French Drain???

[chickener]

My run has very bad drainage and was researching was to improve it and cane across thr french drain method.
Basicly digging a trench and putting preforated pipes and gravel in to the trench and leading it to somewhere else
Would this work or does anyone see a problem?
If it will work I plan to do it in the summer when it gets dryer

 

[robnms]

Quote:
A french drain will work but it's easier to install a 4" drainage pipe and use a catch basin if you have enough slope to make it drain properly, the slope only needs to be about 1/4" drop at 10' and it will work fine. All of the materials are at Home Depot and the only tools needed are a hacksaw or even a wood saw will work and a shovel and the materials are PVC glue, pipe, catch basin and concrete if you want to get fancy around the catch basin.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

It would be much easier this way if you can make it drain, hope this helps.

 

[DaddysChickens]

Is the problem caused from another location. Meaning is it water flowing into the area from another source on the ground? Or is it surface water from rain, snow etc?

 

[chickener]

robnms looking at the catch basin system it does seem simpler and effective and is relatively cheap, thank you
DaddysChickens the water is from heavy rain and snow and there is some water coming from the coop roof going into the run

 

[chickened]

Research curtain drains they divert ground water. Putting gravel down as a base in any structure will keep the ground dry.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
It works very well, but it is a chore to install.

We put in a hundred feet of French drain around our barn that was having drainage problems. We dug the trench, backfilled with a few of inches of 1 1/2" gravel, laid in perforated, sock covered drain tube, backfilled with rock again, laid heavy roofing felt over the rock and then covered with topsoil. It solved our problems around the barn, but we have additional grading work to do this summer as when the farm buildings were built up over the years, there was little attention paid to drainage, creating a lot of problem areas.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Whether it works for you depends on your soil conditions at the times when you need the french drain to be working.

If the ground and the french drain are fairly dry, then yes, it can be quite helpful (not instantaneous, you may still get some temporary ponding of water, but it will greatly increase water penetration rate)

HOWEVER note that if your water table is chronically high, or if the french drain is taking the water TO somewhere with a chronically-high water table or that will be flooded during your "problem" events, then your french drain won't do much.

That's why I can't use them on our property very much -- high water table, plus a lot of our problem is in wintertime at which point a french drain (here) will be full of ice and thus nonfunctional.

But for places where they're suited, they can indeed be useful.

Honestly a swale or ditch, carrying the water elsewhere, is often a WHOLE lot easier to construct, although it will require more ongoing maintenance.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[farmer_lew]

Quote:
When I was a kid, we had this same type of system on the septic tank of our house (I was given the "honor" of digging the trench for the drain line). We used ABS pipe and drilled holes in it to make our own perforated line. So, that type of drainage would work, just don't forget the gravel.

 

[Arielle]

We had a problem with water at our farm. The easiest answer is to have the area of interest to be the high point and that way the slope of the land naturally drains away water.

But sometimes this isn't possible. When we started construction on our land to build a house, water and lots of it became a very big issue! All the land is sloped one way and the water flows downhill, toward the proposed house site.. When the utility trench was cut using the backhoe water GUSHED out in big spurts. THis layer was just under root layer of the soil. To protect the house we put in drains at the footing level (because it was already dug out for the footings) . Built of perforated pipe, covered with stone on top and 14" wide; covered with fabric ( a special kind for the job--don't remember the name any more it's been 15+ years! LOL) As we were short on fill anyway, we had the contractor back fill with sand rather than the original material. THis piping system runs completely around the house and then a long pipe runs away from the house about 100 feet at a slope to pull the water away. Understand this was a house at stake. We also utilized the utility trench which was located uphill of the house site. Instead of filling it back up to grade level, we left it low enough to capture the runoff before reaching the house and divirted it around the house. My boys like to float boats in the stream in the spring runoff. It's like a raging river 6-8" deep!

A long story . . .but I hope it helps . . . our basement is always dry!

Any version of this would probably help. Good luck!