I've hit the dad milestone where I am spending more time wathcing more videos about lawncare and DIY projects than anything else. Excellent content by the way.

@Miniscapes515

Күн бұрын

Welcome to the real cool guy club

While it's true that a geotextile can slow the movement of water, it will only get worse if the french drain gets clogged. So an engineering decision is made: make the drain circumference large enough so that the flow change due to the fabric doesn't matter. Since engineering time is expensive, most installers just wing it and try to over-build the drain so nothing could ever fail in the lifetime of the customer, and that works. That's also why the engineered drain products you see in stores with fabric or foam peanuts around the pipe are so much smaller than the average drain you see on youtube; those products are designed precisely for a certain load, but nothing more. Exactly how big YOUR drain needs to be depends on your environment on site, and that's where having an experienced local professional comes in. Keep up the great informative videos!!!

I don't have any drain or septic issues today (I've done my share in the past ;-) but just enjoy hearing a man who knows his stuff. Thanks Chuck.

So glad I watched your video. You are the first person that made common sense. I like the old clay tile as well.

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

AM FROM THE UK 🇬🇧 I TRULY THINK YOUR VIDEOS ARE THE VERY BEST AND MOST HELPFUL FOR THE D.I.Y PERSON YOUR SO HONEST AND HELPFUL I WATCHED YOU FOR YEAR'S AND YOU EXPLAIN IT ALL SO EASY FOR US NOT TO SMART ABOUT DOING THIS STUFF KNOW ONE DOES IT BETTER G.B.Y

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

Thank you

I've been watching your videos for a bit over a year now. I just wanted to say thanks for all the work you do. I've learned tons and am ready to take on some of these projects myself Keep up the good work!

Not only are your videos awesome, but your timing is on point.. Thanks for this video!! Long time subscriber 4shO...🍻

Thank you for keeping it simple & straightforward 😊

Awesome video! It will be so much easier to direct people to your video vs explaining how French drains work!

One the best, most informative, videos I have seen related to drainage! Awesome, and thank you!

Best description yet!

GREAT Channel, thanks so much! Love the tests and the money saving corrugated pipe joining technique, brilliant!

Thank you so much for lovely démonstrations. I love your personality, professionalism as well as your honesty. I wish you a great, healthy and beautiful long life.❤❤❤

@appledrains

27 күн бұрын

Thank you for your support

Good stuff. Thanks Chuck!

Great videos so far,thanks for the information

Awesome video, thank you

Great video!

Good video on how to do it right.

Very good. Thank you.

Great video. Glad i found it before i put my drains in.

Great stuff

Thank you!

You and Mike Haddock are so cool!

That interior couple made from cutting a small piece. You should also cut off about an inch of it or so , so that inside the pipe there won't be an overlap of the coupler piece with itself. This will fit even better inside the two pipes that are being coupled.

The common element in your bucket tests is the clay. The fabric suspends the clay but it's the clay that resists water flow. Gravel holds clay back. Gradually clay particles will get into the fabric and pipe but with water flow the clay components get broken up. So it gets somewhat broken up and a little more able to pass water than the unaltered clay.

@bksduskmirror1250

14 күн бұрын

Agree with you, you are not supposed to backfill a foundation with clay or organic soil and the drain is supposed to be surrounded with 3/4 crush stone a foot thick. Done right, you don’t have this problem. So now he should remove the clay, put crush stone like it’s supposed to be and do the test again.

Thank you I have clay here and you just saved me.

@sef2273

3 ай бұрын

Saved you how? By not getting the fabric ?

@innando

2 ай бұрын

@@sef2273I have clay soil… do you recommend go with PvC? I live in Dallas

Best advice I saw was “do not backfill the trench” - use gravel so that water can get to the pipe.

@appledrains

25 күн бұрын

Glad to help

I enjoyed watching the Apple Drain By Chuck DIY 3 ways to install vertical drainage under $50.00 all 3 of them. The DIY Vertical Drainage Projects saves you a lot of money. Without spending plenty of money for a French Drain cost

Thanks

so, next video, please tell us how you truly feel about grate boxes and popups. Somewhat impertinent question, yet I want to see your view... Fillbillies in C.FL put grates right under the downspout and then squirrel the pipe up down and around then cap it with a pop up. It must be some Fredneck universe where water travels uphill, IDK...

Hey Chuck! Quick question. How do you terminate the end of the drain? I have a 7 foot basement. Do you have a video for that?

Nice video

@appledrains

14 күн бұрын

Thank you 👍

Love your videos Chuck. Planning on doing my own drain project in the near future. Do you cap off the start of the perforated pipe with anything or just leave open?

@Outsiders755

3 ай бұрын

We use an end Cap at the Beginning Of The Pipe,Pvc pipe Or Perforated Pipe Slotted,But Some might Not.We use Mostly Pvc,But have used The Black Perf pipe.But it seems now that The Black pipe From lowes is Made from Recycled Materials.and its not as strong as it was a few years ago..

Well done...thank you for this. I am building a few retaining walls out of PT 6x6 in clay in Canada, QC. One of them needs to be about 6 feet tall/high. Do you recommend the same type/system all of the way from the bottom to the top of the wall? Crushed stone all the way? And for clay you are saying it really doesn't matter if you use a sleeve or not on the big pipe? Thanks

please tell me which sta green product you used. lowes has different types

Sure seems the pvc is better. But one question, how thick do you make your stone base? I’m going to be putting in a French drain in the back yard with an open stone top (no dirt on top). Just not sure how deep to make that stone base. Thanks.

Hi I have clay soil and an area in the backyard where a puddle forms and would like to build a French Drain but little confused about what you materials you recommend for me to use? Fabric wrapped perforated plastic pipe or something else for better drainage?

Do you have videos using nonwoven geotextile double punch fabric? Curious in clay soil and if no fabric how long will soil overtake all gravel and system fail

Long time no see chuck, hope your doing well

I want a combination pipe, slots n holes!!

Could you run your sump pump pipe directly to a french drain instead of using smooth pipe?

The video shows that PVC works just as good as corrugated pipe. So which one is better?

Your Awesome 😎🔥😎🔥

Hey Chuck , I have really been enjoying watching a few of your videos lately. I am from New Zealand and we have very similar construction methods to yoou in the states. But currently I am in Indonesia and about to start to build a home with a basement half underground and i really want to achieve a dry space . Here we have hard and semi hard limestone , so probably not much sediment . But materials are hard to find , like the perforated flexible pipe for example , i am thinking to use 4"pvc with 2 rows of holes at the bottom. wrapped in clean shingle and geotextile also with a 4% fall... any advice ?

@Co8a

7 күн бұрын

I'm from Russia, but we have the same problems. Our materials are also different from those used in the USA. Therefore, for the drainage pipe, I took a thick-walled plastic pipe and drilled holes in it along its entire length. I removed the geotextile from the pipe and left it only on top of the gravel layer. And everything has been working for 4 years.

So I live in upstate NY and my ground is pretty much all clay. So should I wrap my pipe and not? Guess I’m confused in your conclusion of the clay test.

Thanks I live in the south and having drain issues and wondering if a French drain will actually help

@Jbisson140

3 ай бұрын

If the water is holding in a low spot have someone install a catch basin. They work a lot better than a French drain.

I use 8 oz landscape fabric over my drainage pipe. I tested it and water from a hose passes right through it as fast as the hose delivers it in about 1 square foot of fabric. The Styrofoam peanuts will probably collapse over time if the pipe is buried very deep or be destroyed by freeze thaw cycles. Perforated , slotted, pipe does require a fabric in a sandy soil as soil cohesion is very weak and grains of sand will wash into the pipe. Not needed on clay. That is not 8 oz fabric you have there. (8 oz per sq yard)

That is not 4oz, that crap from the hardware store doesn’t work you need the needle punched filter fabric that the used in commercial application.

I watched a video the other day and the guy said that the new way to do it is put the pipe directly on the bottom, forgo any gravel on the bottom and then cover with gravel. Years ago I did my entire house using a method like in this video. So has the protocol changed?

@oil_can

2 ай бұрын

It’s a catch-22. The purpose of using gravel is to create an air barrier roots cannot survive in during the dry season. Based on that concept, you would ideally want an equal thickness of gravel distributed all the way around a perforated pipe, meaning the same amount below as you use on the sides and above. The negative to this approach, though, is if you put gravel under the pipe, you create a gap that must fill up with water before it reaches the pipe, so not only won’t you get rid of all the water, the pooled water will attract roots that can then grow through the water and into the pipe. Conversely, you can lay the pipe directly on the bottom of the trench before adding any gravel. This will allow you to remove the maximum amount of water from the trench. But it will also make it easier for roots, which seek out any moisture, to reach and grow into the pipe. The best compromise seems to be to put a shallow layer of gravel under the pipe and hope that 1) the water that has pooled under the pipe will periodically dry up enough to kill any roots growing in it and/or 2) the slope of the trench itself is enough to move pooling water downhill, out of the problem area. The latter idea may seem odd after watching a bunch of videos that compare corrugated pipe to PVC or discuss whether you should use a geo-fabric, but it’s important to remember the first French drains had neither fabric nor pipes - they were simply trenches filled with gravel. And they worked fine.

You didn't do a demo on the Sta-Green Premium Gardening Landscape Fabric that you said works. But I don't think it works any different than other fabric. If clay soil smears around it, it will get clogged. I just feel it's common sense what clay can do to small holes. Enjoy your video though, it does prove my suspicion about fabrics as a water filtration material for clay soil.

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

Hope you give it a try. Easy DIY

I bought the French Drain Man fabric. It doesn't work in Arkansas clay soil. I burrito wrapped 35 ft of 6" corrugated drain pipe with clean 1" gravel. I installed a cleanout at the end and then added 50ft of non wrapped corrugated pipe. At the very end of the last 50ft non wrapped, water flows good. From the beginning to the cleanout 35ft down, water trickles as I peer inside the cleanout. Huge mistake wasting money on the fabric and now I have to rent an excavator and pull the rock and wrap out so it will flow. I should have listened to Chuck here.

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

Sorry to hear. Hope you get it working!

@jamescrews5781

Ай бұрын

So chuck I'm in northwest Florida. Full clay yard. When it rains water sits in the Yard for 2-4 days. So building a French drain is the best way is with no fabric

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

@@jamescrews5781 try it . It will help

@jamescrews5781

Ай бұрын

Thanks Chuck at the most I may put a fabric layer across the top of the rocks if I backfill with new soil but I will probably just leave the rocks in covered for esthetic

@Co8a

7 күн бұрын

@@jamescrews5781 Open gravel will work best, but there is another solution (if you don’t like the look of the stone): fill the pipe with gravel, put only textile fiber, cover it with coarse sand to the top of the soil. Grass also grows on it, although worse.

Can you bury a french drain along a river at the level of the water to pump water from the river without pumping directly from the river? Would the water inflow keep up with the pump as well as it would if sucking the water directly from the river?

@eckdavid2472

Ай бұрын

Someone here in the comments said it was Sta-Green Premium Gardening Landscape Geofabric

In the video, it is mentioned that the french drain needs maintenance. How do you do that?

@jericlocke1

3 ай бұрын

You will have roots that grow into the pipe no matter if it is pvc or corrugated. Hopefully you clean outs to make snaking down the length of the pipe.

Nice video compilation. The water in the white pvc drain looked much dirtier than the water in the corrugated drain shown prior to it. To me it looked like much more dirt infiltrated the white pipe but the fflow was faster. Any significance? Just the variability one might expect from uncontrolled factors? In my case I went with black fabric-wrapped corrugated pipe laid directly in shallow clay trenches and back filled with garden dirt, no rock, no peanuts. I figured that if it gives me a problem I can dig it up and redo. I did not want to deal with the amount of rock required. So far so good at three years. (It is possible that it could plug quite badly and I would be none the wiser. It is a rather large but shallow rain garden at the corner of my yard, well down slope from my house, fed via 100 ft unperforated pvc. It receives roof run off and sump pump discharge. If the corrugated plugs, it means water just exits the rain garden with less water soaking in).

@Co8a

7 күн бұрын

I think that the white color and smooth walls of the pipe enhanced this effect.

For thousand years, french drains have been used without fabric. Do we really need it? Maybe it improves performance in certain soils. How many basements use draintile in their footings, with no fabric, since the 18th century? They are still working.

My French drain is clogged after 2 winters. I used corrugated pipe, with river rock on top, wrapped in geo fabric, with more river rock on top, and left it open. Should I get rid of the fabric? I live in the PNW, and have very clay soil. Thank you in advance.

@appledrains

2 ай бұрын

Yes

@MrSerenityNow

2 ай бұрын

@@appledrains thank you. Your videos are great!

@LuminairPrime

2 ай бұрын

I can't say why your drain clogged (a lot of things could have gone wrong, so I recommend calling a local professional at this point), but the river rock is not usually specified for this usage. It drains well, but one thing that goes unsaid is that the gravel itself acts as a filter, so the wrong gravel or not enough gravel can hurt the function of the drain. 3/4" clean gravel that locks into itself is usually recommended. You can use river rock on top for good looks, of course. Make sure you use as thin a non-woven fabric as possible (just thick enough to survive the install without ripping), and make sure it is sealed all the way around with spikes or polyurethane sealant (to prevent soil from leeching directly into the pipe from above). As AppleDrains said in one video, it's more important to protect the gravel from the soil above than below, because the flow of water from above isn't important and doesn't matter if it's blocked. The drain is for removing ground water that came from a huge area of land, NOT for removing the rain on top of the drain. Ground water will clean the drain of soil from below for many years, but letting the fabric open and clog the drain from above is a big mistake.

@MrSerenityNow

Ай бұрын

@@adamnonnenmacher7774 the pipe didn’t clog. When I ended up unwrapping the top of the fabric under a few inches of river rock, the rock inside the fabric was bone dry, and it started draining right away. The fabric was not letting any water into the drain.

Why stones under the pipe.? Shouldn’t we lay the pipe closest to ground ?

@jakeb.4225

2 ай бұрын

I was looking for a comment about this, my thoughts exactly. In the video he says its the most important part bc you want the voids in the stone to allow the water to rise up into the pipe, however, wouldn't the void in the pipe itself be better to allow the water to rise up into the pipe? It just seems redundant

@LuminairPrime

2 ай бұрын

​@@jakeb.4225 The gravel IS the drain. The pipe is just an upgrade for more flow. If you removed the gravel at the bottom, you would be shrinking the size of the drain, which would reduce its flow, and reduce how long it works before clogging. Think of the gravel as just a giant corrugated pipe. If you wanted, you could install just a pipe into your soil, but the area around the pipe is very small so very little water can enter, and the volume inside the pipe is very small so it will clog quickly. Putting the pipe in a gravel trench will allow 5-10x more water to flow for 5-10x more years, and all it cost was some rock.

Hey im sure its been answered but whats the purpose of the gravel bed under the pipe? You said it allows the wayer to rise up into the pipe but wouldnt the water be rising regardless?

@butlerbees6639

Ай бұрын

It’s so your pipe isn’t laying directly on dirt. After the first storm the bottom of your drain will turn to mud and make it harder for rising water to enter the pipe and will eventually clog it. A few inches of gravel gives a barrier and helps filter without restricting flow.

@alexc5369

Ай бұрын

@@butlerbees6639 assuming it was laying directly on the geo fabric though, wouldn't that be filtering out any dirt?

@Tonisuperfly

20 күн бұрын

@@alexc5369no. If you watch the video, the fabric doesn’t stop fine sediment from filtering through. If your drain is lying directly on soil, it will fill with sediment and get blocked even if you use the fabric. The gravel elevates the pipe so that the amount of soil getting in is much less and can easily be flushed away.

@alexc5369

19 күн бұрын

@@Tonisuperfly how does the sediment that gets through the fabricamage to easily filter away through the gravel but not managed to filter away through the pipe?

@Tonisuperfly

19 күн бұрын

@@alexc5369 because it needs to be suspended in water to move, but it is sinking unless water is very turbulent. The gravel bed creates a porous base to elevate the pipe off the ground, away from where sediment settles. Common sense when you think about it.

So, fabric alone drains well; clay on (any) fabric drains poorly. And the conclusion is the fabric is the problem and not the clay?

@appledrains

3 күн бұрын

Yes

I tried to look inside but it was dark. I’d think the way you secured the pipe with the coupling is a problem waiting to happen. I can envision debris getting caught on it.

@Co8a

7 күн бұрын

I thought about that too

Could we put granular lime into the soil to amend the clay soil?

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

Sure

Won’t moles and gophers tear through the fabric, allowing clay to infiltrate and the gravel?

@appledrains

18 күн бұрын

No

@Co8a

7 күн бұрын

unless it's moles from the CIA ))

Does anyone see a big difference between Apple Drains n French Drain Man videos? French Drain Man does not recommend PVC because it cracks. His blue pipe is slotted entirely around his pipe.

@gman8042

3 ай бұрын

Of course he would recommend and oversell his own products, he makes more money from suckers this way

@peterbergeris6510

3 ай бұрын

@@gman8042 Does his products work better or the same from what box stores sell.

@CREATINELUSTER

3 ай бұрын

from a purely material aspect, FDM is up north where it freezes and thaws often, which will wreck PVC pretty quick. Although that's no excuse for shilling his own overpriced corrugated.

@peterbergeris6510

3 ай бұрын

@@CREATINELUSTER Would you use the pipe sold at box stores or easy flow

U need the RIGHT fabric for drainage . Double punched fabric for DRAINAGE not landscaping fabric. Get it from French Drain Man

@jerseyjim9092

2 ай бұрын

Never ask a barber if you need a haircut and never believe someone trying to sell you his special one of a kind product.

😎

Fabric only caused headache 😪.

I thought the whole point of creating a French drain and using fabric was to remove the clay, put the drains and back fill with rocks...

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

Seriously? That’s what you do

The purpose of the fabric is to prevent dirt intruding and blocking the corrugated pipe water inlet slits. Corrugated pipe with knife cut slits is the best choice. The aggregate rock helps to create air gaps to allow water flow and discourage the invasion of roots. French drains built correctly will last indefinitely. The challenge to building a proper French Drain is the labor of digging the trench and adding the 1.5” aggregate rock. If you choose the peanuts and sock you will learn regret.

@handle1196

3 ай бұрын

So adding a French drain around a house in clay where the water table is high, would you advise, slotted pipe surrounded in stone with or without some kind of membrane to slot the clay blocking the stones?

Corrugated pipe is junk. We only use pvc. The problem with corrugated perf is that the holes are all around allowing dirt to settle into the pipe from the top. PVC only has holes in the bottom which catches the water as it rises and carries it away faster.

@jwrbusiness22

3 ай бұрын

Corrugated is fine. Who says it isn’t hasn’t done the work long enough.

@Jbisson140

3 ай бұрын

@@jwrbusiness22 wow that’s funny. You must be one of those cheap contractors that uses this stuff. Lol it’s cheap for a reason…

@mattslaughenhaupt7524

3 ай бұрын

@jbisson140, where do you install? If you live in the North with a 3ft frost line, will pvc handle the movement? If the drain is where it is really needed and dirt gets into the corrugated, won't it get washed out with the next rain?

@jimkane9832

2 ай бұрын

Dirt will clog the gravel before it cloggs either type of pipe

@Jbisson140

2 ай бұрын

@@jimkane9832 no not really. Maybe if you use the bare minimum of gravel then yes. But if you do it right it won’t. We waterproof the exterior of many many building every year and never have this problem.

I can’t see them peanuts being good, they crush easily.

@appledrains

2 ай бұрын

That’s why I show you the videos. Easy flow works much better than gravel perforated

@akbychoice

2 ай бұрын

@@appledrainsthat’s a great couple trick ty

@appledrains

2 ай бұрын

@@akbychoice thank you! And works better than store bought!!

PVC ME PLEASE!

I'm sorry, but this video really misses the issues the major points of putting drain tiles into clay. None of the common wraps stop the finest clay particles, and OF COURSE there is a tradeoff of fabric pore size and how much water can get through the fabric how fast. Note that the original development of the flexible perforated plastic pipe was for agricultural use, where the pipe goes into clay soil with no fabric, emplaced continuously by cut+cover machines. So why do you need fabric? Pssst ... big roots, tree roots, small shrubs ... etc. Farm fields don't have these roots. The fabric keeps your drains from root-clogging. The issue of clay fines in the drain tile itself is not solved by any fabric you are likely to buy. Drain tiles depend on adequate gradient to move those fines with the flow -- the fines suspend in the water reasonably well because they are fine ... given adequate flow. You need at least 2% gradient, more is better. And of course if you create a spot with low or negative gradient, that's where it will plug. It is normal and expected to see fine silt coming out of the drain, and clearing that from catch-basins etc is expected maintenance. The purpose of gravel (or the plastic peanuts, that I don't like to put into soil) inside a sock is just to provide a cheap "large pipe" surface area through the sock to collect water, in part because the porosity of the fabric is not very high ... but hey, if you are putting the drain into clay soil it is stupid to think that the porosity of the fabric is the issue; the porosity of the clay is terrible. Farmers dewatering clay fields put in a LOT of pipe. Usually in home and garden applications people underestimate the collection area needed due to the soil porosity .. and then they blame the fabric. This is dumb.

@appledrains

20 күн бұрын

Watch for follow up a year later. You’ll be amazed.

@Co8a

7 күн бұрын

In Russia we make fruit juice from wild berries. When the berries are cooked in a saucepan, strain them through cheesecloth, pour them into jars and put them in the refrigerator. So, after a couple of such procedures, this cheesecloth becomes so clogged with pulp and seeds of the berries that it stops letting juice through. Something similar happens with geofabric in the soil.

That is not a real life test

@appledrains

Ай бұрын

Of course it is