French Drain For Surface Water

How to install a surface water french drain.

French drain for surface water.

French drains are a simple way of removing unwanted groundwater and consist mainly of a gravel filled trench and some perforated drainage pipe. A french drain done right does not need inlet drain to take in surface water. A trench drain is a device designed to intercept and collect surface water over a long expanse. French drains direct surface level water toward the lowest point and allow it to seep through the surface level gravel into the drain.

Surface drains vs french drains. Since water flows downhill that standing water is trying to find the path of. Water would rather stick to something than simply fill a void. There s a lot of confusion between french drains and trench drains because they sound so similar and because the french drain does incorporate a trench.

There are different types of french drains the types used in landscaping are for dealing with excess surface water. Thus water usually sticks to the gravel in a french drain rather than filling the voids. It is a great option if you want to direct surface water away from your home s foundation to remove surface water or to prevent flooding. This gravel also blocks the passage of excess debris.

Although they sound quite european french drains are in fact named for a new englander henry french. Here s a completed french drain with the last piece of sod yet to be put in. In this manner the only time that the drain pipe fills with water is when there is enough water to stick to the surface of the gravel and be heavy enough to fill the voids and subsequently. Water either from the surface or in wet soils is collected by the gravel and seeps into the pipe.

Water standing around the foundation of your house is not a good thing. If trench drains channel water that has pooled on the surface of your yard away from your house french drains manage ground water or water that doesn t necessarily pool on the surface but rather seeps through the ground immediately. Providing proper drainage for your property whether commercial or residential is one of the most important long term preventative maintenance measures you can implement insufficient drainage can cause water to build up and flood basements garages and can cause considerable damage to building foundations. You can see how the channel full of stone and pipe is fully contained by a filter fabric.

However unlike the french drain the trench drain is a surface drainage structure. In other words these drain systems for yards are ideal for properties that have to deal with. This is to prevent any contamination from ever getting into the french drain system and it ll. For example if your neighbor s land stands at a higher elevation than yours you may get water runoff from your neighbor after a heavy rain.