French Drain

[RebelYell]

I bought this piece of property and house for a great price with one small(some may call it huge) problem. It is in a flood zone. Some folks may remember the pics I posted from last Feb. When I first walked through the place I had ideas of where I wanted to build some drains; however, I waited until a few rains to get an indication of the problem areas. The former owners had cattle, so they poured concrete in alot of areas so they wouldn't get stuck in the mud. This pic shows a long run of concrete which becomes a river when we get alot of rain, at the end of the run is the creek where I want the water to run into. The right side of the fence is my orchard. I live in East TN, the old timers around here say they have never seen it rain as much as we have had this past year. Figures, cause I just bought this estate in a flood zone; which I always thought "how stupid can someone be to purchase a place in a flood zone."

 

[RebelYell]

I bought the BX22 because I didn't need anything bigger and I knew I would use the BH a great deal. This little machine really does alot of work and I am having a tremendous amount of fun while I am so-called "working". I wasn't too cautious of making this ditch straight. I was more cautious to keep it gradually getting deeper in grade. I first wanted it wide enough to put three 4" pipes but opted to use only 2.

 

[RebelYell]

I wanted to take more pics as I progressed thru this project but I worked on it between the rains and my other work schedule. I didn't remember to take pics until it was too late. I probably should have put three pipes in the ditch and I hope this doesn't come back to haunt me. I also wish I had only made the ditch one bucket wide, my bucket is 12". The fabric I used was 3' wide and 120' long. I had to buy some more fabric, only 1' wide, to put across the top after installing the rock. The fabric would have overlapped if I dug the ditch one bucket wide. Oh well, it will take more water this way. I have the drain all covered and graded but again, didn't take pics and it is under about an inch of snow now. I used almost 300' of 4' perforated drain pipe, 2 1/2 tons of gravel and fabric. The fabric was almost half the price of the entire project. The pipe was around $75.00 nad I have about 50' feet leftover. The gravel was $10.00 a ton, I hauled it myself. The small BX22 FEL fit right up into my truck bed, I could get most of it with a small amount of shoveling. The fabric cost around $60.00 and I have some leftover. My next project is drain the water from my downspouts into the field.

 

[RebelYell]

This is a picture of the orchard, which is on the opposite side of the fence from the drain. I done alot of work to this orchard and it still needs a great deal of pruning. The orchard hadn't been taken care of for about 7 years. I have 8 apple trees and 2 pear trees. There are some smaller newly planted trees which i still have to find out what they are.

 

[RebelYell]

This is a post of a pic I hope to never see again. The drain I installed is against the fence in the background of this pic. The former owners put a great deal of money into keeping the creek from overflowing. The fix created a bowl which holds water unless the sump pumps are in working condition. There is a bridge about 1/2 mile down the creek which might as well be called a **** instead of a bridge. I am trying to get the county to replace the bridge but I don't think they ever will. I truly think I would never flood if this bridge was rebuilt. I have a great pic of the flooding this bridge causes.

 

[RebelYell]

This is a pic of the flooded bridge. The house is a tenant house the former owners had built. I did not buy this part of the property. The buildings in the back was a dairy. The new owner is growing angus beef on the property now. The bridge is just left of the house. The water in the main part of the creek is about 5 feet lower on the other side of the bridge. My property is, of course, upstream from this mess. The folks downstream from this have no troubles. There are about 10 families who get starnded at their homes or can't get to their homes when this flooding occurs. This has happened three times this year. But again, this is an abnormal year.

 

[RebelYell]

BTW, I am looking for an attachment I can attach to the end of PVC pipe which will let water drain out but if the creek gets high the pipe will shut off and not let water come up the pipe. I don't think a simple check valve will work because it may take force to let the water out. I may be wrong about the check valve. Please give me any recommendations that anyone may have used for this purpose.

 

[heith]

Thanks for some great reading and the pics too.I am also having drainage problems and plan on installing drains on my property.Keep us up to date and thanks again...Heith /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[racechaser]

Go to the plumbing dept at Lowe's at look at the PVC pipe fittings and they should have what I call a "backwater check valve". It is a pipe with a flapper that opens and closes with the slightest water flow in either direction. It has a threaded top to clean the flapper if it clogs with trash.I too have drainage problems that I am dealing with on property recently purchased. If this won't work let me, know I did find others and I even invented one that I'm thinking about filing a patent on.There are not many options for our situations but if the one at Lowe's doesn't work let me know.

Scott

 

[RebelYell]

I know I saw that fitting at Lowes; however, when I bought the supplies to start this work I could not find it again. I too have put a great deal of thought into inventing a valve which would work. I would think this type application could be widely used. My shop vac uses a ball to stop the suction into the dry tank if the wet tank gets full. I believe that may work. I will try that flapper valve when I find it again. I almost live at Lowes, I should know where everything is.