basically creating a muddy moat around foundation where the water sits and leaches in to foundation. I "raised area around foundation" and entice the water to flow away from foundation and into outer yard.
Could you more describe how you raised the area around the foundation? My issue is that rain collects all along the foundation at the level of the house.
@BA-ef4pr I had to peel back mulch and weed mat, bring in dirt and spread it out, ground 'settling" at foundation was 4 inches lower than out at edge of lawn (compacting it down by foot) . Made sure grade at foundation higher than out toward lawn. Laid weed mat back down and mulch, replanted what was moved.
@@robertwikeljr-1522 I think I would have done the same. It seems as though I am much more worried about water than most people and can definitely see me doing what you did. I'm glad you explained what you meant because I was intrigued.
Could any of these be used underneath a fire pit area that is filled with pea gravel? We are currently digging one out in the backyard, and we have terrible drainage. I am trying to figure out the drainage problem before we actually put the gravel in.
What about using old 50 gal blue plastic drums, drill 3/4" holes throughout and fill with gravel then top with sod? I got half dozen of them for free last year and dont have a real use for them. What do you think?
Will this process work if I'm in a new construction and the entire neighborhood is entirely clay? All the garbage soil has been brought in and could go down 10 feet who knows. Thanks!
That culvert pipe looks big like a mini well, im at lowes and there is now pipenlike this unless I cut a 4 inch corrugated, what i see in the video looks wider
It's online high price for these not the size, height is see here, however at lowes is Charlotte pipe 6 inch wide 2 ft..just 15 bucks but I'll have to drill holes perforated
Hi Sam, sometimes we need French drains and catch basins. This is more designed to eliminate small areas of the yard that hold water after a big rain. If you read this, check our main site, Apple Drains here on RUclips for the results video posting today.
Question... So I live on the side of a tiny mountain. What are the chances of me causing liquifaction, if I put a whole bunch of these in?? Any experts out there? I'd rather a chunk or my house not slide down the hill!!
you had good fabric and a sturdy crate, wouldn't it be better to had fabric in first then but crate upside down in hole without the pebbles and throw everything on top? this way you have more room for water and the crate and fabric keeps most of the dirt out of void ...
Near me it doesn’t typically rain more than a couple inches at a time. So this seems like a great quick solution that could last a long time. But probably not great if you get more rain.
Couple of questions. Is hard pan a geographical problem (I’m in southeast Wisconsin) and secondly, will this provide any relief to my constantly cycling sump pump.
@@frenchdrainscience1624 thanks for the quick reply. I have a raised bed garden 75 ft down hill from the house. When I dug the holes for my fence, I went down two feet. Before I moved to the next hole, the hole was full of water. I believe I went through the hard pan. Needless to say I have a high water table. Looking for a remedy.
Yes. If the system is installed correctly, it will relieve stress from the sump pump. The water will be flowing vertically through the soil, and not horizontally across your lawn
I am in Northern Jersey as well. Not sure how deep the hard pan is but the water table in my yard was only a foot under ground. I only made one hole so far. Hopefully some of these techniques work.
Our neighbor has 4-5 broken sprinklers on the side of their house that is keeping our side ponding with water and a muddy mess. They leak 24/7 and they will not repair them or turn the water off. This has been happening for at least 2yrs. Any suggestions? City says they can't do anything and will ticket us if they come out and we have standing water!
Why not put the crate in upside down then you won't need any gravel at all. The fabric on top and sides keep the dirt out just the same as if there were gravel inside. And the mesh pattern of the crate supports the fabric as well. YOu might want to put a small amount of gravel on the bottom to keep the crate elevated above the dirt.
This seems to me something that won’t always work, depending on soil, but when it does it’s like a cheat code-in some cases could prevent the need to run a large drain system. When they excavated my house it was clay as deep as footings. I don’t think I could benefit from this in my case.
Are hard pan and clay the same thing? And your explanation still does not address how to recognize hard pan when you get to it (if hard pan and clay are not the same). Also, what is the effect of introducing surface water straight into the water table without the filtering effect of the natural method of it more gradually draining down? Suppose the surface water has manure, or other contaminant? What does it do to the wells in the area? I had a septic tank guy tell me dry wells like this are illegal in Texas.
@@frenchdrainscience1624 Yes, a tradesman who installs and maintains septic tanks. They are regulated by the state of Texas (I don't know the nature of the regulations) and they know a lot about digging and water tables.
This 100% works... I'm in Wollongong, Australia, near a mountain and also near the sea - we get a lot of rain and the soil here is rubbish (lots of clay) with debris washed down from the mountain.
My backyard was forever boggy, it would rain and then stay a bog for days which meant the kids couldn't really use it.
I dug about 20 of these vertical drains 1m apart using a cordless digger (Ryobi) and hand shovel and did exactly the method chuck described with the fabric and gravel then grass on top - his videos are what inspired me to do this, and low and behold, next big rain fall, ground is wet but no longer boggy... the grass looks much healthier, there is no longer slippery muddy bits. The only thing I did different was I added new store-bought garden soil under the grass vs re-using the rubbish soil I had - so add another $10 for a few bags of garden soil.
I also did this for where our gas hot water heater had its overflow onto the ground - it was going literally no where but onto the ground near the house so I bought a small drain pan with an outlet from ebay, piped it in to a re-purposed crate bought from a hardware shop and surrounded with gravel + fabric- again, works great, the water from the hot water flows into the pan, then into the pipe and then into the bigger soak-away down into the ground - we no longer have a bog next to our house!
I've done AG (french drains) in our yard too and they work for areas you can pipe water "somewhere" but where you can't, this is great and totally recommended - just take your time with it, use the right tools and do it right the first time vs rushing to get it done "now".
Sir, you definitely are a genius in my eyes! Unfortunately, I live in a subdivision and where I am experiencing a soggy area of my lawn is at the fence line with my next door neighbor. He likes to run his irrigation system way too long and it always floods one area of my yard. Unfortunately I can't dig too deep because there is a gas line. I would have to have a horizontal type of drainage system
1. Love this video!
2. Warn people that this should not be done anywhere near a house.
3. Could you better explain "Hard Pan"
Dig a hole, nd you’re going to hit “hard dirt” for a while. That’s your hard pan. Once you break through, you get back to “soft” dirt
Hey Chuck, I'm really appreciate your knowledge and share with us the solve water problems but how i know if I'm deep enough under the hard pan ?
You will vastly increase the capacity if you go a bit deeper & install milk crates upside down on about 4" of gravel with geotextile underneath then wrapped up around the crates. The crates should be empty & have min. 6" of earth on top, for load distribution & turf health. Bottom of gravel should be min. 2 ft above water table for good drainage. If you have very high table you can use shallower bread baskets instead, but always no gravel inside, as this reduces capacity. Replacing gravel with hollow clay balls also further increases capacity.
How many milk crates are suggesting? 2-3?
@@lgsr1 depends on the surface to drain and the amount of rain
Great Idea. I'm guessing that second one with the corrugated tubing might have worked better if the drain cover was slightly below grade?
your idea's are fun! I was thinking you were going to put another grated lid on the drainage pipe and fill that with rock to bury! make sure it would always be a cavity for water to penetrate the ground. the milk crate is fun since it likely wont rot for a good time. just the fabric and rock is a very cost effective solution I enjoy it!
Washed river rock would be better than gravel. It won't compact. I like the milk crate idea. Fabric is a MUST.
Thank you for this information,I have a spot in my yard like that.will be trying this,thank you again
This mainly works if the ground is compacted. It’s best to dig down to the water table if possible. It’s a cheap & easy way to drain away water.
The space doesn't look big enough to hold even a small amount of water. But I'll give it try. thanks Chuck
How do you know when you get to the hard pan soil? Is it hard, does it change color?
Hard pan in super hard soil. Won’t let water drain
That message at the end 👌
Just an observation - When a foundation is dug in, normally drainage is also installed. Ground is back filled, but never as "tight" as original. Then flower beds are put in around house further loosening the ground. Water will travel to least resistance areas. Basically creating a muddy moat around foundation where the water sits and leaches in to foundation. I "raised area around foundation" and entice the water to flow away from foundation and into outer yard.
Could you more describe how you raised the area around the foundation? My issue is that rain collects all along the foundation at the level of the house.
@BA-ef4pr I had to peel back mulch and weed mat, bring in dirt and spread it out, ground 'settling" at foundation was 4 inches lower than out at edge of lawn (compacting it down by foot) . Made sure grade at foundation higher than out toward lawn. Laid weed mat back down and mulch, replanted what was moved.
@@robertwikeljr-1522
I think I would have done the same. It seems as though I am much more worried about water than most people and can definitely see me doing what you did. I'm glad you explained what you meant because I was intrigued.
Great tips and good before/after examples. 👍
I say it’s a good idea. Maybe go deeper on hole. This is good on sandy soil but if it’s clay it might not work
Could any of these be used underneath a fire pit area that is filled with pea gravel?
We are currently digging one out in the backyard, and we have terrible drainage. I am trying to figure out the drainage problem before we actually put the gravel in.
Wow. Thanks a lot.
So is this safe near house and pavement concrete slab driveway?
What about using old 50 gal blue plastic drums, drill 3/4" holes throughout and fill with gravel then top with sod? I got half dozen of them for free last year and dont have a real use for them. What do you think?
I'm going to try this, but I'm going to wrap the barrel with landscape fabric and also surround with washed gravel on the outside of the barrel.
@@woodnyardjunkie Might be on to something.
Will this process work if I'm in a new construction and the entire neighborhood is entirely clay? All the garbage soil has been brought in and could go down 10 feet who knows. Thanks!
Great idea. I am going to do it.
Does this help during a heavy rain event?
have you tried this with and without the landscaping fabric?
which would last longer
Use the fabric. Otherwise it will eventually fill in between your gravel with dirt... Clog it
That culvert pipe looks big like a mini well, im at lowes and there is now pipenlike this unless I cut a 4 inch corrugated, what i see in the video looks wider
It's online high price for these not the size, height is see here, however at lowes is Charlotte pipe 6 inch wide 2 ft..just 15 bucks but I'll have to drill holes perforated
How close to a house's cement foundation can a vertical drain be put in?
I have the same question!
Will this help with water flooding into a home during heavy rainfall?
Hi Sam, sometimes we need French drains and catch basins. This is more designed to eliminate small areas of the yard that hold water after a big rain. If you read this, check our main site, Apple Drains here on RUclips for the results video posting today.
Of the three, what is the most effective?
They All work Great
Thanks for another entertaining and informative video 👍👍👍
Question... So I live on the side of a tiny mountain. What are the chances of me causing liquifaction, if I put a whole bunch of these in?? Any experts out there? I'd rather a chunk or my house not slide down the hill!!
Same here and I’m wondering as well. Like won’t it build a water table under the house causing the foundation under the foundation to be compromised?
@@thelouiebrand yeah, French drain looks like the safe bet...
i am wondering if i do this if it will direct the water to cut a channel under the house
since the watet is uphill of my house
How do you know what your “hard pan” is?
Very clever, thx!
you had good fabric and a sturdy crate, wouldn't it be better to had fabric in first then but crate upside down in hole without the pebbles and throw everything on top? this way you have more room for water and the crate and fabric keeps most of the dirt out of void ...
The water will go in the hole, but the yard will still flood once the hole fills with water. The ground underneath is still hard soil.
The grass will die on top of these as it does on most soakaways
Near me it doesn’t typically rain more than a couple inches at a time. So this seems like a great quick solution that could last a long time. But probably not great if you get more rain.
Then you'd just dig more of these holes... enough to handle the expected amount of rainfall that causes flooding in your yard.
Is that two separate pieces connected?
Thank you for sharing.
Fascinating.
Couple of questions. Is hard pan a geographical problem (I’m in southeast Wisconsin) and secondly, will this provide any relief to my constantly cycling sump pump.
It might
@@frenchdrainscience1624 thanks for the quick reply. I have a raised bed garden 75 ft down hill from the house. When I dug the holes for my fence, I went down two feet. Before I moved to the next hole, the hole was full of water. I believe I went through the hard pan. Needless to say I have a high water table. Looking for a remedy.
Yes. If the system is installed correctly, it will relieve stress from the sump pump. The water will be flowing vertically through the soil, and not horizontally across your lawn
How deep is the hard pan in Northern NJ?
I am in Northern Jersey as well. Not sure how deep the hard pan is but the water table in my yard was only a foot under ground. I only made one hole so far. Hopefully some of these techniques work.
Our neighbor has 4-5 broken sprinklers on the side of their house that is keeping our side ponding with water and a muddy mess. They leak 24/7 and they will not repair them or turn the water off. This has been happening for at least 2yrs. Any suggestions? City says they can't do anything and will ticket us if they come out and we have standing water!
Sounds like a trip to small claims court for any tickets or fines received.
Why not put the crate in upside down then you won't need any gravel at all. The fabric on top and sides keep the dirt out just the same as if there were gravel inside. And the mesh pattern of the crate supports the fabric as well. YOu might want to put a small amount of gravel on the bottom to keep the crate elevated above the dirt.
Well done - thx!!
This should only be done on properties that are not on hillsides.
Try that in NC’s red clay & tree roots🙄
im going to attempt it in my yard this weekend
What kind of fabric?
Landscape fabric. Commonly called weed barrier. It's usually used to lay out under your mulch or in a garden to keep unwanted growth under control.
This seems to me something that won’t always work, depending on soil, but when it does it’s like a cheat code-in some cases could prevent the need to run a large drain system.
When they excavated my house it was clay as deep as footings. I don’t think I could benefit from this in my case.
Give a try! It works great
Aren’t these called “dry wells”
He says some people call these dry wells.
10ft+ of clay here, no bueno. This only works for people with very ideal soil, which isn’t many places.
Are hard pan and clay the same thing? And your explanation still does not address how to recognize hard pan when you get to it (if hard pan and clay are not the same). Also, what is the effect of introducing surface water straight into the water table without the filtering effect of the natural method of it more gradually draining down? Suppose the surface water has manure, or other contaminant? What does it do to the wells in the area? I had a septic tank guy tell me dry wells like this are illegal in Texas.
Septic tank guy?
@@frenchdrainscience1624 Yes, a tradesman who installs and maintains septic tanks. They are regulated by the state of Texas (I don't know the nature of the regulations) and they know a lot about digging and water tables.
@@janetbaker1945 he sounds like stand up guy!
@@frenchdrainscience1624 if it's into clay does it make it useless?
@@janetbaker1945 glad you enjoyed the video
Chuck in a truck your doing it again
I think the audio is a bit messed up
Get a life
Not all geo fabric is equal. Thats all I know so far. Thats all you get for 2 cents, lol
😂😂😂😂😂
@@wiktorpoliszczuk1372 crazy armchair reply
Meh I've been doing that for years .
Congratulations! This is the first I've heard of it. As simple as it is, it's worth a try for someone who hasn't been doing it for years.