How to Install a French Drain | The Family Handyman
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If you're dealing with drainage issues on your belongings, installing a French drain might be the aesthetically pleasing solution you're looking for.
When I bought my outset house and horse barn, the starting time heavy spring pelting revealed significant drainage problems on the property. The rain and melting snow sent a river of h2o through the barn aisle.
I heavily researched drainage solutions and adamant that a French bleed was the best option for the holding. And so I dug and installed one myself. The 40-foot drain worked and has redirected rainwater away from the barn.
If yous're experiencing a drainage problem on your belongings, a French drain might be the right solution for you lot, as well.
What Is a French Drain?
While you might recollect that the French drain originated in France, the name derives from its inventor, Henry Flagg French, a farmer from New England born in 1813. Fascinated by agriculture, in 1859 French wrote a book, "Farm Drainage," highlighting the drainage systems in use at the time. French recommended a new drainage organisation he designed and called a cellar bleed. Today, it'due south known equally the French drain.
A French drain consists of an excavated trench with gravel sides and a perforated pipage to bear the water. Water runs downwardly the gravel into the pipe, where it'south captured and directed away.
How Does a French Drain System Work?
A French drain collects surface h2o and groundwater, then uses gravity to redirect information technology into a more appropriate outlet, like a drainage basin or even low-lying area in another function of your belongings.
As the h2o level in the trench rises, water enters the drainpipe through perforations and is channeled abroad from the expanse. The piping angles down, conveying water from the trouble expanse to a more advisable space.
Because French drains are filled with gravel so covered with soil, the area over it remains accessible and usable. There are no open ditches or cruddy drains, then French drain systems are practical for yards and areas where you don't want annihilation sticking out of the ground. A French drain is completely buried then your chiliad will look normal one time it's in.
How To Know if You Need a French Bleed
French drains are a versatile, applied solution for many drainage issues, such as:
- An surface area where an open up ditch isn't practical or safe;
- Water jeopardizes the integrity of a retaining wall during and subsequently heavy rains;
- Water is flowing toward a low-lying building, like a befouled or shed;
- Water must exist redirected away from the house foundation;
- Water is pooling in an expanse you lot want to go on dry, similar a play area or garden.
Should Yous Rent a Professional?
There are plenty of reasons to consider hiring a professional to install a French drain:
- If y'all're installing a long drain or if you lot're earthworks through rocky soil. When I installed my drain, I ran into a bedrock and had to re-road one-half the bleed, extending it by 10 feet. A professional, working with a trencher, tin better deal with any challenges than you tin with a shovel.
- If y'all don't want to deal with contacting call811.com to come and marking your secret utility lines — a necessity before you kickoff digging — a pro installer volition do that for you.
- By hiring a pro, you'll avert mistakes that could cost you fourth dimension and money. Choosing the incorrect pipe or failing to summate the correct angle of the piping could crusade the drain to clog or dorsum upward with water. A professional who frequently installs French drains will ensure every step is done correctly, minimizing the chances of something going wrong and you having to dig upward the drain in the future.
- Before y'all decide to install a French bleed yourself, consider contacting a pro for a quote. Hiring a pro could save y'all time and ensure that the project goes smoothly.
Should You lot DIY?
You can install a French drain yourself, simply exist prepared for the labor-intensive nature of this project. Almost of your fourth dimension will be spent digging, but y'all tin rent a trencher to make the job easier and faster. Filling the trench with gravel also takes fourth dimension and strength. Information technology's easier if you can get a truck right upward side by side to the trench to dump the gravel close by.
The exact price of your projection depends on the materials you use and the size of the drain. When I installed a 40-human foot drain on my property, I used the EZ Bleed Gravel-Free French Bleed System. Information technology's more expensive than merely piping alone, but it'due south wrapped with Poly-Rock and eliminates the need for additional gravel. That saved me money overall.
To determine your project toll, consider the types and amounts of materials required. You lot'll need the following:
- Shovel;
- Ditch digger (optional rental);
- Spray paint or marking flags;
- Level;
- Drain pipe;
- Inlet grate;
- Outlet grate;
- Filter textile;
- Drill;
- Gravel, or a French drain piping with a gravel substitute.
Gravel may exist the most expensive part of the project, depending on the costs and delivery options near you.
Check for Underground Utility Lines
Before yous dig, call 811 to have your cloak-and-dagger utility lines marked. Hitting an clandestine line can be expensive, dangerous and even deadly.
When you call 811, your call volition be routed to your local utility company. Explain that you'll be earthworks in your yard and you demand your utility lines marked. Your utility company will send someone out to identify the lines.
French Drain Installation
If y'all determine to install a French drain, these steps will guide you through the process:
- Plan your drain'due south location, and look for an ideal area for the water to drain. To piece of work properly, the bleed needs to run from a college to a lower summit. Once you make up one's mind the location, mark it with spray paint or flags.
- Dig a trench most 18 inches deep where it begins. The drain pipe in this trench needs to slope by at to the lowest degree one percent to properly channel h2o, or one inch every ten anxiety. I dug a sloped trench, only yous can also dig deep enough so the piping itself angles down within the trench.
- Lay filter fabric inside the trench. Yous'll wrap the pipe in this fabric to prevent dirt and silt from bottleneck it. Leave the top of the fabric open up and so you can cover the piping.
- Pour about 3 inches of gravel into the bottom of the trench equally the pipe's base.
- Install an inlet grate at the commencement of the trench to aid capture additional water.
- Attach the inlet grate to your first piping length and set the piping into the trench. If y'all're working with not-perforated pipe, drill 1/four-inch drainage holes approximately every six inches. Ready the pipe then the holes face downward.
- Pour water into the inlet grate and make certain that information technology flows out the outlet end of the pipe. If it doesn't, y'all may need to regrade your trench.
- Attach the remaining piping lengths and encompass the pipes with the remaining filter fabric.
- You may want to get out the piping uncovered until there's a heavy rain to be certain water flows appropriately through the drain's outlet.
- Cover the pipage with some other two inches of gravel, then backfill the trench with soil.
If y'all're working with a bleed pipe and a gravel substitute, yous don't need to line the trench with gravel and add gravel on top of the piping. You can likely simply wrap the piping and gravel substitute in filter fabric and backfill the trench. Refer to the instructions with the pipe you're using.
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