Installing French Drains

How to Drain a Wet Yard

Overview:

If you have a wet or swampy yard and is the source of the water is leaking into your basement, installing a French drain or a trench drain may be the answer to your problem. It takes a lot of work but a DIY homeowner can install French drains.

However, a French drain system must be installed correctly if it’s going to be effective. Not only will it stop your basement water problem it will also drain your yard. Builders frequently install trench drains as a solution to getting rid of pools of water around the house. But not all builders install drains, leaving the homeowner with the problem to deal with down the road.

After a good rain all the water does not simply just drain down into the soil. It may in certain soil conditions such as sandy soil but if the soil is a clay-base soil the rain water will simply sit on top of the surface until it evaporates. Installing a trench drain is quite easy; most homeowners can install a drain system during a weekend as a DIY project. In days of old a French drain system was nothing more than a ditch willed with field stones and covered with top soil and grass. There is very little difference with the modern techniques of installing a French drain system.

How to Install a French Drain:

French Drain Simply dig a wide trench, about two feet wide and two feet deep. Dig the trench on a slope that leads away from your home, toward a back area or along the property line where the water will drain into the street storm drain system. The slope of the trench should rise at the end so the water will drain to the surface at the point of discharge.

After the trench is dug, place about 6 inches of crushed, ½ to 1 inch, stone in the trench. Then install a flexible perforated drain pipe. Then install about 6 to 12 inches of crushed stone on top of the pipe. The idea is that the water will drain down through the stone and into the pipe. Finish filling the trench with top soil or sod, if you want grass to grow over the drain trench. Installing a mesh screen over the last layer of stone is not necessary but if you feel more comfortable doing it please do so. The water flowing through soil does not contain enough silt to clog the drain drench or pipe.

Depending on the severity of your water problem you may have to run the drain trench completely around the house. The drain trench should be approximately ten to fifteen feet away from the foundation and the ground around the foundation to the drain trench should be sloped so water running off the house will run toward the trench.

If you have gutters and a downspout system on your house you should consider running underground drain pipe to the drain trench so the roof run off will drain into the drain trench system rather than down around the foundation wall and possibly into your basement. This will help if not eliminate basement water problems. If you need to dig an extensive trench I recommend that you rent a small backhoe to do the job. It will save you a lot of back pain and you will get the job done that much quicker. By installing a French drain system you just may eliminate all your yard water problems.

See related articles:

Installing Rain Gutters and Down Spout

Maintaining Gutters and Downspout Systems

Installing a Foundation Drain System

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