Where to bury drain tile?

[Currmudgeon]

There's no magic distance to place the tile away from the building. 5-10 feet usually works and keeps you away from foundations and things. Remember that the water between the tile line and the building may still want to flow to the building unless you grade it away.

A tile will only carry a limited amount of water, unless you build a subway tunnel, so you may want to consider using a ditch and berm on the uphill slope. Lay out a ditchline to intercept the hillside flow and carry it around the barn. Cut the ditch and cast the spoil on the downhill side to make a low dike. You get a section like a shallow, Lazy N. The flow line of the ditch can even be dead flat if you want to put a tile in the bottom to dry it up.

You can do the layout by eye, just watch to see where the water wants to go, and direct it that way.

 

[weedsportpete]

If I may resurrect an old thread.. I am facing a very similar situation - need to get water away from a pole barn. I am torn between a swale and a drain.

My soil is hard clay, so that would / should point to using a swale, but the excavation pad for the pole barn was cut into the side of a hill, and I'm thinking that the lowest point of the swale would be the exact borderline between the hill and the excavation pad.

I did not pay much attention to the pad when it was dug and compacted (how I wish I had been lurking here for a year before getting the pole barn put in!), so I don't know how deep or thick it is. If I dig a swale, do I have to dig down lower than the pad?

The area between the borderline and the barn is about 16 feet and is already slightly sloped away from the barn, and originally a (about) 16" drain trench was cut right down the borderline, but no pipe was put in. I have not kept up with it and it has half filled in and there is standing water (frog sanctuary). One long side of the barn is cut into the hill, and one short side also, and the 'drain' is cut on both of these sides, starts on the 'high' end of the long side, turns the corner and runs past the short side.

It is correct to assume, given that the compacted pad was made up of the same hard clay material that was excavated, that a swale is still the correct solution?

I think the existing swale drops no more than 4" in 16' - should I cut that steeper?

Should I fill in the 'drain trench' ? Or cut it out / clean it out? There is no pipe in it, or rocks, or anything.

There is also a gravel driveway, right in the middle of the long side that is cut into the hill and crosses the drain and swale and goes to a door in the side of the barn. Where it crosses the trench, there is a 6" pipe. I'm hoping that I don't have to mess with that.

 

[Highbeam]

"If I install gutters (which I intend to do) should I run that water into and through the same drain tile or into and through a separate, non-perforated plastic pipe?"

Never run downspouts into the footing drain. You will be essentially pumping the downspout water into the footings. Solid pipe downspouts to daylight away from the building.

Maintain the existing ditches and swales. Surface drainage is the first thing to deal with and then tackle groundawater if it is still a problem.