Underground drains for gutters

[oliver28472]

I need to extend three and install one additional underground gutter drain. A friend is supposed to be coming with a ditchwich to dig the trench. Will be using the black plastic corrugated stuff in a big roll from Lowes. Do I just cover it up with the dirt from the trench?

 

[RobJ]

This is the black pipe with the holes in it? Some the newer stuff is covered with a fiberglass felt. They say you don't need anything with this. I put in a 8" black pipe for my leach field at the weekend place, just covered with dirt, no problems. Remember the holes go down. Sometimes there is a like going down the pipe, this line should be pointing to the sky.

The old way was to fill the trench with rock, lay the pipe, cover with rock, then cover with hay, then fill with dirt. Whether or not you need to do this I would guess depends on your soil. Sand and you are probably ok, heavy clay maybe not.

Good Luck,
Rob

 

[Ductape]

I need some more info on this myself, as i need to go around my whole house to reduce the water coming in through my 130+ yr old fieldstone foundation. I've seen this done on television (This Old House), and trenches were dug. Heavy poly sheets were laid into the trench.... from the top of one side... down into the bottom, and back up to the top on the opposite side. Then crushed stone was put into the trench...... flexible black drainage pipe (like you were talking about..... then covered and leveled with more stone. Finally landscape mesh was laid over the top.... and covered with more stone, dirt, or whatever you wanted. If there is an easier way...... i'm all ears ! Perhaps different applications require different methods? I'm looking to divert rain coming off the roof...... where as perhaps you are just diverting ground water? Hopefully someone here will straighten me out too !

 

[EddieWalker]

Oliver,

Are you just wanting to carry the water away from your building that comes from your gutters? Or are you installing a french drain?

If it's just to carry water away from your gutters, then yes, all you need to do is cover it with the dirt that came out of the trench. Be sure to have a smooth bottom so there are no high spots when you lay the tubing. Then when you put the dirt in, drive over the trench with your tractor, car or whatever you have that's heavy. The ground will compact and lower. Then fill it the rest of the way and drive over it again.

After a few rains or even a few years, it might settle some more, but that's to be expected. It takes allot of effort to get dirt compacted and if your not builing anything over it, than you can just add dirt to the areas it settles if and when it happens.

Eddie

 

[oliver28472]

Eddie, yes to carry water down hill away from the house. Will outlet at pasture fence. Since I have a roll for leach field can I use that or should I get some without the holes?

 

[schmism]

if your daylighting the pipes

yes you can just toss them in the bottom of the ditch and cover with dirt, and with holes or without... it doesnt matter...

 

[Birdhunter1]

Eddie, yes to carry water down hill away from the house. Will outlet at pasture fence. Since I have a roll for leach field can I use that or should I get some without the holes?

Pipe without holes works better if you are trying to carry water away from your house. That roll-up black corrugated plastic perforated pipe ain't worth a hoot for much, if you use it without a sock on the pipe and fabric lining your trench backfilled with rock then it will fill up with silt and stop draining.

If it is the solid corrugated pipe then you'd be ok with it, it's best to use 1 solid run of it wo the joints don't later separate or collapse underground. Or just use sticks of 3" or 4" PVC S&D pipe.

 

[MikeD74T]

Ductape, Contact a well driller/pump installer. They usually have a lot of used black plastic pipe to get rid of. I have all my gutters & sump pump directed underground to a spot 100' away from & slightly downhill from my house. Pipe is buried about 12" below grade. IMPORTANT -all is pitched to drain completely so it doesn't freeze in winter. My termination is an 8" pvc pipe set vertically about 3' deep into a sand layer. When the ground water is high it overflows, the rest of the time it perks away into the soil.

 

[RalphVa]

I put that corrugated pipe with holes in the ground to carry away excess water after my rain tanks are filled. I ran it about 3 pipe lengths away. It made a hole at the end where I had the pipe capped (caps leak). Filed with some gravel. It's in very chalky clay soil, awful for drainage.

On the other rain tank, I connected it to some of that corrugated pipe that a previous owner had put in. Found the end of it about 50' away the other day. Wondered where it went. It kind of disappeared into the roots of a tree near the house.

Had the solid corrugated pipe run across the front of my carriage house to bring the downspout outlet from my garage into the 2 off the carriage house that dump into the first rain tank mentioned above. The paving guys didn't like that. Had to replace with heavy wall PVC. So, the corrugated stuff isn't strong enough for under paved areas.

Ralph

 

[ccdck20hst]

My next door neighbor had trouble with ground water after another house was built up hill from his house. We have a lot of clay here in Connecticut. After years of soggy soil around his house he put in a three foot wide gravel path around his house ( perhaps 140 feet long?) that doubles as a walkway and a drainage area. Under the gravel he told me he had two drainage pipes put in - one pipe inside the other! This stops or slows silt clogging I guess. This seems like a good idea as it should allow for fast trouble free drainage.