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Miramichi
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# Posted: 18 Aug 2014 09:37am
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Hi,
I have a water issue around my cabin. There are a series of springs that surface behind it and flow directly underneath and beside it. The cabin was built back in the 1920's to house loggers so I guess water flow and cabin placement wasn't a consideration back then. The cabin is raised a bit, built on rocks so its not sitting in water. Its just muddy and wet in the spring and after a heavy rain. I was considering a French drain along the rear and side of the cabin to catch the water and move it to another area. The area is very rocky and I'm anticipating some issues working around them. Has anyone ever constructed a drain and are they effective? any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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bobrok
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# Posted: 18 Aug 2014 11:07am - Edited by: bobrok
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My son and I laid French drain at the perimeter of the back yard at his house where he had a bad soft ground/standing water issue in the spring and after rainfalls. Water was seeping into the basement.
We used that common 6" perforated flexible black drain pipe and dug down somewhere around 12" making sure to keep sloping away about 1/4" per foot or thereabouts.
We lined the bottom with plastic and half of the crushed stone, laid the pipe over that, and tried to cover it with the rest of the stone. It didn't work well. The pipe floated right over the stone, so we removed most of the stone, leaving a thin bed underneath, held the pipe down physically and then put most of the stone over the top of the pipe. We covered with topsoil and resodded where we had dug.
It worked like a charm.
We laid drain at 180° in opposite directions from the center of the problem area and towards a lower area in his back yard away from trouble, and also right up to the curb in his front yard. We installed pop-up outlets flush with the ground.
The first time it rained (and not all that heavy) the neighbors thought we were nuts, the two of us out there high fiving and celebrating the water just pouring out the escapes.
My son has not had water in his basement after this. Its been 3 years.
Not bad for a couple of bozos who didn't know what they were doing.
Hope this helps and encourages you.
bob
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 18 Aug 2014 12:37pm
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Drains installed around the perimeter of new basements are done similar to bobrok, but with drain cloth instead of plastic. The end result is that the gravel is completely enclosed in drain cloth, and the pipe is down at the bottom. The cloth slows the rate at which the gravel eventually silts up.
The rocks where you are will probably be serious problem Miramichi. For a French drain to work it has to get down to the depth of the water to be removed, or it will just flow beneath the drain.
If you haven't seen it, drain cloth is available in I think 20 foot widths and rolls of any length.
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bobrok
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# Posted: 18 Aug 2014 04:20pm
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@bldginsp: actually upon further review we did use drain cloth, not plastic. Much better results than with plastic.
I stand corrected.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 18 Aug 2014 06:43pm - Edited by: bldginsp
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You won't get any results using plastic, the water has to flow through, just in case anyone was wondering. And it's important to totally encase the rock in the cloth to keep out silt. That's why it's made in such large sizes. It's not as expensive as you might think, at least it wasn't when I built a totally illegal septic drain system too close to a creek living in an unpermitted structure on someone else's land on a parcel in riparian corridor that had been illegally cleared and converted to commercial use without the permission of the owner, the planning department, or California Fish and Game.
But that's another story.
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bobrok
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# Posted: 18 Aug 2014 07:17pm
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Quoting: bldginsp I built a totally illegal septic drain system too close to a creek living in an unpermitted structure on someone else's land on a parcel in riparian corridor that had been illegally cleared and converted to commercial use without the permission of the owner, the planning department, or California Fish and Game.But that's another story.
Whew!
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Miramichi
Member
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# Posted: 19 Aug 2014 10:17am
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Thanks for the great advice! I think I have an idea how it will go: Trench - cloth - gravel - pipe - more gravel. My only issue (hopefully) will be dealing with the rocks. Thanks again all!
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bldginsp
Member
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# Posted: 19 Aug 2014 01:57pm
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Also, you want the pipe to have consistent slope down to wherever it flows out. As well, it will silt up over time so you might want to provide a cleanout or several so you can get a garden hose in there to flush it out
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