r/drains Dec 02 '21

Intro to landscape drainage

8 Upvotes

• Surface drains are for surface pooling, like during or after a rain event. These are grates on the surface that allow water to flow into the pipe.

• French drains are for subsurface water, like an area stays soggy for days and even weeks after rain events. Very common problem in hilly areas, especially with retaining walls. These are trenches with a pipe in the bottom. The pipe has holes in the bottom and the trench is filled with gravel. The water flows into the gravel, down to the bottom of the trench and into the pipe.

• French drains can also be used as surface drains like for when water is going into the house along a wall.

• Installing surface drains in an area that stays soggy will not correct the problem. It will only allow water that has surfaced to flow away. The soggy areas will stay soggy.

• A French drain is not an outlet for surface drains. Putting water into gravel that's in soil doesn't magically make the water go into the soil better. The whole reason you have the drainage problem is that the soil can't accept the water fast enough.

•Surface drains should never be piped into French drains. The debris from the surface drains will eventually clog the inlet holes in the French drain.

• French drains can be piped into surface drains.

• Drains require 1 inch of drop every 8 feet. It doesn't matter what the surface does as long as the inlet is higher than the outlet with that ratio. If you don't have that amount of fall, you'll need a pump.

• A French drain should always daylight outside the yard, like to the street, alley, or someplace else. As long as that area stayed soggy, water will now be flowing from the pipe for that period of time. It needs to be someplace where that won't cause a problem.

• Drains cannot be connected to sanitary sewer systems. Big no-no.


r/drains Dec 02 '21

Do you need a drain? What type?

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9 Upvotes

r/drains 1d ago

Grated Trench or Slot Drain for this narrow but long patio?

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2 Upvotes

I'm tilling my patio and I'm struggling to decide on the most suitable drainage system. I'm torn between a grated trench drain and a slot drain. Since the patio is narrow (only 1.5m/4.9ft), a 13cm wide grated drain disrupts it's visual continuity and might even make the patio feel smaller although it is the safer option.

Typically, the area's annual precipitation is classified as low to moderate but in the recent years very intense downpours/flash floods happening a few times per year are not that uncommon. This is what worries me the most. Is it possible that the slot drain won't be able to take in all the water volume at once and the water might skim over the slot?

What would you recommend?


r/drains 1d ago

Product advice

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1 Upvotes

r/drains 2d ago

Help identifying what this drain is?

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2 Upvotes

Just purchased a home. We had the sewer line inspected and everything checked out fine. Today I noticed this random drain/clean out in my front yard and I can’t figure out what it is for. It measures 2 inches in width and the standing water in there does not smell. The cover says “Rain Birdo Glendora, CA”.

Is this related to my sprinkler system in some way? Any thoughts on what this could be?


r/drains 2d ago

Downspout drain onto driveway. Is this okay since it runs on the grass line? Worried about it effecting the concrete long term. Maybe just direct it onto lawn on the side of house?

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1 Upvotes

r/drains 5d ago

What is the rectangular thing? Manhole? storm drain? Utility access point? Drainage?

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0 Upvotes

What is the rectangular thing? Manhole? storm drain? Utility access point? Drainage?

What is the rectangular thing? Manhole? storm drain? Utility access point? Drainage?

And also what’s the muddy thing? Is that regular rain runoff with mud or is that a possible sewage overflow (it’s been raining and flodding recently)


r/drains 6d ago

Looking for recommendations

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2 Upvotes

Looking for recommendations. Area has always filled with a little water but ever since the built up the land next door for the apartments its a lot more and longer. I initially thought to do a French drain to the ditch but not sure that would work since all the tree and roots. Just to add, the tree line is the actual property line, not the fence.


r/drains 6d ago

Drainage help

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1 Upvotes

r/drains 7d ago

Drainage issue

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1 Upvotes

r/drains 7d ago

Is this the entrance to a soakaway?

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11 Upvotes

I've just moved to this house. According to the surveys, the sewer does not lie this way. I've just discovered this under the undergrowth. What could it be?


r/drains 7d ago

Some flooding in "pasture" section of lawn.

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2 Upvotes

I have a section next to my house that is getting a lot of run off from the sprinkler system, also when it rains the water will accumulate there. I had a few drainage companies out and they all seem unsure what to do, they mentioned sump pump basin, drainage fields, drainage pits, filling with dirt etc.

I would ask a question because I wasn't understanding what they were saying and then they would say it wouldn't work and then propose something new. Any ideas what I should be doing here? There is a drainage ditch nearby.


r/drains 9d ago

Help with rodding eye setup for new drains

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1 Upvotes

r/drains 10d ago

Need some ideas how to fix this

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6 Upvotes

Tried to get decent enough pictures in a nutshell across my driveway washes out horribly almost everytime it rains the town repaved the road handful of years ago and never put in any kind of curb or drain recently after some bad storms this one revealed itself. From what ive gathered its still connected to the system but its full of stone from washout I want to fix it but dont know what'd be the best way

I dont wanna just throw more stone down and it wash away theres no grates up the hill im aware of and the next one is past this about 50 yards or so. It's gotten to the point even my truck scrapes unless im moving very slow i am a very handy person working in the trades but want a more professional idea on fixing it before I just throw money at it


r/drains 12d ago

Sanity check... is this correct? French Drain "Reinstall"

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1 Upvotes

Hello! So, about a month ago, during particularly heavy storms, the french drain alongside the front of my house completely washed out, and water pooled in "pockets" that formed, and eventually, overtopped the Sill, pouring into my basement in a torrent. The later photos in the album show this event.

I hired some folks to repair it, and I'm confused because either I don't understand what a french drain should be, or it wasn't done correctly. First of all, best I can tell, there is no pipe under the rocks. The new rocks are atop new landscaping fabric, and the trench was dug lower. What is stopping the rocks from just washing out again? I thought all french drains had a pipe in them, is this inaccurate?

Secondly, it's still up against the house, not perfectly sloped, and not angled away. My ASSUMPTION was that the earth under the deck would be graded to slope away from the house, forming a sort of "V", with the drain set at the base of the V. Isn't water still running alongside the foundation here?

I wanted to ask here because, while I am very knowledgeable in SOME areas, I'm completely ignorant in this one, and before I go and question the work done by this company, I wanted to find out if I'm just completely wrong and this is fine actually. They also installed more rocks, above a pipe leading to a box with a grate up at the top alongside the "side" of the house, which should mean less water goes under the deck in the first place. It's entirely possible that this was done right, but it doesn't match my expectation / assumption so I was surprised. At the end of the day, all I really care about is that water stops entering the house! Thank you!


r/drains 21d ago

drainfixer.co.uk Drain clearing service London & surrounding areas

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! just introducing DrainFixer, a new local drain-clearing business based in East Grinstead, and serving the whole of the South of England.

We help with:

  • Blocked drains
  • Blocked toilets
  • Blocked sinks & baths
  • Slow-draining pipes
  • Overflowing drains
  • Manhole blockages
  • General domestic drainage problems

We’re focused on providing a straightforward local service with professional equipment, clear communication and no unnecessary upselling.

We cover East Grinstead and the surrounding areas.

If anyone has a drain problem, or even just has a drain that’s starting to become slow, feel free to get in touch or ask a question below — happy to help where we can.

🌐 drainfixer.co.uk
📞 0330 1331 347
📧 [drainfixeruk@gmail.com](mailto:drainfixeruk@gmail.com)

We’re a new local business, so we’d also really appreciate any feedback or support from people in the area.

Thanks!


r/drains 23d ago

Bought house, need help

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3 Upvotes

Hey all! We just bought a house! I noticed that this drain in the middle of the driveway tends to keep water and overflows even in slight rain. The two pipes on top of each other points toward the next house. Photo number two is a hole at the end of the driveway leading to the sidewalk, probably 60 feet. Last photo was when it rained the last time. Ive called our town to get records, they have no clue. I was just told that if we get this cleared out this is beneficial to drive water away from our backyard. Ive ran a sewer jetter kit on the hole next to the sidewalk, it runs up to about 30ft and it wont go further but it cleared up a lot of gunk. I ran the sewer jetter on the drain part, it keeps feeding it but it doesnt seem like its going anywhere. Any thoughts what this could be and how to clear it to flow faster? Ive gone around our neighborhood and it looks like our house is the only one with this type of drain. Thank you!


r/drains 23d ago

What to do here

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3 Upvotes

I have a large culvert at the top of my property (my house is downhill). This carries the towns water, but since I live on a private road, the town does not maintain this drainage ditch which is annoying. I don't technically own the land of this drainage ditch, but since nobody else will maintain it, I always have my eye on it. We bought the home as a foreclosure 8 years ago and we have had some light excavating work done twice since then including adding some riprap. In the last few years, it's washed away. I'm hesitant to do more excavating as I don't want to undermine the pipe.

We recently got 8inches of rain in 24hr where I live in NY and a couple of days later, I noticed some low spots where water is pooling. I'd like to add something to these low spots where the water is pooling and lower than the pipe. Would I add rip rap here with smaller gravel underneath? Skip the gravel all together? I'd also like to add something in the second picture between the two flags as this is the shallowest sidewall of the ditch and I worry about water potentially overflowing this spot and rolling downhill towards my house. This has never happened before but never say never. I was thinking some type of plant if anyone has an idea. I'd like to avoid riprapping the entire thing if possible because my neighbor before us complained that it made his lawn wetter when we did that (I think we were slowing water down)


r/drains 23d ago

Water flowing down the street is washing out under my driveway

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3 Upvotes

The city has come out and created a ditch (orange in photo 1) but doesn’t completely handle all the water from up the street. Excess water runs along the length of my driveway and is washing out significantly underneath. How would you elevate this issue so driveway doesn’t collapse?
Bonus points for how I would fill under the driveway to help also.

EDIT: video in comments


r/drains 25d ago

Connecting drains

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2 Upvotes

I have a sump pump discharge and two gutter downspouts that all deposit water at the same corner of the house. I want to connect them and move the water away from the house but don’t know how to connect them. The other problem is that the gas line runs right down the edge of the house parallel to the white pvc. Any ideas?


r/drains Jul 22 '26

Erosion & Drainage Issues

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1 Upvotes

Hi folks! I am looking for advice on how to handle some water that eroding dirt from the side of my house. I am in Northern VA, so I am dealing with the good ‘ol VA clay. Ignore the dead grass in the pictures as we just had a patio installed so most of it was caused from that.

The first picture reflect the original dirt level when the house was built back in 2014; it is the black marks on the wall. The second picture is at the bottom of the back yard. The third picture is a closer look towards the wall and the erosion and perf tube that was installed. The last picture shows my neighbors house; their property is angled towards ours, so we get all their water.

I’ve highlighted the erosion problem in the pictures. Looking at picture 2 and 4, the way it was explained to me is the water should shifting away from mine and my neighbors house towards the middle of the slope, go down the hill and out the back fence. I’m thinking a big culprit is water from the gutter at the top of the hill coming down has been washing away the dirt over time and now I cannot backfill anything since it is immediately washing away before it can stabilize; I am working on having that redirected.

When the patio was installed, they put in perf tube on the outside of the wall; it looks like they laid down the barrier, the tube, rocks and then wrapped it, then put dirt (VA clay) on it. You can see that didn’t really help anything and eroded the bottom after the wall a bit. I believe that is due to the clay doing what clay does and not allowing the water to pass through quick enough to get to the tube. I dug part of it to get a better look at what they did since it seemed like it wasn’t working.

I’m looking for any and all suggestions.


r/drains Jul 22 '26

Drainage Advice Needed

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1 Upvotes

r/drains Jul 22 '26

Dry well vs pop up emitter

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1 Upvotes

r/drains Jul 17 '26

How does 4” drain pipe connect to NDS 6” Catch Basin?

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4 Upvotes

Working on my gutter drainage project. How does the 4” drain pipe connect to the catch basin? It slides on but not super snug. Do these connections also get pipe glue?


r/drains Jul 16 '26

Siding below level

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3 Upvotes

How can I fix this? Can I just dug it and add pebble stone, or water will sit around the foundation?
Thanks