How To Build a French Drain That Lasts FOREVER

Welcome to the French Drain Man YouTube channel. We're going to go over some do's and don'ts for French drains. I'm going to show you some of our competitor's systems that failed and we had to replace them.  And I'll show you how to build a French drain that lasts forever. Let's begin. 

Here's a failed French drain that we did not install. None of our systems fail. The stone gravel French drain will last forever. A French drain that's installed correctly will last forever. Simply put, what happened here is they didn't use a geotextile fabric to separate the stone from the subsoil. So you can see the stone in subsoil migrated into one another. You can see that the pipe is just plugged. The inside of that pipe is not plugged. It's plugged externally. The water can't get through all the clay and stone mixed since they didn't use a filter fabric. You need to use a non-woven geotextile filter fabric. We'll get into that in a little bit here.  So there again, you can see that that is a real shallow pipe. We just cut the sod off. The pipe was pushed up to the surface. The frost will do that in Michigan in any place in the north where you have a real winter.

Here's another failed system. We did not install this. I want to keep emphasizing that I'm showing you pictures of failure. These are things that we run into out in the field. This pipe was just a pipe that we abandoned because we went in, and put a system in that would last forever. This pipe has a filter fabric on it. We don't endorse that for a French drain, a yard drain. I'll go over that detail. You can see they used a larger stone aggregate, which I like, but they didn't use a geotextile non-woven fabric, so the stone migrated into the subsoil. The subsoil migrated into stone and you can't get water through that. It's plugged.  So the pipe hasn't plugged the pipe. You can see some dirt that's pushed in it from the backhoe or excavator, but the pipe was not plugged. You just couldn't get water to the pipe. That's the problem. It's because of how they installed it.

So here's another. We see this a lot. They, this is a corrugated drainpipe and they wrapped it with drainage fabric. You don't want to do this either. This is another bad idea and it just results in failure. These systems only work if you can get the water to the pipe and the way we build them with so much stone, the water will move through the gravel.

This was another failed pipe and it just went to a pop-up and then the water was supposed to define gravity and go up into the storm drain catch basin, which that don't work. So we core drilled here and then we ditched out a really big trench and I'll show you how we go about building our French drain systems.

Okay. We use an excavator or backhoe and you can see the gentlemen down in the trench,w we're ditching out a really nice French drain trench here. We're taking all that dirt out. Notice how there are not piles of dirt. There are not piles of dirt anywhere on this job site. As soon as the shovel gets a scoop of the heavy soil, he's putting it in a mini loader and we're getting it off-site.

Here's another example. You can see we have a spotter in the trench. He's looking for sprinkler pipes and he's also taken topol readings with a laser level to, um, he's got a transit onsite on a tripod and he's communicating with the operator. Now, look how clean that is. We're taking all the dirt, we're scooping it out of this trench. We're putting it in this mini-loader and we're carrying it out to the front to dump trucks.

Now compare these other methods, they bring in a trencher and look at the damage they do. Look at the damage to that turf. Now, not only most trenchers are only gonna make a six-inch groove. That's not ditching a job. You need to ditch a job for a good French drain. I do know that they make big commercial trenchers that will go wider than six inches. I'm well aware. However, I want to restore the homeowner's yard. I don't want to destroy it. I want to be as I want to go in and be as noninvasive as possible. That's, that's the goal here. [...]

French Drain Man – Michigan’s Yard Water Drainage Experts. Masters in the art of constructing contained French drain systems & curtain drain systems that and fix your yard drainage problems for years to come. Over 30 years’ experience in solving yard water drainage problems in Oakland, Macomb, Lapeer and St. Clair Counties.

French Drain Man / Sherwood Landscape Construction, LLC
122 S Rawles St
Romeo, MI 48065
248-505-3065

[juanhorsey]

Thank you French Drain Man. I ordered the high octane pipe and the non woven geo textile fabric several years ago and installed it by myself with the help of my tractor and my yard now drains within an hour compared to days .

[JJSWalker]

I appreciate that you call out things that are appropriate or not appropriate based on geography or climate. Textile fabrics should be in that category. Non-woven geo-textiles are not appropriate in some areas (the South) because the punched holes will clog with clay. Woven textiles allow small particles through, but if you provide a clean-out, those particles can be cleaned out before the pipe clogs. Once a filter fabric clogs its done and the drain doesn't work. Cleanouts are more work, but that's a system that will last in this area. Multi-million dollar commercial projects specify woven fabric systems; that should tell you something.

[mattboulay]

This guy owns a non-woven geotextile filter fabric factory, doesn't he?

[FRENCHDRAINMAN]

Store | French Drain Systems | Curtain Drains | Macomb, Oakland, Lapeer, St. Clair County

[jmarz]

Excellent videos! You have addressed most of my questions and concerns about the installation process as well as many design details. I only wish we had you and your crew here in upstate New York. All of the “professional” contractors here are doing it wrong. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this information online.

[primoservices]

Very nice work I have redone many french drains myself and just when you thought you seen it all you do another job that you just can't get your mind around what they were thinking. I learned a couple things here even though I been doing french drains for 25 yrs.with great success. Great content very professional and much appreciated. Keep up the good work !

[cathytiffany]

Thank you for all the tips! I'm doing this myself and DO NOT want to mess it up :-)

[scoutingturtleisland]

You 'da man, French Drain Man. This is exactly what I needed to know. Thanks!

[jimjackson]

I've done geotech work for years. Everything you said is correct and right on the money. Looks like you guys do great work. I just had a roofing contractor do a footing (curtain) drain at our home. He thought he was helping us out when I was working out of town. Well, when I got home, I found the drain wouldn't even drain any water. Come next spring, I'll be doing it myself again.

[michaelbrock]

You have done an excellent presentation with great detail explaining exactly why each item is done in a particular way. An engineered solution. this is the first video that has been done with great accuracy. Thank you for the detailed knowledge.

[dorinb]

Man you are thorough. Definitely investigating to do a DIY!! Thank you for the many insights into ground water management❤

[brianfitzpatrick]

My friend I have watched 20 of your videos. I love watching your crews work. You sound like a nice guy but yesterday I watched 10 videos of you explaining how great that trenching method was. You were 100 % on that ditch which. I almost ordered one today, for drains. Man yesterday videos showed all round stone.I’m getting confused. Thanks again for the video.

[DirtyDirtbath]

Oh geeze so I really do need the fabric, thank you for the URL

[amhungry]

Great post. I really like how you used photographs instead of video to illustrate your points. The former inevitably leads to videos that are too long. I am trying to design something for my sister’s driveway and I wonder if you can answer a few questions.
—What about frost heave mitigation for a trench that is above the frost line? Foam board insulation at the bottom of the trench? If so, what about not using a pipe and just burrito-wrapping the stone and insulation board? What extra function does the pipe perform?
—Can you explain how laying the pipe directly on the fabric prevents frost heave? I assumed that a layer of stone, because it’s so porous, allows for expansion/contraction.
—Will the geotextile fabric clog up eventually?
—How do you cut your turf? Do you use a manual sod cutter, or an attachment to your machines?
Thanks again!

[breebw]

3:43 "Soil taken away". This is a key point. When people ask, I tell them when they get drainage done, that no soil will be put back in, as the trench will contain only fabric, pipe and stone.


One company I saw lays down a seed impregnated fabric on top which is pretty cool.

[patsykravitz]

You're sure you can't pass through NC and work with my yard? I have clay soil so I really appreciate this video.

[kevinrogers]

Great job and an even better explanation as to why you do the things you do. Being an engineer, I already knew these things, and I spec out exactly what materials and construction techniques are to be followed by drainage contractors. People don't much care about drainage, until they have water problems, then they're ready to sue any and everybody involved. As I do most of my work in NH, we also have to provide a Radon elimination system, subsurface. Interestingly, though I did oversee an install of one of these radon systems, the house contined to have abnormally high radon levels. It took so detective work, but the culprit ended up being the granite countertops. Certain slabs of granite are radioactive, moreso than other slabs. My two cents.

[annmedis]

Thank you for your invaluable information. This helped me tremendously.

[BigIdeasLittleTime]

Extremely helpful - have a place up in Northern MI - your video will be my guide

[drottster]

Great video and great system! I wish I could hire you for my drainage problems. I had a quick question: What if you don't have a natural slope to the street or curb? My front yard slopes towards my house. Would I have to put in a collection box and pump?