How to Screw Up a 300ft French Drain (and how we fixed it)
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- Опубликовано: 27 апр 2024
- Another life lesson learned the hard way on this week's video 😅
Do you have any experience with subsurface drainage? What would you have done differently?
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Do you have any experience with subsurface drainage? What would you have done differently?
Hey guys, I’ve recently stumbled upon your channel and have recently purchased land seeing this to be one of the fastest ways to get on our property. Your design looks perfect and I was wondering if you could share your plans?
Thank you! We will eventually publish the build plans on our website but it likely won’t be until late this year
Alex, it was nice meeting and talking with you today. You have a wonderful property that's going to keep getting better with time. Take care---Jimmy
Great meeting you as well! It will certainly be a life long work in progress 😅 looking forward to following your guys next adventure as well!
Appreciate you sharing this project, warts and all. We all learn this way. Thanks!
A RUclips collab with the French drain man would have been fun. Found myself yelling “no! no! no!” For most of the video, but your final solution was about as perfect as you could do. If that was the plan from the start, I might have added 1 or 2 more of the catch basins, but really nice work!
Also, the French drain system will be great if you put a basement in your main house addition
Thanks! We actually have basically zero subsurface water, we are on top of a hill. Just a surface drain from the start would have probably done the trick
My property has mostly clay soil, and up the hill is a older property with a "farm pond", and a creek is downhill, so you can imagine. We get a ton of runoff from the pond property headed to the creek. My property is mostly flat, so once the water gets here, it piles up and just takes forever to soak in. The first couple years I was here, spring was a 12 week swamp in the backyard.
A few years ago we rented a skid steer with a trencher and a huge (30 or 36") auger. We drilled these huge dry wells as deep as the equipment would go, about 8', and then trenched between them with the trencher about 12" wide by 30" deep. Filled the dry wells with gravel, lined the trenches with landscape fabric, filled those with gravel to about 8" below the surface, and folded the fabric over. We couldn't daylight anywhere so we just trenched to the less wet areas in the front yard and drilled more dry wells. It took forever, and took SO much rock, but now the water has somewhere to go when it rains and the yard dries quickly.
I can't even guess what it would have cost to have someone do this for us.
Holy smokes that's a project but glad it's working well! We're nearly at the top of a hill so we have almost no subsurface water, just need to deal with runoff coming from the hilltop. We are lucky to have become friends with Travis from the very start of the project. Excavation ain't cheap
Gate City Foundation Drainage has great videos as well. I followed his practices on my own yard and it worked well. I would NOT use geofabric. In fact, I had ordered some but did not use it.
Agreed, with clay soil, do not use the burrito method.
It's probably more rock than soil lol
GCFD and Apple Drains are two of the most knowledgeable in the drainage game. The best part is they are not trying to sell you a subpar product..
This is the second video this week on RUclips that tried to catch surface water with a subsurface system. You have two choices, add inlets every 6 to 8 feet, and run your downspouts into it with proper grading of the swell. Turn your swell into a dry creek bed and landscape around it. It’s good money for my business fixing these systems installed by other contractors or customers that watch RUclips videos for guidance. Where do you think the water goes on your driveway once it hits that fabric. This is another RUclips lie about not allowing water through. This is the only fabric I use for paver patio’s, retaining walls, French drains, etc. good on you for sharing the failure and the reason.
Thanks for the advice! The driveway fabric has been amazing though. It’s more for stone/soil separation than water control, the compacted 2A with fines sheds all the water. The fabric keeps the moisture that does get through from letting the soil get mushy. Definitely wouldn’t do another driveway without it, at least in our terrain
@@BobDevVthat was a long run on 💩. I’ve been in business doing this work for 19 years. Most of what you said is advice from an arm chair landscaper. A French drain is for collecting subsurface water. You can also catch runoff with inlets. You would be an idiot not to fabric the trench. I also fabric the pipe. I also don’t worry about doubling the fabric either. If I did work like gate city her in Washington, I would be sued most days of the week. I could write paragraphs, but you are obviously just a RUclips know it all. Not every homeowner wants a dry creek bed running through their property. I grow grass on all my systems, even the ones I replace due to RUclips expertise. You should watch the OG of RUclips French drains, apple drains, or the relatively new TYE landscaping. I’ve been using this system to catch downspouts for about 10 years.
@@BobDevV just because you installed a bad system, doesn’t make the system bad. You worked outside your skill level and want to blame others. I never said run your gutters into French drain. Comprehension is key. You said he ruined his system by placing soil on top. This is not correct, it’s classic misinformation. A French drain is for subsurface water only. A dry stream bed is for catching surface water, a combination system has inlets for surface water, which are rarely found to have both issues in same place. You should never put unfiltered water into a french drain. Inlet should use a filtered catch basin. Every customer gate city has placed dirt high up on foundation to close to siding or over brickwork, will fail a home inspection when current owner tries to sell. Then comes the lawsuits or extreme cost at closing to homeowners. If you put a drain in that catches subsurface water perking from the bottom of an unlined trench, where is the soil going to go beside in your gravel then clogging the inlet to pipe. Your choice of pipe doesn’t really matter, but basic principles to stop soil mitigation does. I even use only woven fabric, non woven fabric clogs with sand and fines😵. I’ll keep my track record, you are 0 for 1, if you do a unlined trench you’ll be 0 for 2 and pointing your finger at gate city😂
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage! Renovating or building a home is a great way (and a test) for a couple to learn how to work together and solve their problems. I realized things were not going to be easy when my new wife and I were arguing about which knobs to use on our new kitchen cabinets. But 31 years later, here we are, with four grown kids and a pretty nice life. That said, I still don't like those knobs she picked out.
I would have used solid pipe as I have seen way too many corrugated pipe failures.. Also you could have ran a subsoiler across the yard every 10' or so and bring it towards your french drain. Adding a few surface drains was a good idea, they seem to work well as long as the pipe they go into doesn't clog..
Thanks! I initially wanted 4" smooth wall pipe like I used for the gutter drains, but after more research decided for the 8 slot flexible. Seemed more durable for freeze/thaw and let water in more readily. I really don't think it will clog up especially once the lawn is established. I've seen clogged corrugated pipes also, but they were all taking in downspout water with much more debris in it. Time will tell
Thanks!
Thanks Brian! Did you by chance also place an order on our website? It appears you didn't submit an email address so I can't send you the files! If you email me at masondixonacres@gmail.com I'll make sure to fix that right away. If that wasn't you, let me know so I can try to contact the correct person. Thanks so much!
Bro you finally decided to show up? lol. On a serious note, I was waiting for your next video, and thanks for posting. Excited to learn about your next project.
lol wedding planning has been taking priority as of late but filming has not stopped just the editing/posting 😂
Unrelated question. Why did you pull out all stumps instead of grinding? I need to cut a few trees in the front yard and the pro said they very rarely pull out stumps (only when new construction is planned in place) and that grinding is recommended.
The stumps Travis was cleaning up with the mini in this video were already uprooted from the trees falling over during the storm. But for the majority of the clearing it was way easier to pull the ~50+ stumps out with a large excavator, plus you get all the roots which isn't the case with grinding. We have an older video on the whole process
Where did you pick the pipe up from?
Just add a whole bunch of catch basins 12"x12" at 20 - 30 ft apart... and it will work. you have already done the hard work. Make sure the catch basins are bit below your grade.. I had the similar issue and adding just 3-5 catch basins carried everything away from the property.
How do they listen to that Clevis clang all day every day? I couldn’t…
I agree it's pretty annoying 😂
I get sand for $40 for a yard and a half dumped into my truck. I use a $40 harbor freight bed unloader to dump the dirt. It’s super easy and cheap.
That's cheap, are you near somewhere with plenty of sand? The trucking is the most expensive part, my little Nissan won't be hauling much sand in each load 😂
@@MasonDixonAcres central Texas, so probably. If you need to move dirt in the future you can rent a flat bed (collapsing sides) F250 from Home Depot for 1.5hrs for like $25 or do the full day and make many trips and dump the loamy soil or sand.
@@JP-yl6on haha that would certainly work if you only needed a few yards but it would take quite a while. Triaxles are pricey but they can haul so dang much material at once and the company I use has multiple trucks and drivers. Eventually I’ll get a larger truck and dump trailer but even then there’s a limit to how much I’d want to run back and forth
@@MasonDixonAcres oh, you’re hauling that much. 😳
put in a few surface drains
stick a shovel handle through the roll of pipe.. zip zip its unrolled...
oh.. another thing.. any non paved surface less than 2% grade will NEVER stay dry when it rains.. 1% will get muddy.. if you want surface drain.. 2% and that's both ways from your surface drains as well..
I have a similar issue that I can't seem to fix.
The catch basins have been working great so far, that's the key for surface water
@@MasonDixonAcres I will look more into them. Thanks!
I have a French drain inside my home in the Basement.
lol
My grandpa could use witching rods. He tried so hard to teach me, but I may not have the resistance or whatever in my body for it to work.
Was he actually accurate with them??
@MasonDixonAcres yes he tracked his water line from his well to his house. I was in my teens when I watched him. I tried but didn't have the touch.
i have done a LOT of this in 30 years of construction.. for what you are doing, the water you have, .. that rock should have gone clear to the top.. the fabric just underneath.. pure rock, nothing else.. and no grass, no dirt, nothing that will clog the rock... all other paths will have standing water sooner or later, usually sooner.. sorry. but if you want drainage, you need drainage.. one drain i put in a long time ago, now has green stuff growing in the rock and still drains, but soon that will have to be cleaned to continue to drain.. but that is over 15 years old and still drains.
Thanks for the advice! Thought about filling rock all the way up but really just didn't like the look
@@MasonDixonAcres well.. looks can't possibly take priority over function.. making function look good is the engineering art, but trying to make engineering look good so it fails.. well... ive worked with lots of civil engineers over the years on drainage issues.. number one - MUST WORK - after that looks.. the compromise to too shallow of a drainage angle is water standing for some length of time.. how long standing water is ok, vs what it looks like when its dry.. you are getting there with surface drains your project looks really really good.. but every so often looks can have unintended results.
What is a mason dickson ?
Your problem wasn't sub, it was above surface.
The 1" grade you set you pipe at is for drainage. The pipe in a french drain is set with barely any pitch or fall. That's one of the reasons they run 2 pipes along side each other. The high end of the pipe will not pick up any water because the ground water level stays the same.
BUT, you didn't need this type of french drain. You had no ground water. Your problem was surface water. Why would you want the water to seep into the ground and then catch it? Your first step should've been to grade the property and send all roof water away to an area where it can't come back. Did you need a swale or to just grade the land?
The clay dirt wasn't your problem. Once your lawn was established, the tight roots would act as an additional barrier. An open french drain would work, but you can't cover the rocks with any kind of dirt. You'd finish the top with decorative stone. Not that it would look good in your setting, but you couldn't do it anyway as your pipe has too much fall.
French Drain Man makes his money running drainage pipes. He doesn't redo patios and driveways to to channel water or do major excavations, so unless he runs pipe or builds a dry well, he has to walk away from the job.
An additional note, it is recommended to grow grass right up to the house as it acts as a barrier for water seeping into the ground and then to your foundation. Not pretty, but it gives you an idea how well it works.
Hard to tell from the video, but if your property was graded 1/2 to 1" per 10' away from the house, you wouldn't need the swale or catch basins.
Thanks for all the information! The problem isn't water coming off the house, the gutters are piped together and daylighted down the hill. It's the water coming down the hill above from the woods. We wanted a flat building pad hence the sloped swale/drain, catching water coming from the hill above. The catch basins have been working well so far! No standing water after rain, we'll see how it does this summer
If you had a PO Box in your contacts viewers could send stuff to you without revealing where you actually live.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
"Bro, do you even know French?!"
high school spanish is all I got 😞
Just leave it as an open french drain.
It is the wrong drain method and piping. Catch basin and storm drain run off. Completely wrong system.
Your pipes were not deep enough.
The soil that came out of the ground was just fine to go back into the drain.
Mixing with sand and soil is just a waste of money.
Do you have any reasoning behind any of that?
@@MasonDixonAcres 50 years experience.
I’m trying to understand the issues you’re bringing up though - what impact does pipe depth have? The perforated flex will be safe in freeze/thaw and it’s less soil depth for any surface water to percolate through. Going deeper would have also pushed the daylight way further out than needed. What benefit would going deeper have? High water table is not the issue, it’s all surface water collecting.
The soil that came out was nearly impermeable, for a surface drain only with solid pipe that seems okay but if I already had perforated, I’d want soil that can permeate water.
Uh no. He was collecting surface water. Going deeper wouldn't help.
@@MasonDixonAcres When you put a pipe in the ground the water percolates into the pipe, the water goes into the pipe directly from above and from the sides in a V pattern.
Imagine the letter V directly above the pipe and the water drains into that way, the deeper you go the wider the water catchment area is.
When you have difficult soil, that is hard to drain the best solution is to wrap your pipe in a material like "Terram" or even old clothes.
Then put Terram into the bottom and sides of your trench with gravel and cover the lot so no soil can access the gravel / stones.
This it the best way, yes it is more expensive but it works.
Remember the old saying buy cheap buy twice.