French Drain

[MasterPlumbersKeymaster]

My house sits 60 feet from the curb-and-gutter of the road where I want to run the water that currently drains from my roof and ponds around my house. I only have 0.7 ft fall from the ground surface at the house to the flow line of the gutter in the road. I would like to build a french drain at key places on the front of the house but, if I install a 4 inch drain pipe to the road at a 0.2% grade, I will hardly have room to cover a pipe in a French Drain at the house. I would like to find a rubber or durable plastic gutter, rectangular shaped with about a one ft base and 5-6 inch vertical sides, that I could install in a ditch under the roof eaves. By placing it below the ground surface and filling it with gravel, I believe that I could get the water to the drainage pipe without worrying about an unsightly pipe being uncovered by the roof run-off.

Is such an underground gutter system available? I am open to other ideas.

[John Aldrich1Participant]

Henry Corbett, Advanced Drainage Systems, INC. (ADS) makes a flat drain pipe called “Advan-Edge”, that will be perfect for this application. The thickness of the product is 1.5 inches, and is installed horizontally. The widths available are 12 inches, or 18 inches, and they come in lengths upto 400 feet. The perforated, HDPE pipe is completely covered with a geotextile called “DrainGuard”. This filter material will prevent siltation of fine soil particles into the pipe line.

The various Advan-Edge fittings, and adaptors provide a wide range of design options for your specific drainage problem. You may be able to purchase the Advan-Edge by the lineal foot from an ADS distributor.

Place the Advan-Edge Pipe in a 4 inch deep, graded trench in the appropriate locations, and then place pea gravel, or 1/4 inch, washed stone chips up to the final grade. Use plastic garden edging on the trench side walls.

The Advan-Edge Pipe can also be used for the drain pipe leading to the curb and gutter. This pipeline can be backfilled with the excavated soil, and then resodded. Be sure to dig the trench to the precise grade. The small extent of the excavation, and the required preciseness of the grade of the drain pipe trench to the street indicates to me that the trench should be dug with a shovel, and graded with a rake, and a level. Compact the bottom of the graded trench with a vibratory trench compactor (Jumping Jack). Most of the roof runoff storm water will be drained to the street. A minor amount will be percolated into the compacted soil below the Advan-Edge.

You can view this fantastic material on the ADS website. The address is:
http://www.ads-pipe.com/products/advanedge.html

Good luck with your Project. JWA

[Author]

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