Does French Drain Work with Fabric? Watch This Before You Install - PVC / Corrugated Pipe

Hey Chuck, can you please define the ratios of gravel below the pipe and above the pipe? I'm guessing about 1/3 below, 2/3 above?

Maybe I missed something. Was one of the approaches better?

So?????

Its' not deep enough ! Two feet minimum

What an excellent video. I can tell that a lot of effort went into making and editing it. Thank you so much!

Named after a Mister French that developed it.

Chuck you're the best! Great info - thorough and educated. I believe I can do this!

My father put a french drain in the unfinished basement. He did not use fabric (id don't know if they wrapped it the 70's. Anyway it worked well for 30 years. Water started to perk up in the center of the basement and I ran a snake into it. It was clogged with mud.

Great info
Thank you

I want to install a footer tile in my crawl space. The ground is clay, to wrap the pipe or not wrap the pipe? I've also seen conflicting videos on just setting pipe directly in the trench vs. setting a base of gravel then the pipe?

You don't know what you're talking about. A perforated drain pipe is just that. It's NOT a French drain.

Perforated pipe can be laid IN THE BOTTOM of a French drain to improve performance. Traditionally, of course, this was not done. The coarse rock (which is all that constitutes a French drain) will usually provide sufficient flow on its own.

However, depending on local soil composition, sediment can be a problem for traditional French drains. Drain cloth is laid as a barrier to prevent sediment infiltration into the drain. A vertical wall of cloth on the uphill side of the drain will prevent sediment from percolating into it below ground level, while continuing the cloth horizontally over the French drain near the surface will prevent sediment from washing into the drain during periods of severe runoff.

The principal functions of drain pipe laid in a French drain are to deal with peak loads and to ensure that the drain functions even when partly contaminated with sediment.

Bet the grass dries a nice long stripe in dry conditions where the soil is shallow over the pipe .Seems to fix your flooding problem though 👍

I need a french drain, can we speak?

So which is/was the best pipe to use ????????????????????????????????????????

Wow that PVC flows really nice! I never liked the perforated pipe myself..

Interested in the grass, are you missing a layer of top soil? Cause that grass won’t grow.

Thinking on my French drain to just have 57 stone and then river rock on top, no soil or grass to containment the system.

Great Illustration!

Why put a layer of stone under the pipe and not just have the pipe on the bottom directly on the fabric?

Are u buying pvc and drilling the holes

Something is fishy. There is no way all that water was from a hose.

"Does French Drain Work with Fabric?"
Of course not! Fabric is a solid, it will not flow through a pipe. The pipe is designed for liquids to flow through it. (Well, maybe if you cut the fabric up in pieces small enough to be carried by a fluid through the pipe, then technically, yes, the pipe will work with fabric, but why would you want to flush fabric through a pie in the first place? Just hand carry it to where you want it.)

The water running out of the pvc pipe at the end seems really muddy considering that the fabric should have kept dirt from entering the pipe. Why?

Is there a long-lasting nonplastic alternative to geotextile fabrics?

They only work once. Then they give up, collapse and retreat back into oblivion.

concrete trench is the best

Thank you. I really appreciate the info.

What an awesome demonstration of how it works! Thanks for your effort!

Corrugated pipe doesn't need gravel underneath since it naturally has voids built in.

Chuck, could you combine subsurface drain with downspouts by having downspouts connect at the top of the french drain ?

Thank you very much for sharing. Your video inspires me to look into this option for my irrigation system at home.

There is no requirement to install a pipe.... properly sized clear stone, wrapped in a proper layer of geofabric placed to the base prior to rock and wrapped over is sufficient. Yeah I am a geotech and installed lots of "french drains". Thicker cloth will not noticeably slow down the ingress of water since water will always take the path of least resistance. This is nothing more than a sales pitch. No mention of geomorphology for the installation. I am not saying that pipe is a bad idea, its fine, just not an absolute requirement for a cheaper fully functioning french drain installation.

You want no stone under the pipe.

home deppo is clutch for all things drainage

If I wanted to collect runoff water from the road and use a swale to collect it, but some sort of french drain under the swale to pump the silt-filtered water out to a holding tank, can you please point me in the right direction? This is for rainwater harvesting, to use water many times on the property rather than just let it sink into the abyss or run off.

I thought French drains are to drain into the ground when no system is present. This is draining the ground.

Will it work to connect two french drains pipes perpendicularly? I want to run a few feet to an existing one

Great info. Question though, would you not need to add soil on top of the pipe for the grass to grow?.

Great info. Question though, would you not need to add soil on top of the pipe for the grass to grow?.

what fabric are u using?

We does the water with the pvc look like mud? Has the material and stone just like the corrugated tube

I wonder would using 1 -2 inch River rock work is good ?

Thanks for this experiment chuck - always great content from you - keep em coming :)

Thank you for your video. I have a question. I see that you use the pipe with two holes. However, every store I go sells the one with three holes. So, which one is the most efficient and why? Thanks

How do you end the French drain. I don't want to have an open exit like that.. Rodents and snakes can go up the drain and have a nice dark cool place during summer. Any ideas ...

Why put gravel underneath the pipe? Why not just lay the pipe on top of the geotextile to catch every inch of water at the bottom of the trench?

If you put stone under the French Drain pipe water will accumulate in the stone and will not run off in the pipe. I think the pipe should lay on the fabric at the bottom of the trench. This was all the water enters the pipe and drains away.

About 13 years ago I installed around my house 1 inch perforated PVC pipe, only in gravel, no fabric. Keep working flawless till now,. The flow is as good as in first day, the water gets drained very fast after a strong rain.

i can't explain how much you inspire me to install a drain. i'm nervous as heck that i will get it wrong but with your videos i feel i'm prepared to try. THANK You

Will the fabric eventually get clogged?

Depo "Dee-Poe"

That Sta green fabric only comes in 4ft wide rolls at Lowe’s. Where can I get 6ft?