[benc974]

I need a french drain and have watched a million youtubes to prepare, also had a irrigation guy come look at it. He said it would be at least 5k for his company to do it, so considering I can do it for guesstimating $600-$1000 in materials I am going that route.

I believe I have for the most part every little aspect of what I plan to do clear in my mind, after weeks of research under no rush. Except one thing, how to correctly slope the drain. Never having done this I have no experience with that. I understand it is supposed to be 1% or also 1" per 100 inches or roughly 8 feet. I have seen a method of using two shovels stuck in the ground and a string level to gauge slope. But I am unclear how consistent it needs to be. Does EVERY inch have to be sloped and how would this be enforced? For example if I have two point 8 feet apart and the lower point is 1" lower there's my 1% slope, but how do I ensure the entire 8 feet length is gradually sloped? Just eyeballing it for example seems like a terrible idea.

Also the drain guy I had out mentioned a laser level for this purpose, he mentioned that if I do it myself be sure to level properly or I could end up with standing underground water causing mosquito issues.. I bet I can get a cheap one on Amazon, but I have zero idea how mechanically a laser would work to ensure that consistent slope. Trying the old standby "find youtubes about it" didnt yield much help this time for once.

I would use either laser or the line level way it doesnt matter to me. Just if a laser is pretty cheap and easy I'd rather use whatever method is simplest obviously.

I've made a few posts here over the yrs (on another account, this just prompted me to login via google), and always ask to explain it to me like I'm 5. I'm NOT handy and dont assume I understand even the most basic concept!

 

[benc974]

Now i think i'm going to rent a trencher. Theres no really room for a mini-excavator (part of the dig would be past a small fence gate that a excavator is not fitting through, and the whole project is cramped as is with a HVAC unit for one thing crowding a portion of it) plus that feels like over my pay grade. Trencher wont be ideal but I just want to get something in the ground to some extent and see how it goes. It wont be that hard to dig up if it somehow does nothing, it's "only" at absolute most 120 feet but probably more like 80, of which only 30-50 needs to be french drain, the rest (last 30-40 ft) will just be a buried takeaway line.

As for sloping again I'm seemingly vastly scaling back my plans here. It seems I can just lay different amounts of gravel under the pipe to get the slope needed, so I plan to just trench the trench to a constant level probably, and once again last 30-40 feet has a hefty slope as is so will take care of itself.

I tried digging a test section and did not get far. The soil is rock hard clay littered with small roots. It's basically literally not far from trying to dig rock in feel. Even with a pickaxe progress was little, i was able to get a small 6" deep hole with much effort only using a fricking pickaxe. With a shovel well haha. The shovel handle feels to break almost instantly. Theres no way I'm digging the whole line. It's trencher or bust. As I said, scaling back my ambitions at this point. Even a 6" wide trench (probably what I end up with with trencher) will have to do. I also see some YT's that claim you dont need geotextile at all, just laying a pipe and gravel over it may turn out to be necessary since i am not sure about squeezing fabric into a 6" trench. As I said, if the project gets installed and does nothing it wont turn out to be the end of the world. Also I believe in my location in Tx the water table is higher etc. I'm led to believe you do not necessarily need these massive 2+ feet deep frost line (no concern here) trenches you do in Michigan or somewhere.

 

[benc974]

Yes I have called 811 and they cleared