I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

On 29 Apr, 13:37, Steve Walker wrote:

Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm#con

In article , george (dicegeorge)
scribeth thus
I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

You can IIRC .. get Osma drain that already has these apertures,
rectangular slots already in it.

Just for that sort of application....
--
Tony Sayer

george (dicegeorge) wrote:
I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm

On 29 Apr, 13:23, "george (dicegeorge)" wrote:
I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

http://www.marleyplumbinganddrainage...ated-pipe.html

Is this any use? - one version seems to have allow placing with slots
at top half only. Some of their products seem to be stocked by the B&Q
branches with trade builders yard - see B&Q's website.

Toom

Yes there should be holes in the bottom.
Look up "Paving Expert".

If the area is traffic'd you need rigid clay pipe (perforated land
drain).
Otherwise use plastic pipe which comes in 60mm 80mm & up sizes.

Someone on Ebay does 25m lengths cheap if your local Jewsons etc
doesn't.

To install it you dig a trench, line it with geotextile, infill with
various sized washed gravel down to pea gravel around the pipe. Pipe
is laid with a slight gradient either to soakaway or very low level
sunken grid (common on some houses, but not ideal as you would need to
cover the open end with mesh to stop things hiding in it) or into a P-
trap properly fitted (conventional, better).

On 29 Apr, 13:37, Steve Walker wrote:
On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:23:44 +0100, george (dicegeorge) wrote:
I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

I don't know if it's available here, but in France they sell a standard
sized plastic pipe with numerous sawn slots already in it for this purpose.
Unfortunately I can't help with any info on how it is installed.

SteveW

land drain - try agricultural supply places (sell fencing, field
gates, farmer's metalwork supplies, feed (for more than a few dogs) -
you get the idea)

various diameters available - 4" or 6" common -

nb the ones I've got have slots all around
but in practice trying to keep ALL the water in the pipe is
unnecessary as you can't ensure that all the water that enters the
land drain will actually go through the slits into the pipe in the
first place

Idea is that there's an "escape route" for water to go once the ground
under the pipe is saturated - ground above and around it is still
drier than it was before

cheers
jim

Steve Firth coughed up some electrons that declared:

Steve Walker wrote:

I don't know if it's available here, but in France they sell a standard
sized plastic pipe with numerous sawn slots already in it for this
purpose. Unfortunately I can't help with any info on how it is installed.

Same stuff sold in Italy in 50 metre coils.

The technigue is to lay a trench and level with pea shingle/sharp sand.
Line the trench with geotextile long enough to wrap over the top of the
drain. Lay the drain. wrap over the fabric and weight it down with
coarse gravel. Continue with various sized rocks if available. If it's
desired to finish it off with gravel I put down a blanket of geotextile
then lay the gravel on that.

The drain iself needs to be led to a soakway or in my case a sand trap
then a 40 tonne tank then a soakaway.

Seen that pipe in either B&Q or Wickes recently

Steve Walker wrote:
On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:23:44 +0100, george (dicegeorge) wrote:

I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

I don't know if it's available here, but in France they sell a standard
sized plastic pipe with numerous sawn slots already in it for this purpose.
Unfortunately I can't help with any info on how it is installed.

SteveW
available here.

Simply shingle it in place.

On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:56:10 +0100, Steve Firth wrote:

Steve Walker wrote:

I don't know if it's available here, but in France they sell a standard
sized plastic pipe with numerous sawn slots already in it for this purpose.
Unfortunately I can't help with any info on how it is installed.

Same stuff sold in Italy in 50 metre coils.

The technigue is to lay a trench and level with pea shingle/sharp sand.
Line the trench with geotextile long enough to wrap over the top of the
drain. Lay the drain. wrap over the fabric and weight it down with
coarse gravel. Continue with various sized rocks if available. If it's
desired to finish it off with gravel I put down a blanket of geotextile
then lay the gravel on that.

The drain iself needs to be led to a soakway or in my case a sand trap
then a 40 tonne tank then a soakaway.

The one I've seen in france is rigid, 3 or 4m lengths of around 125mm
diameter. I didn't know you could get it in coils, handy if I ever need
some.

SteveW

my french drains will only be about 4 yards long,
just to get water away from the house..

im thinking of drilling holes in black plastic pipe,
or are slits better,
less likely to clog up with roots?

Steve Walker wrote:
On Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:56:10 +0100, Steve Firth wrote:

Steve Walker wrote:

I don't know if it's available here, but in France they sell a standard
sized plastic pipe with numerous sawn slots already in it for this purpose.
Unfortunately I can't help with any info on how it is installed.
Same stuff sold in Italy in 50 metre coils.

The technigue is to lay a trench and level with pea shingle/sharp sand.
Line the trench with geotextile long enough to wrap over the top of the
drain. Lay the drain. wrap over the fabric and weight it down with
coarse gravel. Continue with various sized rocks if available. If it's
desired to finish it off with gravel I put down a blanket of geotextile
then lay the gravel on that.

The drain iself needs to be led to a soakway or in my case a sand trap
then a 40 tonne tank then a soakaway.

The one I've seen in france is rigid, 3 or 4m lengths of around 125mm
diameter. I didn't know you could get it in coils, handy if I ever need
some.

SteveW

The message
from Steve Walker contains these words:

The one I've seen in france is rigid, 3 or 4m lengths of around 125mm
diameter. I didn't know you could get it in coils, handy if I ever need
some.

The stuff I have used was 4" and came in a 25 metre coil IIRC. It was
quite cheap. The ballast to fill round it cost more than the pipe.
Should be available at any builders merchant. I tried to get some 3" for
a French drain but that would have been a special order of 50 metres.

It should be available in larger diameters as well but I don't know how
easy that would be to get.

A neighbour had some remedial work done on a septic tank drainage field
some years ago. The contractor insisted on using rigid brown plastic 4"
piping and drilling his own holes. ISTR it took him quite some time to
drill the holes.

--
Roger Chapman

Steve Walker wrote:

The drain iself needs to be led to a soakway or in my case a sand trap
then a 40 tonne tank then a soakaway.

The one I've seen in france is rigid, 3 or 4m lengths of around 125mm
diameter. I didn't know you could get it in coils, handy if I ever need
some.

http://tinyurl.com/cpl38m

We've used a lot of it, both as drains and to make soakaways.

Thanks for all the advice and the weblinks,
I understand a lot more about it now
the difference between a land drain and a soakaway...
and unless I get any new ideas
I'm going to make a temporary one tomorrow
which should last a few years
with some drainpipe and slots on top using a uk-diy screwdriver
(a.k.a anglegrinder)
[g]


Dave Osborne wrote:
george (dicegeorge) wrote:
I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "george (dicegeorge)"
saying something like:

I'm going to make a temporary one tomorrow
which should last a few years
with some drainpipe and slots on top using a uk-diy screwdriver

Proper drainage pipe has many more slots than you could arsed putting in
with an anglegrinder and it's cheap as chips.
You'll find it in builders yards and farm stores.

On 30 Apr, 00:24, "george (dicegeorge)" wrote:
Thanks for all the advice and the weblinks,
I understand a lot more about it now
the difference between a land drain and a soakaway...
and unless I get any new ideas
I'm going to make a temporary one tomorrow
which should last a few years
with some drainpipe and slots on top using a uk-diy screwdriver
(a.k.a anglegrinder)
[g]

Dave Osborne wrote:
george (dicegeorge) wrote:
I want to help the drainage of rainwater away from the house.
I've dug a trench which drains OK,
next is to put in a plastic pipe and cover it with pea gravel.
Is the idea of a french drain to drill holes in the plastic pipe
so that water seeps in?
Seems to me there shouldnt be holes in the bottom of the pipe
so any mud wont stay at the bottom but will get swept down the pipe..

is this so?
any other advice please?

[george]

http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm

Of course if you only make "slots on top" your trench has to fill to
almost the depth of the diameter of your pipe (as it were ;)) before
ANY drainage will take place from your gravel/trench/damp area using
the pipe...

still recommend you buy some "many slotted" land drain - where are
you? I have 1/2 a 4" roll kicking about somewhere

cheers
jim