Finally getting around to putting some form of drain down this unmaintained public access road that runs in front of my house. Much of the water that has historically ran down this hill, goes directly into my yard and floods it, a lot of which also comes from neighbors gutter (see piping in video). I’ve put French drains in my yard, but the amount of water that comes down this hill is too much. I partially dug this drain when I’ve had free time, so I’ve had time to see how effective just a route for water has been. Large streams are carried down where I’ve dug already. I was originally planning to put perforated pipe with river rock , similarly to how I did in my yard without the landscape paper. However, I’m wondering if it would be better if I just filled it with rock, seeing how effective it’s been thus far.. or maybe line it with landscape paper and tag en fill with rock? Any input on if it would last longer, work better, etc with a perforated pipe + rock? Thank you in advance!
by arizz00
29 Comments
You have built a stream. Without some rock, the soil will erode. The grass won’t be enough to hold the soil, and it would work better with marginal plants (plants that have wet root but flower above the water along river banks) native to your area.
Have a look at rain gardens. You can make it a feature rather than an issue.
Drainage ditch, a centuries old design!
I think that’s a ditch…
If you fill that with rock with no pipe and no fabric it will be basically soil in a few seasons. Ask yourself why a good French drain has the elements of pipe, rock, fabric. Each of these is important. The point of having the pipe is that it creates a permanent slope that will take the water from your problem area to where you want it to drain. If you have just rock how will the water flow?
Do it once, do it right. You’ve already done the hardest part which is the digging. A well made French drain carries a crap ton of water. I have never seen standing water on a French drain
That’s a ditch
There’s nothing wrong with a ditch for drainage if that’s the route you want to take. Probably would want to make it a little bigger though
I can’t tell where the runoff is coming from, from the video. Do you have your gutters piped to that black pipe at the beginning of the video? If so you could just straight pipe it to the stream with whatever.
where I’m from that’s called a ditch
That’s called an erosion concern.
Contractor – “Good enough”
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Congratulations, you invented a trench.
As long as it washes the direction you want it to, mission accomplished. lol
Just install the full French drain, with perf pipe, rock, and fabric. Otherwise it will fill in and fail over time.
I always used gravel to make French drains
A French drain without a pipe is called a ditch
Drainage ditch currently. Put geotextile in the ditch then rock/ gravel. Overlap geotextile over rocks below surface and bury w 2” topsoil. Grade a swale over the buried rocks to capture and direct water into the subgrade conveyance. Plant groundcover (grass) over the swale. If you hadn’t already done the work I would have suggested a surface regrade into a swale leading off property.
Just make a spoon drain, from rocks
So much easier to maintain and clear
The voids between the rocks will eventually clog with sediments. I’d personally let it erode away a bit then line the bottom with rocks and have an open ditch. Maybe cut back the slopes and sod them
I’d probably lay a sleeves perforated pipe surrounded by fabric and gravel.
It’s called a trench
So I did something similar with the runoff from my poorly graded driveway that drained directly into my garage and garden. A shallow trench in the way of the water (next to the driveway) that went down to a nearby hill works fine.
But, just from my DIY fumbling, I can tell you that while you don’t need any pipe or tile or gravel, you’re going to want to make a couple changes if you don’t want this wash away, carve itself deeper, or even fail to catch the runoff.
First, cut the sides so they have a little slope, not straight vertical. It’ll catch runoff better and won’t erode as fast. Second, get some weeds in there. If the slope is gentle, grass will hold it fine. Mine is mostly grass and hasn’t eroded in nearly a decade. But for the bottom of the trench, try some taller local plants that will survive when the trench is flooded. And third, make sure your trench has enough downhill grade to actually carry away all the water or all you’ve really made is a mosquito breeding pit.
Future erosion gully
You could go a couple routes from here. Drop in barrier cloth, socks on pvc perf pipe (highly reccomend socks AND cloth), drop 2″+ drain gravel on top, slightly mounded above grade, tamp, mound rock again. This, like all things, will eventually fail and need to be reworked.
Option 2: I dug similar channels on a small farm down to their pond, but sloped sides instead of vertical. Worked great but will need cut again every few years.
I prefer option 2 since I can see what the water is doing, but you may get more movement that will fill your little ditches with sediment faster than my experience.
Make it wider. Its less work at this point to expand it and will add years in longevity
Plan the work. Work the plan. Or just send it.
It works. Yea there are things that you can do to improve efficiency. Before those things were discovered people did this. I do this when I can get a way with it.
Then it’s just called a drain.
A ditch which will fill with anything surrounding g the ditch. It won’t take long and it will no longer be a French drain without a pile. Dumbest idea