French Drain

The French Drain* is in! Did you ever go to the beach as a kid and dig to china? This was sort of like that, but not fun and without the breaks to splash in the ocean and without the pleasure of burying a younger family member at the end.

But it was quite rewarding and brought us one step closer to finishing the project.

Digging the trench. It got deeper the closer to the end, to ensure the water will always run downhill.

The pipe runs between the house and garage (pictured above) in front of the newly converted covered patio, then snakes around the rhodie, down to the drain in the sidewalk.

Add rock to the bottom to make the surface as even as possible (using a high tech PVC pipe to help measure).

Lay in the perforated pipe that the water will drain into.

Wrap the pipe in landscape fabric to keep dirt and debris, then lay it out. 

Cover pipe with 2-3 inches of rock.

Cover rock and pipe with dirt, top with sod, sit down in the shade and have a beer. Or two.

*I did a pretty significant amount of research into French Drains, and my dad and uncle (aka, the real brains behind the operation) have laid several in the past. So, if you've done a FD before, or think we did it incorrectly, go ahead and keep those thoughts to yourself. Until this thing leaks or floods out patio or basement I don't want to know how you or Holmes on Homes or the dude on This Old House does a French Drain. I'm pretty sure ours'll work. I do value your opinion, but just not when there is this much digging involved.