[rogerwh]

What was the red drain, in your drawing, connected to?

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

Didn’t you say, you drilled the holes in that white cap and water came out? The reason I ask, is if that was the case, it appears the pipe is sloped to wrong direction.
The corrugated pipe is good if you don’t need connectors or fittings. The connections or fittings are not water proof so if they are close to the foundation they will leak water down by the foundation.

 

[rogerwh]

I drilled the holes in the end cap to allow water to drain into the pipe and outwards. the pipe is definitely sloped correctly
I started at the white cap end first. it was the shallowest part of the run, so i certainly didn't have to dig far.

once i drilled those holes in the pipe, i noticed that the water stopped flowing into the basement shortly after. it took a little bit cause of all the rain we had, but it made it clear where my problem is / was. which is why I was thinking of the drain to also help

so if I have solid pipe (your blue lines), how exactly will any sitting water drain into the pipe if there are no drain holes?
If I do have solid pipe, do you still need gravel beneath the solid pipe locations?

The solid pipe is just a conduit to carry the water from the drain to the discharge area. The French drain is constructed with the perforated pipe with the holes on the bottom. The way I understand the French drains is constructed is the trench is 12“ to 18” deep. The trench is lined with landscape fabric, 3/4” aggregate rock on the bottom. Then the pipe with the hole down, then the trench is filled to grade level with 1” or larger aggregate rock.
The first French drain I built, I used plastic the line the trench. Over a ten years period, the freezing water punched the pipe out of the rocks. The landscape fabric allows any standing water the in the trench to absorb into the ground.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

I think Neal has a good idea of running the garage drain in solid, down the drive and in front of the patio, to the down spout. The yard drain in the corner, could be connected to the end of the perforated pipe that runs in front of the patio. Both the garage solid pipe and the patio perforated pipe could be in the same trench. Separating the two lines keeps the garage drain water from exiting out that corner drain.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

Finally got all my plumbing parts bought, or at least a good amount. Got the fabric ordered as well. Now the gravel.
I see I should use 3/4", is there a reason 1" wouldn't work? The couple places around me that sell in bulk, only have the 1" gravel.
the 3/4" gravel by bag at Home Depot is $25 a pop.

3/4" vs 1", is there really a difference? (other than a 1/4")

The 3/4” would be slightly more efficient in holding the pipe away from the fabric and allowing more water to follow through the pipe instead of being absorbed into the ground. The 1” will work great.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

The entire pipe needs to be wrapped in geotextile, then surrounded by gravel, then the entire gravel prism needs to be wrapped in geotextile. What is typically done is trench, place geotextile in the bottom of the trench, wrapping it up the sides of the trench to the surface and secured there. Then a couple inches of gravel is placed, and the (wrapped) pipe set in place. Gravel is partially backfilled around the sides of the pipe, and the pipe is adjusted laterally so that it's centered in the trench (because dumping the gravel can shift it around). Then it's covered with a couple more inches of gravel, and the geotextile is unsecured and wrapped over the gravel. Then it's backfilled with soil and compacted.

I believe he wants the water to flow in the drainage pipe. Wrapping the pipe and burying the pipe and gravel under dirt, defeats the purpose of the French drain.

 

[rogerwh]

did I read that right? I am wrapping the thin walled pvc pipe in geotextile before placing on the gravel?

no reason to wrap the solid (non-perforated) pipe, right?

No you don’t wrap the thin wall PERFORATED pipe. I have never wrapped the pipe or buried the drainage system. Have never had a complaint and the french drains flow full pipe.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

It depends on the size of your perforations, and the size of your gravel. 1" perfs with 3/4" gravel is a recipe for stone in your pipe. If your perfs are small, you can get away without a sock on the pipe.

Are you seriously contending that water won't flow through geotextile? Not wrapping your gravel, or not burying it, is a recipe for clogged gravel, and a non-op french drain.

Yes, landscaping fabric will allow water to flow throw, but it filters the dirt and that along with vegetation roots in that dirt, is what restrict the flow. The landscaping fabric is not needed to filter the water going into the pipe. Any dirt that gets in the piping will be washed out by the flowing water. Maybe, if you are dumping the water into a sump, to be pumped out you would be concerned about dirt, but that is not the OP's concern.
The holes in the perforated pipe that have seen are just 1/2” or small slits.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

Then you can probably get away without a sock on the pipe, but any geotechnical engineer will tell you that failing to wrap the gravel will result in clogged gravel. The point of the gravel is to allow water to flow into freely the pipe. By allowing soil particles to migrate into the gravel, you are clogging up the gravel and reducing the hydraulic conductivity of the system. Wrapping with geotextile keeps the soil particles where they belong—in the soil.

No one is debating the fact a French drain needs landscaping fabric to line the trench to keep the dirt out of the French drain. Covering the drain with landscaping fabric, dirt and sod, depends on how efficient you want the drain. If you are redirecting a water flow, covering the drain will hurt it's efficiency.
I have a 30 year old open French drain, that hasn't filled with dirt.

 

[rogerwh]

If you have a lot of surface water coming to your french drain, you haven't done enough regrading yet!

When the surface water is runoff from the neighbor, there is no regard option. A exposed gravel French drain, fence line or in landscaping, can be very attractive and beneficial between neighbors.

 

[rogerwh]

The green elbow, should be more like the yellow elbow. That sharp of an 90 degree elbow would be hard to clean out and something like a short stick could get hung up there.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

ok, few questions about wrapping the pipe and the overall product.

1. the pipe. how tight does the fabric need to be around it? and how do you fasten the fabric to the pipe so it stays in place? I assume you'd be doing this "Seal" at the top.
2. once the pipe is sealed with fabric, the gravel in place, and you then wrap up all in a burrito, same question. how do you fasten it on the top so it stays closed.
3. at the ends / connectors / cleanouts, etc that will not need to be wrapped in fabric, what is the best way to seal the fabric ends off so that dirt does not enter into the perforated pipe areas?

I certainly hope I have enough fabric to wrap the pipe as well as covering the trench bottom. IF for some reason I don't, the fabric that covers just the pipe due to this gravel, can that be a lower grade fabric, less expensive?

Before I changed anything on the original plan, I would call the rock supplier and give them a chance to correct their mistake. If you use this rock and it doesn’t work the way you want, it will be too late. That is called river rock, but what ever you call it, it’s not 1” gravel. It’s most likely more expensive than, run of the mill, 1” gravel. It’s very obvious they made the mistake and if they would charge to correct it, make it very clear to management, they have a dissatisfied customer.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

I wouldn't put two drains in that location. I believe the garage line drain should be just a clean out. The water will take the path of least resistants. I can see water coming out a drain in that elbow area coming from the garage, instead of the piping.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

Have been able to say why the water is standing in the trench in front of the patio. This water is supposed to be going through the rock, into the pipe.
I never see water on top of these rocks and yet the pipe at the street runs nearly full most of the time.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

No but I think you have to plan on a redo to make this work. With some kind of sump at the top, something like a 5 gal pail maybe.

OMG, 5 gallon bucket is your solution? At this point, the OP needs to stop posting and do what HE thinks needs to be done.

Roger

 

[rogerwh]

I am not experienced in this at all. From the videos and instruction I seen online, I assumed I did everything right.
I don't fault anyone for their suggestions. I figured anyone chiming in on this has been there and done that.
I certainly didn't expect the sinking that I witnessed, never knew it would happen.

I appreciate any help I can get. I am doing the work after all.
Just trying to avoid any big mistakes that would having me redoing what I have already done. Kinda what it sounds like I'm running into now. I haven't tried fixing anything yet. Everything is still mud. Gotta let it dry a tad.

If I knew what should be done, I certainly wouldn't be on here asking for help.

What I think would be right, might not be the best decision. So I would rather hear about it now, than later.

If you have any brainy ideas, I would certainly like to hear them

I don't see how you continue to reply to someone that reply’s to your question with "think about it" and than tells you to use a 5 gallon bucket.
There is no reason to have gravel around your solid pipe. Water moving in or around the gravel you buried with the solid pipe will erode the dirt and will need to surface if it has no other place to go. That is why there should be no rock around a solid pipe.
Where did the 5 gallon bucket go??

Roger