How to build a French Drain - How to drain surface water in your yard or property
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2014
- DIY instructional Video on building a French Drain for draining standing water in your yard or property.
200 Ft of French Drain installed in under 15 Minutes!
Work was done Feb-Mar of 2014 - Komedie
Hands down the best video I have seen on DIY French drain installation. Nothing was left out. No exotic tools or mysterious steps. The time lapse technique was extremely helpful so please stick with that. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
No exotic tools, just much elbow grease.
Agreed. Though exotic tools makes the job much easier and quicker, seeing how its done with the most basic tools doesn't leave anybody out. It's great for those of us who are willing to take the time to avoid renting or buying expensive equipment with money we don't have.
"Nothing was left out." Unless I missed it, the permitting process... especially obtaining permission from the city to cut the curb?
And he did it in 15 minutes.......
Never put loose soil onto gravel and never use a sock on your pipe; that's the point of the gravel burrito. You place the gravel onto the pipe, wrap the fabric. Preferably, you should place an inch layer of course sand and then apply another layer of fabric and voila; decades of a water permeable medium to allow leeching into the system without creating mud mortar in between all of the gravel.
Edit: FFS, rent a trencher next time (bang out 50ft / hour)
Dude that is a LOT of work for one guy. Nice Job.
theory816 haha I guess I should have clarified *for a white boy
@@dblo01 Huwhite boys built the western world that everybody seems to want to go to ;)
I done one two years ago on my mothers property. It is around 500 ft and done it by myself with a shovel. Many many weekends throughout most of the summer.
Theory816 do you build huts with your bare hands ? Have you ever dug a trench few hundred feet with your bare hands ? Im goimg to guess not...
I admire his hard work, but there are easier (and quicker) ways to get the job done. Wow. I don't think I would've tackled all of the digging by hand. On the other hand, it was a good workout.
Construction my whole life... love to see people putting in their manual labor time. This guy gets 👍👍. Great job on the work and the tech info on your vid.
20 years in construction, I would hire this guy in a heartbeat, Absolutely brilliant, great job buddy👍👍👍👍👍
why tf am I watch this at 2 in the morning, I live in an apartment complex
Andrew Suarez ha! Me too! 3am London England...fml
Ha!
Thank you for that wonderful laugh!!!
It was very informative for that future though, wouldn't you say?
Weed is a powerful substance my friend. Powerful indeed.
I still don't understand how it drains all the way to France though
T L S underrated comment. We need answers.
Hahahhahaa
T L S 🤣🤣🤣👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Everybody knows that Pierre le Grand comes around every week and collects the excess water in a tanker and ships it back to France. There it is dehydrated and sold in 1 kilogram packs. Just add water and create your own little puddle.
I live in France, I am a plumber and I have never see shit like this here.
THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THE BEST DIY VIDEO ON CZcams!!!I was going to put a French drain in by myself and found this. I hired someone after watching it! lol
Smartest Move Ever!!!! You are the GOAT
I almost thought I could do this myself too. I’m really considering hiring someone
😀
What he didn't mention is that the labor for this job would probably be $2,000 - $3,000 easy. What's more valuable to you, your time or money?
DisneyHouseDad Screw both time and money. My body would have been shot to hell after this project. LOL He literally worked from sunrise to after the sun had set. My neighbors would’ve found me passed out under the hedges. 😵
Neighbors are always helpful for standing around asking questions and then discuss your goings on with their friends and family.
Im sore just watching this video but amazing work! The amount of water flow at the end if incredible. Most of all thank you for sharing your process, very detailed and useful for a DIY project. Thank you.
Dude, you are a machine! Very impressive work. At 54, I don't think I could do that stuff anymore. Good job.
Humbly giving credit to the gloves, boots, and shovel involved... Very nice.
This is really the best French drain video I’ve seen. It looked like a lot of work but still possible for a regular homeowner to do themselves
Amazing the amount of water draining out.
This video is almost 6 years old and everytime I get exhausted watching it. This guy is superman
Nice job. When I did mine, I used 14 tons of gravel in a hundred foot trench, but because of the slope and layout there were areas that were 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep. Watching you made me realize how much work I did! Admittedly, it took me forever, but as you well know, it's a lot of labor. My hands were sore for weeks after I finished.
I've watched several of these DIYs for French Drainage, but this is the most comprehensive. Thank you, and well done!
I do earthworks for a living and you did a great job but omg that was some old school manual labour. Hand dug, wheel barrow, hand tamp, backfill with shovel. hahahahah. Well done dude! oh ya and string line yessssss.
Hi sir, just wondering what he did where the water is pooling? did he use a catch basin? I am planning to do my yard. thanks.
He put in the drain pipe to carry it downslope as the inside of pipe is pitched toward street.
Amazing young man and respect that energy and dedication of you. I can'y even dig a 20X30 inch hole to pour the slab for the outdoor air unit
love how you are organized on every detail and how you documented every step. clear and professional. this is how youtube should be. i admire your work.
Man, this was a work of art when finished. The man knows what he’s doing. Many times I’ve seen contractors wrap the pipe before adding gravel, or use a sock on their pipe but no further fabric. That will guarantee a fail in a year or two, but this guy is a Pro!
That was one of the best DYI videos on CZcams. Thanks for recording your project, and explaining it as you went. Well done!
In France they say DYI.
Just one more reason to despise the French. :)
BS. ...in France it's 'Bricolage'
I wish I could hire you
cock
Dude you got all that work done in 15 min! I am willing to hire you as my landscaping foreman just come out to Texas and you're hired. I'll keep you supplied in 5-hr energy's on the house. Great vid bro well done!
I agree if he can't hire you then call me. 15 min. whoa .lol
I believe he meant the video is under 15 minutes, not the project. I hope, if not he is superman! lol
.
lol u can clearly see the sun/shadows moving in the video this clearly took more than one work day!..but the video is less than 15 mins i think thats what is meant in title :P
@@majest33 🤔 that's one possibility....
Thank you for sharing this! Four years ago, but just now needed it. Looks very successful. Just got to find out if my town requires permits to improve my own land. Even the cost summary and list of supplies are very helpful! Thanks!
Thumbs up just for the effort. I like how committed you were to doing the job and finishing it right.
I came for the insight. I stayed for the music . Nice work
I Salute You!!
I'm about to do this project. Your video has informed me that I WILL NEED A TRENCHER if I'm to survive this task on my own.
Great Job!!
W.
I just recently started installing French drains on my property. I work for a water utility company and I own my own small backhoe. That will make life easier. One thing I have learned working in my utility is not necessary but oh so helpful in the future. I run a tracer wire along my French drain. If I ever or if any utility company ever wants to know where it runs they can easily connect onto the wire and locate it. Again not required but down the road you might forget where you installed it. Minus referring to this video. This video is well made and very informative. Thank you.
100% can't mess with this dude. Trenched back yard to front by hand with a shovel (several) in a day. Had to be at least 200+ feet. Great video brudda. I know it was 6 years ago but good shit! 💪
That was a crazy amount of work for one guy. Well done
They had to move shortly after this...the house was foreclosed upon because the guy quit his job to do this project and make this video.
A special note- When using the landscape cloth to line the trench, you don't need the sock on the corrugated pipe (that's over kill and added expense), and you should lay the pipe right on the bottom of the trench without a layer of gravel first. Having the pipe at the bottom gives you a few more inches of drainage depth.
100% also there's clearly a lot of frost in his area. The seepage from the pipe INTO the stone and then freeze the bottom of the pipe.
I had gone through blowing out my basement sump pump 10 feet below ground surface every 3 to 4 months. luckily lifetime warranty covered repair but still 15 $ to ship to company each time. After installing french drain from my backyard to front AND also tying in all the gutter downspouts to french drain, exactly as you did, the sump well is now BONE DUSTY DRY. Electric bill dropped too. Awesome job and video !
I just wanted to say thanks for making such a great video. You thought of every bit of info that people may want to know. I wish all CZcams videos were like this. I wish they were all about french drains.
I live in a part of the Uk where it rains a lot, my gardens soaking wet, after looking at your Video and all the work involved I think I will just have it as a water feature, great Video and thanks for sharing
Wow, great job! I really admire your planning and discipline on this project, what a strong and successful finish.Well done!
There's always a satisfaction when you complete jobs involving installations inside the earth. 100 years from now people would have no idea how the water is draining away from their property, all thanks to you.
Amazing work!! Glad you showed your equipment afterwards the time lapse didn’t show how hard of work you were putting in!!
Looks easy, but I know its a lot harder than the video shows. You did a great job and now I'm motivated to get mine done.
Arnulfo Montano did you ever do your French drain? How did it go?
I watched the whole video and I have to say....I was tired just watching. You are a machine. Great job man.
I did not know the Stones did “The Sting” 🤓. I also learned a little about drainage from your great video . Thanks
I'm doing my research and my homework because I've got a similar problem with drainage. I tip my hat to you sir! First for the excellent video and secondly the FYI notations for Directions and instructions. I'm thankful my isn't 300 feet and only about 40. That will be my first phase in correcting a flooding problem I have in my basement. By far this video will be the direction and inspiration to start my project.
Most of us would have a neighbor looking out their blinds while calling local code enforcement
lol. The whole time I'm thinking which one of my neighbors would be snitching. Idk what code calls for in my area, but that probably wouldn't fly.
The best DIY project I ever seen. Well done!
I doubled the speed the speed of your video which made it seem much easier than it probably was. Great job on keeping track of your costs! I miss Home Depot prices.
What an awesome video. Everything anyone could ask for in a tutorial video. Even better you show it in action after a good downpour AND a detailed cost spreadsheet!!!
the work done by one man is amazing! i watched from start to end w/o ff.
You are a VERY hard worker - thanks for the tips.
Unbelievably thorough demonstration and explanation!!! Impressive work! Thank you for showing us.
I've watched this video in the research phase of my Eagle Scout Project 4 years ago today. I finally came back to leave a like on the video.
You sir are a freaking beast. awesome work
I've never seen a guy move this fast! I like the show and tell at the end of the video also, its like I'm watching a documentary on PBS. Great video.
In 170 feet of drain on our property we went down 44 inches at the deep end. We put a 5 foot deep plastic sump on the deep end and a 1/3 horsepower sump pump to lift the water to a 3'' drain to the street. We put in the sock, perf pipe, and gravel in the trench, then added a solid 3'' pipe a foot above the preforated pipe. The house gutter drains were connected to this non perforated pipe which also dumps into the sump.
You did a great job and you will avoid settling and cracking of your walls by draining the excess rainwater off.
Brutal hand digging. I did the exact same thing years ago to my sloped front lawn next to the sidewalk. Clay for soil and from the sidewalk to about 3’ in was a swamp. When I connected the drain water flowed into the gutter for 3 days straight just drawing the front lawn. I also attached my rain gutter down spouts into the drain line.
Nice job on your project. Your property will be far more enjoyable!
Great job, be proud! Work done.
damn, that's a lot of work. thank God it only took you fifteen minutes.
...and not one neighbor showed up to help!
Haha
Outstanding! Thanks man, I have 192 feet to start tomorrow. This was incredibly helpful. Cheers!
Damn son I am impressed at your skill on that shovel!!! I worked 30 years in water utilities and have that skill as well but I will be renting a walk behind trencher or a mini excavator for my upcoming drain project.I will also be using a 4ft. level and keep my pipe at a steady 1/4 bubble of fall from start to finish instead of a string line. Again Hell of a job buddy
my back is hurting just watching this lol I used to be able to dig like that but im 65 may take me longer god bless you pal!!
hdbagger4266 me too. I’m at the 72 y.o. mark now and while I punch down with the threnching shovel while standing, I get down on my knees to shovel the dirt up and out; less bending. Still take a couple of ibuprofen if I want to be able to roll out of bed the next day. Man, that was a lot of work! The last french drain I put I. Was all of was 8’ long.
You got staying power bro, awesome job well done!
Dude! I never even saw anyone come over and ask about your project...and you did this by yourself! I just got a quote for 16 feet of French drain connecting the AC drip pipe...$450! So I priced out the material, less than $90; I'm getting ready to start; wish me luck!
You are a hard worker. I want to install a french drain in my yard. I have had flooded yard for 25 years. Going to put an end to it now.
that is about the coolest video i've seen, thanks mr.!
Excellent video. I learned much. Now I need to go lay down.
Thanx so much for sharing, including the cost breakdown at the end which is extremely helpful.
Got to hand it to ya.. I’ve done many French drains, but I use a mini excavator.. your the man💪🏻👍🏻
Awesome job dude. I'm in the middle of a similar project.
Then your wife says she wants move to a better school district.
Then you be the man of the house & tell her no.
(They're all leftist indoctrination centers anyway & come out dumber than when they entered. Try homeschooling.)
@@MeanOldLady were you homeschooled?
Mean Old lady now days, yes. Especially if you live in a larger city that has been run to the ground by liberals.
Happy wife, happy life! :)
@@Supersquigi I was home schooled and later experienced both private and public high schools. I can confirm, even though mom is by no means an intellectual, I still received a better education while I was at home. Most of the time spent in public schools is time wasted on problem kids and drama. Average and above average kids just get dragged down.
Man, just that timelapse of you digging the trench all day look exhausting. Well done!
I thought this guy was one of the hardest workers I have ever seen, then i just saw him digging out under the concrete path with his hands to run the pipe....i can now confirm he is the hardest worker I have ever seen.
Hell of a job obviously you have OCD with good work ethic, I like that in you. And I guess you have no friends, they must be scared of hard work. My hat is off to you sir. I have a project with about 400 feet but up here in Alaska I'm going to use a mini Excavator. It will be on my page later.
That had to be satisfying watching that water pour out of that tube for the first time. Nice work and well done video
I know it's been 3 years but are you sure about the prices you posted on your spread sheet. At my Home Depot 100' of 4" cores perforated drain pipe with sock is 178.00. (without sock 73.21). Awesome video, and you are about the only one I've ever watched who showed how it worked after a rain fall. Thank you for sharing.
Nicely done. Recently bought a house sitting on a 1/4 acre in San Diego. The property slopes into a ravine and has a 45 degree slope. We've been getting a lot of rain lately and it's cutting a trench right down the middle, so it looks like there's a French drain project in my future.
This was the best 15 minute video I've ever watched for educational purposes. You are a machine!! I loved watching you do all this by hand, great work. I laughed a few times just thinking about doing this myself and how much time I would have to take off work 😂 Awesome video!!
Great project! but another great project that required a lot of work as well, but is not so obvious, was the production of your video. You put a lot of time into it as well and it was so well done. I wanted to pause it to read some of the information but the music was so good I couldn't. I have a hard time reading detail information and enjoying music at the same time.
Bob Jones I second the kuddos on the work that went into the video. Would have been so much quicker to work without making sure you got video of everything- thanks for the effort!
Excellent video. Very informative. But oy! Dat digging!! Kudos on a job - and video tutorial - well done!
I thought my drain issue was bad. After seeing yours I have it pretty easy. Thank you for sharing.
great video walk through. I can't believe how much water was flowing out of there!!
'Merica is great because of people like you! Great job. God bless you and your family.
Ok this was a few years ago, how much was the fine for cutting the city's curb?
That depends on the city, where I am at the homeowner pays for the curb
The fine in my city would be a minimum of $500....plus, you'd also pay for the rehab (removal of the new drain and curb repair).
In my city it's a 85.00 dollar fine, but if you bore through the curb it's only the cost of the permit about 25.00 dollars Our company does about thirty of these types of drains a year. some with zoeller ejector pumps some that are gravity fed
If you don't have a boring drill they can be rented it leaves a nice professional look .
the city never fined us
@@pageboy25 Have they found out?
You are quite a worker. Photo at left is my wife, Poppa Bill is writing. Who ever you work for is lucky to have you as an employee. You are diligent and we love your "bill of materials" at the end. God Bless you. Great job.
Great Great Job sir! As a new home owner with this problem it's nice to see DIY is possible.
I wish it went this fast in real life!
I watch all 15 mins even-though our annual rainfall is barely 3 inches.
We did a similar project at a home my wife owns in Oregon. We were not able to break the curb, nor empty the water across the sidewalk, so we opted to build a dry well in the yard and route the footing drains into that, to keep water out of her basement. We rented a mini excavator to do the digging, used a membrane sealer on the exposed basement walls, with a PVC perforated pipe alongside the footings, geofabric lining the dirt side. We opted to fill the trench, against the foundation, with pea gravel to give the water someplace else to go besides the basement.
Since that time there have been some monsoon level rain storms around Eugene and the basement, which had habitually leaked like a sieve, has been bone dry.
In thinking about it in years since, I would have made a bigger dry well, and not routed a downspout into the system, if I had it to do over again. However, even with those "mistakes" we seem to have had a success.
Thanks for sharing your project here. Reading the comments has been both informative and entertaining. :)
Doug Dobbs
That was a point that popped into my mind.
I don't know if it is state wide, or just In my town, but it is against the law to drain anything into the street.
hi, Doug Dobbs, I am thinking about the similar project because of a hill on my backyard--> grading problems. Could you please explain your solution "We opted to fill the trench, against the foundation, with pea gravel to give the water someplace else to go besides the basement." Do you set up a pea gravel as a barrier between the wall of your house the french drain? How did you do it? Please advise. Appreciate it if could help me out. Thanks.
Watch "Apple Drains" channel. He has many foundation sealing, footer pipe, etc. videos that he explains in simple terms using simple tools. The "pea gravel" is to give the water an easy path (drain downward, down-slope, away from the foundation) rather than letting the water pool at the foundation and find or create cracks.
Watching someone digging on time-lapse is really satisfying
It great to see a young man using his youth for good purpose. Alhamdulillah
sharifah nazriah Jesus loves you!
@@sturgill8511 Yes, and so does Allah, the Creator of our beloved Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him)! :)
@@sturgill8511 Muslim love Jesus too! he is our prophet :)
Did something similar over 90 ft dropping down to 30" at lowest point. I don't know what I did wrong because it took a lot more time than 15 minutes to complete.
A lot of hard work, you should be proud of yourself. I have to install about 50 x 50 meters in an L shape on the lower sides of 9 sections of ground where I work this summer. Well done.
Good job, mine was only 60 feet, with very similar specs to yours. One difference is I used less gravel than you did, and laid a deeper layer of soil directly back on top of the folded-over geotextile. I was thinking to give more space for deep grass roots, which was seemed to work well. And you were wise to do this solo, I wish I had done mine alone!
2020, any update on the drain system and how well its performing?
it's caught a bad case of coronavirus and is staying home
..and there I was thinking I work too hard! :)
For an individual that's one hell of a good job, well done....
You have done a great service. Very generous of you.
Renting a trencher for a job of this size would totally be worth it (about $100) seriously woulda shaved off a month of project time!
Russell Sutton I was wondering the same thing. If this guy could do it all over again, would he rent a trencher? I have friends who would say , no. They would rather do loads of work than pay money to make it easier. I wonder what this guy's response would be. Either way, good video.
He didn't have to go to the gym that month.
i would, why not? only time i wouldn't is when it's an odd spot where it wouldn't work, like really close to the house like a spot above but for that really long one, yeah trencher....
I did a similar job a few years ago, and I used a tiller with good results. I used solid pipe, cost more and is harder to work with but in the end its (more) maintenance free.
Russell Sutton,
A month? He knocked the whole project out in 15 minutes... didn't you read the beginning?
Nice work! I wish I didn't have so much rock to go through for a project like this, your soil is sublime! Just out of curiosity, did you have to get a permit or anything to cut into the curb like that?
I've always liked that old saloon song in the video good choice and well done on your drain thats exactly how I do them the correct way
Good job! I can't believe you did it in one afternoon - WOW!
At a boy cowboy, Put your nose to the grinding wheel and don't look side ways or back cause if it's to be, It's up to me. great attitude. Thanks
Great job. I have a few suggestions. First if you had used a square tip shovel it would have made a cleaner square trench and grading the bottom would have been simpler. I used to work road construction and have built many drainage systems and grading with a square tip let's you cut more out of the bottom and still leave it flat where as a spade shovel leaves the bottom if the trench rounded. And if you have to add dirt you can hold it upright and drag the tip and it helps to spread the dirt more evenly . Secondly, you should have used a diamond masonary blade on your grinder. They only cost about 40 bucks for the same size as the wheel you used and they cut concrete so much better and you could have made several cuts at the same depth in between the two outside cuts and then knocked out with a hammer and that would have given you a cleaner more even notch in the curb. I'm not trying knock you, you done an excellent job. Just a few suggestions for you if you ever have to do this again.
shouldn't there be a waterproof layer under the pipe to prevent water leaking?
It is just what I need to get my husband to do the job! Thank you for sharing.
Excellent video, complete details explained in an easy to follow steps. Thank you for sharing your experience with us.