How to Install a 4-Inch French Drain

18 May

How to Install a 4-Inch French Drain

Standing water at a low place in your lawn or around your base after a heavy rainfall is a sure sign you have a drainage problem on your premises. Ignoring this problem not only causes a marshy lawn, but can damage your home — water can leak through your base and to your own home or crawl space. Rerouting the water helps alleviate this problem and can be achieved by installing a 4-inch French drain, which is like an underground gutter program. It lies several inches beneath the Landscaping front yard Fort Lauderdale, FL, yanking the water once it filters down through gravel and also transports the water into a lower place on your premises and from the residence.

Plan and Dig

Hammer a hardwood stake to the Landscaping ideas Fort Lauderdale, FL in which you usually have standing water or a soggy lawn after it rains. Locate a lower place in your lawn where the water may go without affecting your neighbors’ property. Drive another stake into the Landscaping design Boise now. Tie string around the initial stake 6 to 8 inches above the Landscaping companies Long Beach, CA. Stretch the string toward the second stake; pull it tight to remove any slack, and tie it about the second stake.

Hang a line flat on the chain. If the string is not level, adjust the position of the string on the second stake, down or up, until the string is flat. Mark the place of this string on this stake with a pencil.

Calculate the quantity of downward slope to get the drain. For good drainage, then you need a slope of 1 inch for each 8 feet of drain span. Take a tape measure and measure the distance between the two stakes, and round the space to the nearest foot. For instance, if the distance between the stakes is 24 feet, the back slope is 3 inches. In this case, move the string on the second stake down 3 inches.

Dig a 6- to 12-inch-wide, 18- to 24-inch-deep station or trench from the first to the second stake with a shovel. Preserve the dirt and turf for later use. The depth must be kept from the bottom of the station to this chain from the first to the second stake. As you dig, take several measurements to be certain the depth stays exactly the same. Compact the dirt in the bottom of the station with a hand tamper.

Install and Finish

Install a 2-inch layer of washed gravel in the bottom of the station. Tamp down the gravel, and the bottom of the station with water-permeable Landscaping front of house Miami material. Catch a generous amount of surplus fabric on each side of the station.

Place a 4-inch perforated, corrugated drainage pipe in addition to the fabric so that the holes in the pipe face (don’t position the pipe with the holes in the very top). Fold 1 side of the extra fabric above the pipe and the other side, overlapping the fabric. Doing so keeps dirt and roots from obstructing and clogging your drainage system.

Infill the station with washed gravel until it’s 3 inches below the surrounding Landscaping rocks Flagstaff, AZ. Fill the remaining space with the saved dirt and Landscaping companies San Diego, CA. Use a hand tamper to compact the dirt and level the place.