Build a French Drain in Two Steps

You can solve your drainage woes in a weekend with this low-tech method

If your garden has a bothersome pixilated spot , perhaps it ’s meter to consider installing a French drainpipe . In a in high spirits - tech world , the Gallic drain is refreshfully old - fashioned . Imagine a gravel - sate trench with a penetrate pipe at the bottom , which collects water system and carries it off from a soggy area . That ’s all a French drainage is — nothing fancy but certainly helpful .

you could use a Gallic drain to dry out out any low place where urine pile up after it rains . It ’s perfect for taking guardianship of mushy lawns or forestall water from building up behind a retaining bulwark , which could cause it to tumble . It ’s also common around house substructure , where it can avail stanch basement flooding , molding , and mildew . And because the invention is so simple , anyone with a good shovel and a impregnable back can build up one .

Gravity does most of the work

In a Gallic drain , accumulated water flows naturally down an ever - so - slightly - swill pipage . As long as you have gravitation , you ’re proficient to go . pee seep into the crushed rock and quickly plummet to the bottom of the trench , where it come in a pierced pipe . It then flux through a downward - tilt nonperforated organ pipe to a disposal zone , where the goal of the pipe merely emerges from the soil . The pipe needs only a slender gradient to move water efficaciously . If , however , your property is completely flat or a helping of your waste pipe run uphill , you ’ll need to pump the water or incline your pipe across an adjacent sloping holding . ( If you ’re contemplating the latter option , be sure to get save permission from your neighbour . )

water system usually flows lightly and in relatively low volumes through a Gallic waste pipe , so you should n’t have to worry about grunge eat at where the pipe emerges from the flat coat ; you may protect the dirt around the end of the pipe with a little coarse , beat rock , just in case . The main matter to retrieve is not to dump the water where it will cause new problems , such as flooding neighboring land or flowing across paved expanse .

How to dig your own French drain

Before break ground , first look at where the water is fare from and where you need it to go . Be sure that you have a blue-blooded gradient to make the system of rules play and that you find a good position to dispose of the H2O . If your designing requires a very farsighted or deep trench , you might consider engage out the digging to keep your back .

Step 1. Get the depth and slope right

Digging is the difficult part of this job . Make the oceanic abyss about a foot widely ; in most cases , that ’s all you need to draw in pee . And make it about 18 to 24 inch recondite ; the profundity will vary depending on the depth of your soggy orbit . If your French waste pipe is against a foundation or hold wall , you ’ll involve to dig just below the foothold . ( To obviate imperil the bodily structure ’s wholeness , however , consult first with a landscape architect or structural applied scientist . )

Getting the ripe slope is also all important . Too trivial “ tumble ” ( as the pros call it ) will allow water to resist in the system rather than drain away . Aim for a minimal gradient of 1 percent , which is or so 1 column inch of drop for every 8 feet of run . Use your level to match .

Step 2.Install the pipe, and add gravel

Once your trench is the desired astuteness , cut the filter fabric to fit , and robe it into the discussion section of the trench that runs through the soggy domain . The filter material allow water system to run into the drain while keeping out fine soil particles that could clog the scheme . fall away the fabric sock ( issue to convulsion ) over the pierced tube ; this drogue acts as backup filtration . Place the perforate pipe into the bottom of the oceanic abyss , right on top of the filter fabric . verify the maw in the pipe human face downward so that the water will run into them ( corrugated pipe has hole all around ) . Put a cap on the upper end of the pipe to keep land out . The couplers between lengths of tobacco pipe can either be rubbing - set or cement together with particularly formulated pipe glue . ( The right method of connect pipes will bet upon the case of pipe you ’re using . )

Shovel drain John Rock over the punctured pipe , filling up the oceanic abyss within a few inches of the ground ’s surface . toss the filter framework over the rock , as if you were making a giant burrito , and cover it with soil up to ground level . You do n’t need to use perforate pipework all the way to the end of the line — only where you want to collect the water . Once outside of the sunken area , tack to nonperforated pipe buried directly in the ground . pack the soil covering the nonperforated section so that it does n’t settle by and by , and make a record of where the drainage runs so that you could avoid damage it in the future . Replace the sod and any plants you had to dig up , and the job is done .

Supply list

•Trenching shovel

•Sighting point or simple string level

•Filter material made for French drains ( sometimes hollo “ trench wrap cloth ” )

•Sharp shears ( for cutting filter cloth )

•3- or 4 - inch - diameter punch , smooth - walled plastic pipe or corrugate polyethylene pipe , wrapped in a particular filter framework call a “ sock ” ( usually trade separately )

•Saw ( for cutting pipe )

•Pipe cap

•Pipe coupler ( for connect lengths of pipe )

•¾ – or 1 - inch - diameter drain rock

•3- or 4 - in - diam nonperforated piping

Why learn the hard way?

You ’re tie to run into a few obstruction during the provision - and - initiation process . Here ’s how the pros dodge the most plebeian stumble blocks .

Buried roots and rocks

When labor , carefully burrow under large tree roots , being careful not to damage them . The rocks will have to be fag out ; rent an galvanizing pneumatic hammer if necessary . think , it ’s important to keep the bottom of the deep equally sloped so that H2O flows freely through the system .

Paving

You might have to go under or across paved orbit , which is a challenge . It ’s not too hard to tunnel under a narrow walkway using a turn over bar or a special hydraulic nozzle . Driveways are more hard : Pavement can be absent and replaced , or contact a company that specialize in underground boring .

Other drainage systems

Do n’t link your waste pipe to the sewer organisation ! It will overload the community discourse plant and is illegal in many biotic community . You should also keep the Gallic drain freestanding from downspouts and situation drains . They manage dissimilar flows of water , and it ’s potential that the other drains would send water back into the French drainage , causing overburden .

Owen Dell , ASLA , is author ofSustainable Landscaping for Dummiesand principal of Owen Dell & Associates , a landscape - architecture business firm in Santa Barbara , California .

pic : Joshua McCullough / www.phytophoto.com . Illustrations : Robert LaPointe

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