Proof that french drains work! for draining non-point water sources
Vložit
- čas přidán 29. 11. 2020
- Here's another great example of a quality french drain using schedule 40 perforated PVC and tons and tons of gravel.
A good french drain should include:
Angular gravel, washed
Solid Perforated sch 40 PVC
Proper slope ~ 1/8 bubble heading downhill
~ 24" of gravel surrounding the pipe
No sock or geofabric to clog and restrict flow
A clean-out with vent holes
A logical place to send the collected water
Thanks to bob (the slacker) for his tips on making this the best french drain I know how to install.
Help Support the channel:
Patreon - / gcfd
Buy Me A Coffee - www.buymeacoffee.com/GCFD
Paypal - www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted... - Jak na to + styl
Before I watch these videos I hit the thumbs up because you know it's going to be good... 👍
Thank you James 👍
Why is your channel so good? You got me wanting to install a french drain.
I know right I need one in my front yard!
I have no idea, really. I just like showing off my work for customers. I had no idea it would be popular on youtube! Thanks for your support! - Shawn
I´m from Germany and we do it a bit otherways than you do.
Maybe "German overengineering", but we put an earth fleece around the gravel body, to prevent fine particles washed out from the mud, flow into the gravel and the pipe, filling and closing it after some time.
Some times this might be to much, but I have seen and repaired more than one mudded-up drain.
Greets from Europe. :)
By preserving the flow into the drain, there is more than enough energy to rinse out fine sediment from the system. I never understood why anyone would kill the flow with fabric.
fabric holds back fines from contaminating Stone it does not restrict flow at all. Water will pass through fines and fabric forever, water will also flow through 4 inches of topsoil to cover up that ugly Stone you leave in yards.
@@deanbaker1905 absolutely
New Sub here....The #1 thing i like the most about you channel is that when the job is complete, you always go back and show how your install is performing. Thank-You!
Thanks for the sub. I keep hearing your same comment on my channel and I'm going to try and keep it up. It can be a pain to catch things in the rain, but I also like seeing things working like they should.
I stopped watching Apple drains because Chuck (who does good work) stubbornly refuses to go back and show his drains working.
I watch because I enjoy the problem solving! I equally enjoy the positive attitude displayed during the harder challenges. Thank you.
14:55 Great comparison. I just posted a video of our 100 ft diy french drain. I chose PVC because of your channel. I learned a lot from you. Thank you!
Awesome! You can't go wrong with quality materials. 👍
Congratulations, It appears CZcams has started recommending your channel to people who were already subscribed to channels like: letsdig18, Elite Earthworks and Andrew Camerata. I subscribed and am now watching your older videos.
Thanks for watching David! I watch all those channels, esp Andrew camarata!
Same...
Yep and gate city is great!
Andrew here, and sure enough here I am! Lol
Same here..
I really enjoy your videos too much. They're giving me ideas for replacing the corrugated pipe system one of the previous owners of our house installed.
You got some hard workers man, be thankful! That old timer seems like a loyal hard worker. Give them men some bonuses! Good help is very rare to find
They are a huge asset for sure!
Builder of the area said just ground water it will dry up. OK. built on a swamp. nice work, your lucky to have manpower that want to work!
👍
I absolutely love your channel I hope 🤞🏻 and pray for many more subscribers for you sir for this year
Thank you! Thanks for watching! - Shawn
I put in over 1000 feet of drain 30 years ago in the woods. I used a ditch witch to open a narrow trench and left the extra dirt for a berm. Put in pipe and filled it with stone. The system is still working great. I do not think you need that wide trench for that small amount of water. My system is catching a hillside water shed. when it rains heavy the water is held by the berm and then runs down hill.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing! - Shawn
Really great work! So many leaves and mud. A once a year cleanout with the PVC should be something you offer just to make sure things work properly. 😀💲💲💲💲
Yes I've been thinking about offering gutter cleaning and cleanouts as a maint package.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Alexei!
Great work 👍
Thank you! Thanks for watching! - Shawn
Pretty work.
👍
Great you got your french drains pointed down.
They have to be sloping down or they won't do any good.
@@GCFD I understand. I was watching your video and it looked like the almost installed them pointing up.
Awesome work. You should look into a Ventrac with the power bucket. That would make short work of that gravel and handle that mud with minimal damage to turf.
Yes! I'm in the market for a Canycom track buggy. It's a little bit redundant with my mini skid steer but the buggy can run loads very quickly and weighs much less.
Great video - I think it makes sense just having the rock without the wrap and no grass covering the top for best water penetration, besides, its the side of the house that obviously gets lots of water (probably not much sun either) nor does it get much foot traffic vs the front or back of the house.
Thanks Canada! I sure think it makes more sense to have less restricted flow.
Look at that red mud at the end of that pipe. If using preforated just imagine how that would clog the pipe. So smart, wish you were in MA. Just wow, how wet that soil was when you were cutting that trench.
looks like someone built houses on a swamp, without draining the swamp.
There is a lot of water for sure.
This is why I have passed on buying a house on the low end of a hill ,plus your soil is heavy clay no perk at all .
Good call!
I showed this video to a Plumber friend of mine. He's kind of cheap at times. He promised to spend the money for a core drill and bits. When you use an electric hammer 30lb or 60lb it looks ugly. Awesome job !
Mac, just WAIT until you see our latest core jobs. I took some commenter advice and it now takes less than seven minutes to core a 4.5" hole through the curb with very little effort.
I saw the Hycon Hydraulic Handheld for over $2,000. That one day will be in my arsenal, lol.
7 minutes, wow !
Was holding my breath when I saw the digger swing towards those bricks. 🙈 Off by a hair.
👍
Great videos and seems like a very helpful thing you do for people. That's great. The gravel situation. Why not just open the tailgate to the truck bed and use a shovel to just push it off into the wheel barrows? By the way, the dual barrows. Extremely smart purchase! Love those!
Hey Corey - Sometimes we do shovel the gravel by hand. In this case we were on the road so there was no way to back the truck up without blocking the road. Great question!
@@GCFD Understood! Again great job!
By watching your videos, homeowners who financially could not afford your services can now get an education on how to properly install a drainage system by themselves. Few will use this option because of the manual labor involved. Some may get the correct dirt to add a barrier for their crawl space flooding issues. Some will gain the Knowledge that you can fix their flooding problems...and hire you.
12 tonnes of gravel is crazy. The property looks quite new, maybe there's a reason that part of land wasn't built on. I can't help but think these types of problems will just get worse and worse the more we build.
The house had just been rennovated and sold to my customer. She was trying to get everything taken care of as she just moved in.
correct, if you have a perforated pipe of sufficient diameter, you can use significantly less gravel and thus excavate way less than this.
Really enjoy your videos, putting a perforated PVC pipe french drain at my footer and repairing/resealing my foundation wall with rubber. Considering doing like you always suggest and doing all rock down to the pvc. My question is can I put rock all the way up against the foundation wall also or should there be a barrier of soil between my foundation wall. (Located in NY) Also is it best to use crush rock or round river rock if im doing a open french drain? My understanding is the round rock provides more voids? Thank you
3:09 hit the side of the house? 😂
👍
Great video. Would extending the French drain all the way to where the channel drain is prevent water from entering the concrete?
Yes it would sore sure. We didn't do it that way because we were focused on the patio and stopping the crawl space flooding. For around the same price she got a patio that she can use in that space.
Great job guys! Why do you use straw?
No filter sheet around the stone. With that amount of surface water entering the gravel it will silt up pretty quickly and became a lot less efficient. I Liked the clean out, nice touch, but the rainwaters plugged into the French drain will vent the system. It is certainly better than the neighbours so well done for that but the fabric sheet would have prolonged the life of the system. I bet the neighbours system doesn't have fabric either.
Thanks for the comments Mark! If there is enough silt to plug up 24" of gravel then it would certainly plug up a sheet of filter fabric much sooner, wouldn't you think? It seems that a large volume of gravel is the best filter for sediment. It's also important to use angular rock and not round river rock. The angular gravel locks in place. Thanks again for watching and helping to make these systems the best they can be.
I like the non woven fabric to keep rock and dirt separate. The silt and fines will flow through
@@UniqueSatellite don’t you think the fabric will clog up before 24” of gravel will? I still like the idea of high flow into the gravel and the high amount of gravel acting like the filter.
I’ve noticed the filter sock for corrugated pipe definitely does, haven’t used in years because of that. The fabric I use now allows the fines through and keeps the dirt and rock separate. I use the French drain mans technique there and I have drains few years old at this point working great, time will tell but I have opened them up and they are nice and clean. I have not built any like yours so I’m glad they work for you, I really enjoy your videos. Also the follow ups you do when it’s raining and seeing them flow is very satisfying ty
@@UniqueSatellite Thank you! I feel the same way about the follow up footage. It can be a pain to catch it during a heavy rain, but I think it's worth it. My customers tell me they stare at the water flowing out and find it very satisfying as well!
Named after Henry Flagg French.. You need 1% fall per 3 mtr.
Cool fact! Thanks for sharing!
1:10 is it a good idea to put decorative stone slabs or porous bricks on top of that gravel - to make walking on top of them easier/comfortable?
yes that would be a great idea. The bare gravel needs something for sure.
so could you cover this side yard "surface" in grave for aesthetics and have the french drain still work?
Yes, more gravel is better.
Could never tell, Are the holes for the perforated pipe down and to the sky or are they facing the two sides of dirt? Would make sense to have them two sides of the dirt so the water could run on the smooth part of the pipe
The holes are positioned at 5 and 7 o'clock.
I’ve seen French drain covered up with soil and grass, on top of gravel. Yours has gravel completely exposed. While the obvious benefit of exposed gravel is better for the water to make its way to the pipe, isn’t it visually better for landscape design to cover up the French drain with soil and grass?
If you’re not having major flooding problems then yes you can bury the drain. But these conditions required results over looks.
It would make sense to start building exposed french drains like that disguised as foot paths. You could put some large flat stones in them too. It would look a lot better.
If you get time you should check out " the french drain man" he in Michigan and like you hates corrugated pipe he uses pipe with smooth inter wall that comes in rolls.
Thanks for commenting bob. I have looked at the FDM and tons of his videos. His techniques and materials seem to work for him in MI, but I don't like how he advocates corrugated pipe. He even has a video about how corrugated is better because it creates turbulence and keeps its self cleaned out. That's garbage advice. He does advocate removing soil and replacing with gravel. The problem is he uses round rock instead of angular rock.
@@GCFD interesting. What is best ? Round rock or angular and why? Thanks
@@palmlifeuk3553 1 1/2 to 2 inch round rock works best. It allows for larger voids to keep water moving quickly. It does not shift or compact over time.
Nice work guys! Did you guys put the Geofabric in there
Nooo, no fabric. I want this thing to flow and a thin layer of fabric clogs up too fast.
@@GCFD Thanks for the response!
Would a situation like this work to collect rain washing down a gravel driveway?
Yes, but you would do better with a drainage ditch and crown on the driveway I think.
We have clay soil close to the surface and water just flows over it where there is any lower area of my yard or just collects on low spots. Frankly after a drainage guy came out at least 3 times and switching from perforated pipe to solid pipe to a gravel over pipe I’m ready to just dig a shallow ditch to direct the water off my yard. Put in a sump pump even though when we have a hurricane it won’t work when we lose power for a week. Frankly, what’s your option on a shallow ditch.
A shallow ditch should work if you have enough fall away from the area. 👍
@@GCFD Thank you so much.
Bringing the French drains to the top to the surface , with no fabric on top. Would it not eventually clog from the top ?
Pvc French drains fill from the bottom and then divert with the slope.... any silt that gets in their somehow is addressed with the clean outs
How much do you charge per linear feet for french drain systems? Or how do you usually bid it the job. Do you ever encapsulate the tile and stone with drainage fabric?
I usually charge by the job. This job was an example of a french drain with easy access. My last FD was terrible access and simply cost more in machines and labor. I'm waiting for rain to get some shots of that system working before I publish it.
@@GCFD that’s understandable. Machines, accessibility, etc. In your opinion. Does the french drain work best with just rock surrounding drain tile or burrito wrapping the rock and drain tile with drainage fabric?
You gotta dig deeper and narrower. Then line with double punched fabric. Then put the pipe in. Then the rock. Then burrito wrap the rock and pipe. Otherwise, in 2-3 years, your rock will integrate into the surrounding soil and the surrounding soil will integrate into the rock and your system drains at about 50% of the first 6 months and down to 0% by the end of the 6th year.
There is no such thing as double punched non-woven geotextile fabric. That is a lie that FDM tells to sell product. I have talked with fabric manufacturers, and they tell me the way that the fabric is made its not possible to "double punch" fabric. Any company that makes 4oz fabric has a flow rate of 140 gallons per minute. We do use fabric and it does not clog up, does it slow the water down entering the french drain? Yes. Does it make the system maintenance free? Yes. Don't believe everything you see on CZcams.
If we had gone any deeper we wouldn't have fall to the curb. The height of the street is what determined how deep we could go on this project. I also don't use the fabric because it clogs long before 24" of gravel does. I want the water to flow easily into the gravel and into the pipe. Burrito wrapping the gravel causes too much restriction of flow which is why I don't do it that way. Same with putting soil back on top. Water doesn't flow through soil like it does gravel.
@@GCFD I see your point, but with soil, especially not being clay, that drain won’t last near as long as it does with being burrito wrapped.
My argument is this. Yes it restricts the flow, however a French drain is for subsurface water, so super high flow rates are irrelevant, since it’s a leach system anyways.
Now if you are concerned with moving water fast (which the only cause of fast moving water would be surface water) Install catch basins in the system as well. Of course I would run solid to the curb for that though.
Also you don’t necessarily need a lot of fall for a French drain, as long as the water has a place to alleviate. (Path of least resistance)
did you miss something? The dude's got a clean out right there in front of you if you bother to watch...
@@jameshswor okay that’s awesome, but once the drainage aggregate is full of soil it will not work anymore or have good flow.
Clean out doesn’t clean the rock ole bud just the pipe lol
Ever finish the top of the gravel with flagstone?
Yes. Homeowners sometimes use the gravel as a border, place a more decorative gravel on top, or place flagstones or pavers. I've even done french drains under pavers or concrete.
Do you service Morganton NC?
I am building a house and would love to have a nice system to catch all my gutters and take it to the street. May be a while before we get to that point but. Just planning ahead
Hi - no I don't travel that far. I'm in greensboro
@@GCFD ah alright! Well I’ll just have to make sure whoever does it uses schedule 40 PVC.
Thank you for the video....So the city didn't mind you altering the city curb?? Just curious if you needed permission.
They don't mind. Every time I call they give me permission over the phone or don't return my call..
@@GCFD Does this type of work not require you to pull a permit?
I'm looking at doing a french drain for my parents. Question I have though is if I put some dirt back on top of the top layer of gravel will it still work? The reason I want dirt on top, is there's no easy way to mow over gravel in the middle of a yard. Unless you've got a solution for that, then I'm all ears!
Here the area we placed the french drain had standing water/mud over dry dirt when you dig down. so if you place that dirt back on the drain you will be in the same situation. This is because the soils here are impermeable. The test to see if you can place dirt back over top is find the wet mud and dig down. If you hit dry dirt there's no way you can place dirt back over the FD and have it work.
@Matt P the dirt will stop the water flowing through it more than a thin layer of fabric.
@@GCFD what if you bring in som dirt with no clay in it?
build abridging area at one point maybe with a small board walk and mow either side of the French Drain - just a thought.
did you drill holes into the street curbing?
No we cut it with a demo saw.
Is that grade sufficient to drain? Seems so flat. The water must drain very slowly
It's a quarter bubble or better. It gushes out during a rain for sure!
I feel like the comparison is misleading. They had dirt/ grass on the top of their pipe. You had a gravel. Both systems are incomparable in terms of drainage. If you had dirt/ grass on top or your pipe, you'd have pooling at the grass level too.
Is there a lighter plastic board you could use?
The ones that are specifically for this application are about $300 each for 8.'
Luckily I have great help and we can get the moved back and forth.
So do ypu cover the gravel with soil and grass then?
Nooo that would defeat the purpose of gravel letting water into the drain. The native soils here are impermeable to water as shown by muddy water sitting on top of dry dirt. Burying the drain would destroy its function.
@@GCFD I am one who would argue that if you had the proper variety of soil (that perks), you could put dirt (and sod) on top. Indeed water will go through that and perk down into the gravel. And as you say, the gravel will act as a filter. But you can see that your soil in this video sucks for perking. So you are best left with just running the gravel to the surface. Over time, grass will grown into it and cover it. But the nonwoven fabric wrapped around the entire system (pipe and gravel), and up over the top of the gravel (with either more gravel on top of it - or sod) has proven to be an excellent filter to keep small particulates out of the gravel. It does not clog up. Your system works for your area with the bad soil. And one good thing - if it ever clogs up you can simply go back in and dig it out and replace the stone. This pipe with the clean out used, will clean out very easily, given it's smooth inner surface. You could even run a bristle brush that spins on a plummer's snake machine, like a chimney sweep brush while running water and it will clean off slime too. Thanks for your nice delivery too. It's not whiney and sarcastic and filled with disjointed Attention Deficit Disorder ramblings.
Is estate built on a swamp (flood zone in Australia)
👍
How does air holes in the cleanout help the system?
They function as venting holes. It helps things flow more freely.
The fall of the pipe means that in extreme rain fall the exit of the pipe can become almost completely filled by the water rushing out with no room for air to fill the space.
if there is no air vent it results in reduced flow as the air forces its way into the pipe in a similiar fashion to if you just tipped a bottle of water 180 degrees over as opposed to pouring it
The air forcing its way into the pipe from the lower end disrupts the waters natural flow with the turbulence causing a reduced outflow speed
You don't wrap pipe & gravel with geo textile fabric?
I was wondering that also
Because he doesn't believe in it and thinks that it actually hurts the draining of the area. 🤦♂️
Correct. Wrapping the drain up kills the flow into the gravel. We have impermeable native soils here so these FDs are catching non-point surface water and not subsurface water. I have several of these going for several years with no issues. The high flow keeps any fines rinsed out instead of clogging fabric. I'm also not afraid to show my outfalls!
@@GCFD will the soil flow into the pipe and clog the pipe due to no geo textile fabric?
I'm curious why you put the straw down? Do you not just sow grass seed?
Consider that they are doing this work primarily to stabilize the ground which is waterlogged and reduced to slush mud - That means that with a new free exist like this there is a lot of water that needs to leave before the ground gets to its new "Normal" and that slushmud will erode by washing away far easier right now than it will in future as it should never be that sodden again
Over time the ground will become dryer reducing erosion and any grass will grow roots stabilizing it further but that can take weeks or months to establish.
In short the soil is at its most vulnerable to erosion immediately after a new drain install and the straw is a binder to reduce that
@@bengrogan9710 Thanx for that Ben....makes total sense now!
To add to Ben's excellent description, the straw also protects the seed from granivores, holds moisture, and releases nutrients as the straw decomposes.
Do you ever cover the gravel with grass?
Nooo burying the drain in dirt and grass stops the flow into the drain. We deal mainly with non point surface water here in NC.
@@GCFD I’m in Charlotte NC. I take that you guys are in the Triad area? I’ve got some serious problems with my driveway puddling with no where to go. Any recommendations for a CLT area professional?
7:50 Where does that existing pipe go? It doesn't look like it goes to the street.
Yes that was from the downspout into our original pipe going to the road. That was from the concrete portion of the job. Check it out:
czcams.com/video/KYn_C4cSKKY/video.html
Can anyone please tell me a rough price for 100ft of French drain? The contractor I’m talking to said $1,200.
It depends on what they are doing. We dig 24"x8-10" and haul the dirt away. We install our pipe and fill with gravel. $1200 is extremely, extremely low for 100'.
Why not the holes are on the side? Or on top?
The water floods up from the bottom of the trench and then floods into the holes, which are positioned facing down. There is little point to holes on the sides or top.
That whole area has a high water table.
For sure!
What about soil migration and roots through the open gravel which isn't wrapped in drainage fabric?
The gravel is the filter instead of a paper-thin filter that never gets changed. Maintaining the flow is what carries the fines through and out of the FD. This works way better to give an escape route for fines instead of clogging against a layer of fabric that never gets cleaned.
Why'd you not put it closer to the fence?
We kept it in the low point. I usually let the water tell me where to place the FD. Great comment!
@@GCFD OK. 5:14.I noted that you tried to make a swale with the removed earth.Did that not alter the low point in this case?
From a none expert, why do you not put the pipe in a fabric sleeve ?
The fabric traps fine sediment against it and the fabric is paper-thin. This clogs and kills the flow into the pipe. Instead of a thin fabric I use many inches of gravel. This preserves the flow and the fine sediments are rinsed through and out of the system instead of clogging against a fabric, further killing the flow.
Wonder if she has a basement or a crawlspace I bet her crawlspace is got water in it
She has a crawl space. There is a sump pump under there and it's been a dramatic improvement since we did the two phases of drainage work there.
How far away are you from Maryland?
A few states
@@GCFD :/
Why put the hay down?
It helps the new grass seed and helps against erosion.
Wats the straw for?
They seeded grass where the tracks tore up the existing grass. Straw insulates the seed to help with germination of the seed. Grass roots also suck up standing water, so being a drainage company, you need that grass back so it doesnt turn into a mud pit around the gravel.
What Average Guy said!
You must get an awful lot of rain in your area.
For sure. Here in NC it rains a lot and seems to be getting worse with climate change.
Tell her to get a tree company in there to remove all those trees
She had a bunch of them removed before we came out the first time.
Who said they didn't
Thanks for commenting! - Shawn
Great solution, but man that gravel is an eyesore. Couldn’t you cover with fabric, few inches of dirt, then grass? I would think moisture would still work it’s way done 4” of dirt.
The native soils here are impermeable as shown by the wet dirt sitting on completely dry dirt. Burying the FD would remove its function in our soils. Definitely an eyesore but my customer wanted results over looks.
@@GCFD Got it, that makes sense. I was surprise how there was a few inches of muck then dry dirt. Keep up the good work.
@@GCFD is possible to replace the native soil with more penetrable soil?
@@naturallynailah6983 you could but i wouldn’t want to bury my drains. Keep in mind that my customers are experiencing the worst drainage issues.
@@GCFD thanks I wish you were in Virginia
too close to the house foundation
i heard a fart at the last second of the video
That's the waterproof case's off switch.
I wouldn't like all that gravel. Just my luck, my mower would throw a rock In my window or a neighbor's window.
It's definitely a consideration. Here the homeowner chose gravel over mud.
@@GCFD maybe top it off with some rubber mulch. I work around that stuff in the A/C trade and love it when clients have that stuff. Also I read that it is heavier than water. Just a thought. Also might be able to charge more. 👍 Great work man.
Why would you mow gravel?
At the end, you're comparing an brand new open french drain to a closed french drain and think that its the type of pipe that makes all the difference? A closed french drain won't remove surface water- you said that yourself.
Gotta be a city , county drain. Some sort of sewer back there 🤷♂️ some where ❓❓😱😱
Unfortunately she's gonna solve the neighbors swampy yard😠😠😠
👍
And so....
It goes.
When the water flows to the French drain it brings mud with it and clogs the gravel and holes in the pipe. This French drain will do good for a few years then slowly it will fail. If you wrap it in geotextile fabric it will never fail. Very bad work by someone posing to be a expert in the field. Burrito wrap it and it will last forever!
HI Mark - Thanks for your comment. I don't see how a thin layer of fabric is going to filter better than many inches of gravel and not clog. These french drains are working very well. I just uploaded a video talking all about FDs. Show me your outfalls!
I just wonder how people like the gravel and in the yard
@@nelsonmiller6800 they like it much better than mud!
The fabric actually acts very well as a filter and keeping large particulate out of well built French drain. I use it all the time and have not had any issues. Furthermore you can lay grass back over it and still have proper drainage and usable yard.
Good point!
Why is it called "French"?
Named after the guy who invented this type of dewatering system in the 1800s I think.
Named after Henry Flagg French.
Nope it'll just silt up, no fabric was used. Not a French drain.
By not using fabric the flow is more than adequate to rinse the silt through the system. Fabric kills the flow which is why I don't use it in our native soils.
This is Merica, take that French crap out and put in Freedom Drain, or Patriot Drain