newbie gravel question

[crocodile_jkg]

Hello:

Silly question for everyone.

My wife and I moved into our new house in may and are enjoying the 8.8 acres very much. There are however a few things that need o be done.

I am going to run the down spouts at the back of the house into a french drain across the yard. Right now the down spouts just empty out onto the yard. We have a large porch surrounding the house so the water is not a foundation issue, it just makes the clay in the yard a bit soggy and sloppy.

I an going to rent a trencher and put in tile for the french drain, but I do not know where to get gravel or stone. I told you it was a silly question. Do I look in the yellow pages and if so what do I look for?

Thanks James

 

[randy41]

quarries.
where are you located?

 

[EddieWalker]

James,

I'm wondering is do you need and want a french drain?

The purpose of a french drain is to take surface water into the groud through the rock and drain it to via the perforated tubing or pipe. This is used moslty when you have standing water on level ground or a low area that doesn't drain.

Your situation sounds like you need to take the water from you gutters and get it further away from your house. Both systems will need to drain to a location you desire, so that part of it is the same.

But for just carrying water from your gutters, all you need is pipe or tubing buried under the ground. For my home, I put in the 4 inch corrigated tubing that you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes for $30. It comes in 100 foot rolls with simple connectors to Y it together and connect mulitiple pieces together. Pricewise, it is the very cheapest way to go.

You could buy smooth pipe, like a thinwall drain and vent pipe, but I don't think there's an advantage to it myslelf.

Just dig the trench, lay the pipe in it and bury it. Go over it with a car or tractor to pack it down and add more dirt to smooth it out. Simple, cheap and fast.

Eddie

 

[Nat]

ditto what Eddie said> later, Nat

 

[texasjohn]

The answer is to look for a quarry. Or maybe somebody on your street or where you drive by has a dump truck. They would likely know where to get gravel, dirt, etc. In my area, there are quarries that cut stone for home construction.. and DON'T have crushed rock/gravel. However, there is 1 quarry that has a rock crusher and numerous piles of crushed rock from pea sized up to baseball size and beyond.

That said, I agree, you may not need a french drain, but only a underground drain to move the water away.

 

[Egon]

Look for aggragate, gravel, stone and trucking.

 

[crocodile_jkg]

Thanks for all the info.

I hope to use the french part of the drain to help get rid of water the pools at the bottom of a hill and water and locations that are soogy long after it rains. Thought I might as well hook the down spoots into these while I am trenching.

James

 

[jbrumberg]

James:

A lot of what you plan to do depends on your terrain, soil type, and underlying geology also known as physiography. You mentionned clay do you live in NE? Jay

 

[jbrumberg]

James:

By the way welcome to TBN ! Jay

 

[crocodile_jkg]

Thanks for the welcome Jay.

My wife and I live in Ashville Alabama, just north east of Birmingham. I am going to post some pics soon.

James