Ok..so yes i had a nice swimming pool in the basement of my split level this past weekend..Dont want to pay someone 6800.00 to build a french drain so gonna do it myself! Any suggestions or ideas?
2007-03-05 18:33:19 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
Go to the library and get a home improvement book, or ask the reference librarian to find you a magazine article. You can also look online. I think This Old House magazine had an article a year or so ago.
Basicall, dig a trench around your house from the high side to the low side. Be careful to slope it carefully, dropping it .25" for every foot of trench. It should be about 2' deep at the shallowest. Line it with landscape cloth, fill it about 2" with gravel and tamp it down. Lay the drain pipe all around. Cover the pipe with more landscape cloth to keep the holes from filling with dirt and debris. Cover it all with more gravel (.5-1" crushed, screened stone) up to about 6" from the top. Tamp it down by hand with a tamper (You don't want to crush the pipe). Cover it again with landscape cloth, cover with dirt, and re-seed the grass or whatever plants you had on top.
Make sure your gutters drain properly. No overflow, and downspouts are at least 2' from the house at the bottom, pointing toward downhill.
Shovel snow 2' away from the foundation of your house. Make sure the ends of the underground drain are covered with either landscape cloth, or, ideally, the caps that go with them, to keep nesting critters out. The ends of the drain should come out where the water can flow away downhill. If you don't have enough of a slope for that, you need a dry well. Basically a large concrete cistern type thing with holes in it to let the water soak in gradually, but can fill up in times of heavy runoff.
2007-03-06 08:18:21 · answer #1 · answered by suzykew70 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A french drain has to be 4" to 6" BELOW the footing all around the house, with the end leading away from the house, to a level LOWER than the footing. A trench has to be dug deep enough to put a 6" gravel bed under the pipe, (slotted 4" convoluted plastic) Then cover with gravel to 2" -3" above the footing.
It's a good idea to put tees and risers for the downspouts at the corners,too.
2007-03-06 08:21:20 · answer #2 · answered by sgthaw 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Swimming pool...and a double wammie of 6800. Where they going to line it in gold? If it's not on a driveway...I think a dry river bed with a mixture of 3" to 12" rocks would look nicer than a straight french drain. The river bed can be curve around and away from the house and landscape with plants. Now here's the fun part...invite a few people over to help and have a thank-you dinner delivered.....or I would visit the hardware store about the french drain and see what they recommend.
2007-03-06 03:28:45 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get a frenchman to build you a drain. --- or pay the money and get a contractor to do it right.
2007-03-06 05:38:01 · answer #4 · answered by daddyspanksalot 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
a complete step by step instruction with photos is available at the below link...not tough at all
http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/garden-build/frenchdrain/
2007-03-06 03:30:11 · answer #5 · answered by Marsh 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋