My flooded backyard brought me here.. 1st time homebuyer.. there’s sooo much to learn keep the home in good shape had no idea what a French drains were so thanks.

I’ve put in about 5000 feet of French drains. I’d recommend to not take your roof water into a perforated pipe. The reason is it can leak out of the perforation as it travels. The best way to do this is to take your roof water into a solid non-perforated pipe. And run another perforated pipe for the French drain in the same trench. Having two pipes.

Just a hint of advice, from the down spouts you want the corrugated pipe to slope away from the foundation of the house. Depending on where the house is located (wherever you have large amounts of snowfall or if located near a low lying area or potential flood plane), you want to bury the pipe below the frost line (some parts of the country it’s 36”, other parts it’s 48”+. Also before digging, call ALL utility companies, including cable and internet companies, and have them mark out where everything runs (get ready for all those little flags). They don’t charge you to come out and mark where everything is located. Now, the fun stuff. Remember when I said to run the corrugated pipe sloped away from the house? The reason for doing so, is to prevent any excess moisture from seeping into your basements. Any moisture will cause black mold to build up in the house (that’s the bad stuff) and can/will cause health problems, it can cause the foundation to crack from freezing and thawing from freezing temperatures. You’d be amazed of the hydraulic pressures when water freezes. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. That’s one repair bill you don’t ever want to get. If you’re looking at buying a house, talk to neighbors about any flooding problems. If you’re looking at building a new home, get a geographical survey done and don’t be afraid to ask questions about how deep water tables are. The reason I say this is, because in Oklahoma, the water table is only 3’ below the surface of the ground. Nobody in Oklahoma has a basement or even a storm shelter underground. I hope this helps you in any way, shape, or form. Always remember this saying from my time in the Army, there’s no such thing as a stupid question, a stupid question is a question that’s never asked. I apologize for the length of my novel.

Some of these comments are ridiculous and rude. For one, he said in the video he called someone to check for buried lines and the surveyor didn't detect that cable...but several comments blast the guy for it anyway. How about pay attention to what he said in the video before commenting? And why are there so many "know it all' commenters? If you have some constructive criticism, why not just give it without being so snarky? The internet really brings out the worst in some people. I think some of you might want to try and make your own video so we can learn how to "do it the right way" instead of trashing this guy since you all seem to think you know so much about the subject matter. I know nothing about French Drains, but at least this gentleman took the time to show people how he did his. Maybe it's not totally 100% correct, but it seems to work for him. My guess is many of these commenters are professional landscapers who hate it when someone shows people they really don't need to overpay them for a smallish project like this.

Great memories with your son. Cute kid and looks like he enjoys helping his dad out.

Great video, commentary, work and family!!! Love that people like you, with great will, and initiative, exist. If I were to do this particular 'project'. I think I would use solid pipe if the desire was simply to collect water from one downspout and move it 80' from a house. My understanding is that the purpose of a french drain system is to collect water from one area and move it to another (ie standing water in your yard). The fabric in a french drain trench keeps soot, dirt, mud, debris out of the perforated pipe (aka drain tile). The stone creates a void (water looks for the path of least resistance). Some say you could use just the perforated pipe wrapped in the fabric (aka: sock) but I do not believe that it would perform nearly as well as setting the pipe, at the bottom of the trench, surrounded by stone. 1.5" to 2" round rock is best, for a "french drain", as it creates the best void and won't compact (or sink/settle) into itself as angular rock will. Again, IMHO, using perforated pipe in THIS application does not make much sense as again your NOT looking to catch water in the yard (that's the purpose of a french drain) but again you're looking to collect water from ONE downspout and move it 80' away A solid pipe would be best for this application and of course the rock, perforated pipe, burrito thing is not applicable. Considering freeze/thaw is a whole other thing. Finally having that catch basin below the downspout, IMHO is not a good idea as it will often be covered in leaves and debris and most of the water from the downspout will end up around the catchbasin and penetrating the home's foundation.

I did mine over the summer. Probably spent somewhere north of $1000. Had too many roots, so needed to rent an excavator. Plus had 150 ft to run and also did some downspouts. All in all it took me the whole summer. I'd hire someone next time if I had to do it again!

If you are moving water from the gutter you would use a solid pipe and and the gravel and fabric are unnecessary. A French drain is used to move standing water from a wet area.

“This wrapped up dead body…” Annnnnd subscribed. We share a similar dark sense of humor.

The most perfect dirt for shoveling I have ever seen. Try mine: full of shale!!!

Great job dude! Well explained, thorough, step by step and good editing as well. Also not blasting music into our ears either 👍

Great job sir. I would caution people about a couple things of concern. Your choice of rock is key to good ingress of water. You should not use crushed stone in the drain, the broken pieces and chips will plug your openings in the pipe. Round rock is much preferable to crushed rock. Also, the direct entry of the downspout into the system can ,over time, fill the drain with unwanted debris reducing its effectiveness. Just my thoughts on the matter.

nice video! Never saw a survey that picked up a fiber optic line, you give them too much credit!

When I start my drain putting in my drain system. I may send you a few pictures and videos to show how my project goes. Great video, Thank You!!!

Dear Gear: Kudos for your elucubrated list and links of "credits" in the description of your video "movie." Well done. This is beautifully organized -- an optic of pleasure.

Great job, looking to do the same this year. Just an FYI, should always call 811. Before you dig, just for the reason you found out, ya never know what is down there. Lucky it was a cable and not a live line. Good thing you were only hand digging too!

One of those small garden tillers would work pretty good to break yo the dirt. I'm going to have to do something when I build my new home.

Thanks for taking the time to post this! How does it flow? It would be cool if you could add a video while it’s raining to see

Great Job. Your video was by far the most entertaining and great how you included the little one.

Thank you for all stages have been shown. I also like the way you traced the pipe along the fence. Hope water drains away well)

That digging looks so easy compared the dirt here in Arizona.

Great job explaining how to do it! I personally don't like to use fabric because of it clogging up over time. I use a lot of gravel and a little bit of top soil where I have to.

actually, you should have filled the trench with gravel, and pipe on bottom .... watch French Drain Man like Nathaniel Bradley said.

I'm in Georgia with clay. Great video but digging looked so easy for you guys I'm jealous. :)

This is to drain the gutter water away from house. Just dig a 10 ft length, 1.2 ft deep and 10 in wide, place the black color pipe and cover with soil. I will collect rain water to reduce basement flooding.

So glad that I found this. Just got a quote for 1400!

Breathaking Explanation, very helpful French Drain Update 🙏 Thank you 😊 so much and congratulations 🙏

at any point the piping slops up it will create backflow and not completely drain at your exit point of the hose. Also if you live in winter freezing climate that slop area will freeze a full piped area and burst. Never slope up gravity won't comply.

Great video!! About to install a drain system like this underneath my deck.

Great job, I would reverse the concrete run off just to break up the water from eroding the soil away on the other side of the fence.

Hey thanks for the video! I’ll be putting one in next week and you helped and answered my questions in this video🤙💯

Hi. How has this held up? From my research, I think your downspout water will be leaking out of the pipe because perforated pipe should never be used for downspout drains. French drains should be used to capture ground water and because the elevation change is so severe near your home I don’t believe there is much ground water. I’m curious how the system actually works. I think you would be better off taking it all up and replacing the pipe with a solid PVC pipe for solid perforated pipe.

Cool project!! Show us a video of it working!!

“Wrapped up dead body” LOL!

Interesting video, but you left me with a ton of unanswered questions. I would be curious to know first of all: has this French Drain served its purpose? I couldn't really understand the main problem you were trying to solve, was it just moving water to a safe place, or were you getting water accumulated uncontrollably? From the research I have done, it seems that you did not use enough gravel and you consciously made that decision. Seems like you relied more on the filter fabric and the actual soil than gravel. Also, instead of using a catch basin, why not just run the gutter directly into your pipe? Are you leaving it to catch water from elsewhere? Thanks and your video is full of good other information.

wrapped up dead body 🤣 that one gave me a good laugh

In Massachusetts they would charge about $10,000 for this

If only we all had soil that easy to dig through Oy

Wonderful I got a good ideal how to do my project

😅love the phrase: Dead body! Lol

Well done sir. Good lessons learned.

Enjoyed the video, keep up the good work!

Your fig tree is awesome. I am growing 4 in my garden.

Next Christmas present should be some work boots 😂 Also please stop jumping on the shovel like that ahahah

the line on pipe goes to top otherwise you're drain only works if coming from top not letting water in from bottom of trench

Would have been much better to have the down spout drop directly into the corrogated pipe. This guy will find out why later. Should have just done rock on all sides with only fabric on top, then your sod. Fabric and clay gets clogged. But he'll find that out down the road too.

Extreamly helpful thank you sir. My neighbor divirted a spring into my yard. Courts are closed and there are no contractors capable of doing this, so I have to do it myself and fast. My basement may have damage and the trees may come down on my house if a big storm. Luckily my property goes up to his driveway. :sigh: thnx again for this helpful video

Won't the water splash once it hits the catch basin? Why not connect the downspout right to the pipe?

My mom just paid $3000.00 for a very small area to be done. It was maybe 30’-40’ of pipe and they put 2 drains and one pop-up diffuser at the ditch.

only used ten bags of rock for 90 feet??? i cant see how

Curious to see what it looks like now, a year later.

Good job! I think downhill like you have there will work with less gravel. The other area you mentioned for your next drain will probably need three times as much.

“This wrapped up dead body” 😂

Hey great job but just wondering when I see these videos If digging so far away from the house is over kill.. looks like your house is already on a slope so wouldn’t most of the water naturally run down hill? Just my opinion, I’m still learning so maybe I’m missing something. Seems like getting the water away and clear from the foundation would simply be enough.

Personally I wouldn't drill holes in the bottom of the plastic catch basin because it would defeat the purpose of carrying the water away, I wouldn't worry about that little bit of standing water because eventually it would evaporate before any mosquitoes can lay their eggs.

Thanks bud! Exactly what I needed.

Would it be bad to cover the entire pipe with the rock as well? I’ve seen a couple vids that have done this. I have getting standing water on the side of my house and runs underneath. Need to make one of these to take the water down to the street

2:36 this wrapped up dead body LMAO😂😂

Need more rock in there cuz .. that’s not gonna drain very good.. anyway up to u bro

Ditto. I love the explanations.

You should skim the grass so it ends up being 2” to 3” wider than the width of your trench. There should be a ledge on each side of your trench.

You are supposed to put a couple of inches of gravel on the bottom of the ditch put your pipe in then cover with more gravel best to use a sock on your perforated tile to keep the small chunks of gravel from clogging up

Thanks so much and we are going to try your guide to our problem.

Highly recommend caulking your catch basin as it will not be water tight. It will be soil tight but not water tight.

Oh goodness... good job trying to do a french drain and all but public at large, please don't watch this and think this is how you do it. This will not drain properly at all. 1. Do not put rock under your pipe - the pipe should be the lowest point 2. need the hole about 12" deep minimum for 4 inch pipe 3. Have to cover the pipe with rock completely with 4-5 inches of washed rock - not dirt packed in, that defeats the purpose as the clay will form a water barrier as it hardens 4. do not overlap the fabric more than necessary to spike together. It is designed to allow water to pass through. Doubling the fabric works against the manufacturer design 5. Downspouts should not drain into a french drain. Instead run a separate pipe 6. Downspouts should tie directly into a drainage pipe, not a grate like that. There are TONS of great videos on youtube for the DIY public at large. This guy is nice, enthusiastic, and I like his voice and all, but this french drain will not work properly for any period of time.

If there is literally a river of water running down in my backyard when it rains, can I dig right along that same path and install my French drain where the water runs? Does that make sense? Thank you for the video btw.

Very nice work! Thanx for video

One question. If your wanting to take water out of the yard from the gutter then why use perforated piping. ?

MORE ROCK!!!!! get it from a quarry and get 3-4 tons for 30 a ton

You never run a downspout into a french drain. you end up with shingle gravel and leaves etc from downspout clogging your french drain. wrong, wrong, wrong.The downspout pipe needs to be solid to keep that roof garbage out of the french drain. Keep separate --while the french drain uses a perforated.

Why not use a ditch witch? Would save all that digging work

The part I do not see in any video...Yes I take the water from point A and go to point B by digging up, now point b is in my yard, can I just leave the end of the pipe under the soil (in Florida change in elevation is very tiny) or do I make a little pool of water in my yard or.... Basically, what do we do to the end of the ditch, where the start and the end are 35 feet away with only half a foot drop in elevation...

Crack the whip on the little employee in the blue hard hat! Tell him to carry his wait. Lol

Nice video, but a few issues with the actual drain. First of all, there is no reason to put any gravel underneath the pipe. You want the perf pipe to be the lowest thing that water drains down to and through. Water will never flow through gravel easier than through the pipe, so why would you want any water collected in the gravel under the pipe? Second, you didn’t use nearly enough gravel in top of the pipe. Yes it does make it more expensive, but it will literally add decades to the life of the French drain, because clay is going to clog up your drain pretty quickly. Basically you want most of that trench filled with gravel, it’s one of the most important elements of the design of the system. Third, you should always remove the dirt from the project, rather than fill the trench back up. All of that topsoil is just going to clog up the fabric. All you want above the fabric is the sod. The best gravel for French drain is 1”-2” round rock, it gives you the most voids for the water to flow through. Instead of buying bags at a big box store, have it delivered and dumped, that will save you some money. Instead of a catch basin with a drainage grate under the downspout, you should capture all of that water directly into your drain pipe - with a vent and clean out of some sort. Fittings for this purpose, and that filter out leaves, are not expensive. And then you can add a catch basin for the roof shingle gravel further away from the foundation. Your drilled holes from your catch basin are just going to introduce water right where you don’t want it.

Make quick work of that with a mattock axe or pickaxe. Can't use a shovel with rocks and roots and other debris, pick goes straight through anything.

Nice job.

You do now realize you did this entirely backwards, LITERALLY.

Nice job but always check with your local utility company before digging.

in the diagram that you showed the pipe was perforated all around -and thats not going to help as the water that comes through the catchbasin will go through the pipe and fall right there. The perforations have to be only on the tops of the pipe.

Thank you for this video

Cool, I love yard work projects like this. I've never done any kind of drainage system like this before but why do a French drain and not just a solid tube all the way down?

French drain man!

Watched your video. How is it working? Have you had any really heavy rains since you installed it?

Wrapped up dead body 😂😂

Interesting Idea - save the noise in the back. The band members shouldn't quit their day jobs.

The 3.5 oz fabric wont last long. Better to get 8 oz which doesnt cost much more and will have a longer life.

How many bags of rock did you end up using?

I thought I heard dead body. 😂😂

Why French drain a down spout? Wouldn’t it have been faster and cheaper to just connect a line and bury it or did you have standing water along the path you dug up?

Great info thank you 🙏🏻

Good video.

Why use the cloth and not Vesiquean and why more rock the better? Really need to save this house.

I have a slope back yard that leads to a storm drain, My back yard is 30 ft but I can only use 10 ft of it until it slopes. I want to put dirt on the slope and install French drain so it can go to the storm drain, does that sound good

Great work! how would we deal with a property which the water problem is at a lower level and any direction from there is higher in order to get the water out. i have water at the house close to the foundation, which is the lowest point of the property.

So new plan ran into an issue and tired of doing this already so well kinda just be done lol

My elder mom attempted to do a quick poor-man drainage system and had a one of these preforated pipes sitting above ground for atleast 10 years. You think I can still use it for under ground if I wanted to do a french drain or do I have to buy whole new preforated pipes

Thank you. Though i don't think you needed a french drain and rockes, the same corrugated pipe (without holes) would have done the job. And yes no rocks on the bottom. I didn't know any of this. I leared it frim watching your video. So don't worry. We benefit greatly. Thank you for sharing.

Is it better to use other material so you can exclude the Rocks like PVC pipe

Does the water flow into the pipes from the top like is there slices in pipes

That kind of shovel. Do you mean a spade?