Do I need a french Drain? Surface v subsurface water?

These are some considerations when deciding if you need a french drain against the foundation or to divert surface waters. Don't ever pipe gutter water into the foundation!

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[Henry_Jones]

What I like about this channel more than others like FDM is it shows the project start to finish, before and after.

[whisk]

Your employee did a great job explaining the work. He deserves more YouTube time 😊

[dalekrohse]

As a retired engineer, I have observed a fair number of basements and foundations. It has been a mystery to me that so many constructors believe that they can install bitumastic type foundation coating which will last the lifetime of the structure. Just as it is true that concrete WILL crack sometime, it seems true that the mastic types of exterior coating layer will age and dry out such that cracks will form, allowing water to flow into the structure. So, I sure believe in your approach to keep water on the surface and make it flow away from the structure rather than encouraging it to pool next to the structure and go down to the foundation footing. Good video, as always.

[CornellEngineers]

Congrats. Even before I watched the video there's gold right here in this statement: "Don't ever pipe gutter water into the foundation!"
Great work.

[simonpaine]

I was waiting to see the part 4 of the other house you mentioned. That must be so frustrating to see that a builder has been allowed to persuade the client to use a completely different approach to what you had recommended. Based on the previous videos, it seems like that client will listen to the most persuasive argument, rather than think about the best solution.
Kudos for not freaking out about it!

[Doug_E_Dee]

The re-grading is a huge improvement! Keep those gutters clear Mr. Homeowner!

[mtnair]

As always, Shawn, I enjoyed watching you and your crew solve another drainage problem.

[juniorjones]

You guys do great work and you're to see

[smg]

Wow…I caught a video 32 min after being posted! Lucky me. Keep up the good work, Shawn!.

[davidepperson]

Brilliant - so long as there’s no sub-surface water.
Even if there was sub-surface water and I had to put in a French drain, I would still want the grade fixed (just as in the video) so the water never flows towards the foundation.
So in my opinion, good job all the way around.

[larryehrlich]

I like the fact that you placed your drainage pipes up around 2 1/2 to 3 feet above the surface. Those pipes will flow very nicely. Please give us another look after a years install. Great job as always & Blue Sky's.

[larrygwinn]

I love that you keep the surface water on top of the ground. Foundation drainage is only good if you have away to get rid of it,
Have a great day

[MikeMcKey]

Great explanation from your coworker. Let him do this more in your videos. By the way, everything looks outstanding. Great Job.

[wcsd]

I like how you stub out for future downspouts, it's little things like that that customers appreciate

[Ituser]

Bring the dirt over top of all that stone on the house that is porous, everyone is going to say “oh water will never get to the foundation now” water will still get to the foundation with a driving rain, doing all this work will help however there could still possible have issues in the future. Terminating the pipes as close to the house is only going to create pooling water close to the house that doesn’t need to be there, need to start running pipes farther away than 10 feet.

[timwarriner]

I’ve learned so much watching your assessments and the solutions you provide. So happy that I was able to use info I learned from you to successfully manage water around my home. I worked with a contractor but all solutions would have to have been Gate City approved, and it all works great.

[GOSOPRO]

Found you years ago, you are a pragmatic drainage genius. It is not an opinion it is right vs wrong and wrong in construction generally rules. Thanks👍🏻

[ricktieken]

Definitely agree with you. Keep as much water away from the foundation as possible. I like a layer of topsoil on top of the clay for better grass and landscape plants. Also agree on the large downspouts. The small ones just dont have the capacity for a heavy rain. Nice job.

[aprev]

Great video as always Shawn. Very educational. It took me a few years to realize the reason water was pouring through the floor and walls in our basement was because the entire drainage system (downspouts, various basins) was going into some old orangeburg piping that also met with a footer tile pipe. The system was leading to nowhere. Whenever that old piping and drain tile backed up it was going into our basement. We replaced the entire system (except for the footer drain tile, instead we installed a crock in the basement to relieve any ground water) and poof the issue was gone.

[snowworld-sb]

I like the new format! It makes it easier to learn and find info about a specific aspect of drainage.