Cutting a swale to relieve driveway and crawlspace flooding
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2021
- How to fix flooding against the foundation
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My basement had puddles of water and an active leak when we moved in. My dad and I spent 30min digging a simple drainage swale to carry water away from the house instead of towards. Bone dry ever since. Grading is such a simple yet powerful fix!
Gotta try that…my basement floods a little in one spot after about 2 hours of rain puddles up outside so I assume there’s a small crack down low in foundation. I’ve gotten quotes for crazy prices for French drains but I may just try this
I’m glad that, with this video, you taught homeowners that it’s good to have the grassy area next to a sidewalk be lower than the sidewalk.
I appreciate that you go back and show the results. Not many people show the after. Thanks. Great work
It's my favorite part!
@@GCFD the money shot 👍
good job, i really like how you go back and check your work.
Thank you!
I like how after two months either the homeowners or ISP still didn't bury the line yet.
He told the ISP not to bury it yet because Gate City was still to come.
@@weejohnbb near the end he says it's been two months since they wrapped and the line still wasn't buried.
@@silverharvest753 hahaha, like an idiot, I commented before watching the entire video, then I fell asleep halfway through. I'll watch the rest tonight.
Yea I don't know why the line was still unburied. I know they can take awhile to bury, but that's too long!
@@GCFD Unbelievable. In a country where everyone likes to sue everyone, someone or even worst a business goes and lays a trip hazard!
As a person who doesn't do any handy work at all I still find these videos incredibly entertaining. Thanks for the awesome content.
Thank you Aaron for watching and commenting! - Shawn
Nice to see someone that does a job the right way!
Interesting to see different contractors bring different solutions! Having seen QUITE a few vids, I was pleasantly suprised at the path you took! I was half expecting MILES of pipe buried - or even worse, a sump pump installed (OUTSIDE ! ??????)
Nice, clean job that solved the Customer's concerns with a relatively simple, Natural Fix! [ personally, I like the working WITH what's there, a change of grade, a swale, etc rather than TOTALLY re-inventing the wheel!]
It also shows respect to the fact that Mother Nature REALLY does know better!
GOOD JOB!
THANKS FOR TAKING US ALONG !!!!!!
For sure G. I try to do the most simple and straightforward solution as long as it is 100% effective. Pumps work very well but only as a last possible resort. Thanks for watching!
Very professional work, great video. Nice you went back to the job site a couple months later to do a quality check on your job. Wish we had more contractors like you in our area!
Thank you Bruce!
Thanks for sharing. I'm amazed when I see downspouts ejecting to a neighbor's property, that's against code at least where I live.
Great job Shawn! Another quality job well done. I know the homeowner is going to be happy.
Thank you Shane!
Really liked your approach to this situation and especially that you revisited the job at a time you can proactively assess the results. I am a little surprised that it's legal to have leads drain towards a neighbors property without there being some type of additional barriers in place.
Large expanses of nearly flat land make moving water out trickier.
All-in-all the concept works and I'm glad you brought back the right equipment to make the plan work better.
The developer could have cut some swales and had the gutters discharge into them. It would have been very cheap when the houses were being built.
I agree. I'm glad we got the water away from the foundation and heading down the way.
Im glad you included footage a few months later, I was super curious!
I was happy to see this notification on Saturday night!!! Between you and Letsdig18 I am truly entertained and educated!
Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying my stuff - Shawn
That looked like a tricky situation to get the water away from the house, especially with all that flatish land and the surrounding properties. Your solution appears to have worked well though Shawn, so well done again. Great vid.
Thank you Dylan! It was a tough one but we got good results. 👍
Always some interesting content.. lots of love from Jamaica 🇯🇲
Thank you!
Maybe file down those pvc shavings when you cut a pipe, you do great work but some sort of finishing endpiece could really seal the deal and make it magnificent
Great idea!
Yay. Great 30th birthday gift to me, a video from the best UA-camr!
Thank you! Happy birthday!
Good job. Puts me in mind of my grandmother's yard which was a depression from 3 sides. For your job, I'd have liked a berm to repel the runoff from the neighbor's yard and downspouts..
from the Netherlands thanks for the video Shawn
Thank you hollandduck!
Great job! That Harley rake is just awesome!
I agree! I like it. Make sure to see the video where I rebuild it.
Awesome job Gate City!
Great video Shawn
Thank you Ed!
Good Sunday morning to you sir and your family from Wellington Somerset in the UK
Thank you David!
I like this guy better than the FDM. Intelligent and not arrogant.
Thank you! Thanks for watching and commenting on my channel - Shwn
So much green space , looks beautiful
For sure!
This was super informative, thank you!
Nice work on that job! Tricky elevations to work with for sure.
Thank you Marc
Thanks for showing the follow up!!!!
Love your work Shawn.
Thank you! I have many many more videos that are waiting for rain footage.
Hahahah. Homeowner redid your outfall…..that’s kewl.
I was wondering if anyone would notice! lol
Yea I notice that too
@@GCFD your way looked nicer
@@RHEC1776 that’s embarrassing u do a job and the owners doesn’t like it so he modified what he could. Makes u think what else he didn’t like
@@RHEC1776 also the seed never germinated, ans still stranding water not moving how it was intended to do so. I would go and redo it if I was him.
As always, you present a clear and easy-to-understand work plan to address the two issues. You and your team do great work.
Again, Sean, I am stunned a resident would be permitted to export their runoff to a neighbor's yard. That would be an absolute no-no where I live. The review board on which I sit would be very much involved in enforcement.
Where I live, both your customer and the neighbor would contribute to the cost of creating the swale to carry off gutter/downspout water to the street. And further, in this case, your customer would have had to take his runoff on the other side of his house to the street as well.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Where I live, the city charges us a "Storm Water Run Off Fee" quarterly, to pay for water that supposedly runs off of our property and into the storm drains. Sad part was that the water running down the street would come down my driveway and onto my property instead. I made the city put a berm across the end of my driveway to divert the water to the storm drains.
Our stormwater flows to creeks and rivers and not the WWTP. It's illegal to dump storm water or sump pump water into the sewage system because it overburdens the WWTP.
@@GCFD I edited my comment. The fee actually goes for repairs to the WWTP and SWRO piping maintenance. The SWRO does not get treated. Thank you. : )
Excelente solution, fast not so expensive, and the best part is working
I agree! It was a simple solution that works!
always fun to realize your neighbors are trying to flood you out...
This was really helpful.
It's like you know exactly when I need videos
👍
@@GCFD Shawn knows we all itching for his next video.
Good job and great music.....
Man that rains looks and sounds so nice. Envious out here in central California
👍
good job. people ask me all the time to level out there yards but they don't realize how much work goes into doing it right and when you give them a price they don't want to pay. great video take care and stay safe.
Yea stay away from those people. I had a homeowner ask if I would discount my price for him and I thought to myself, I don't do discount-quality work, so why would I discount, I don't know you...
I've found there are plenty of people who want quality work.
@@GCFD I hear you on that. You do good work. Thank you for the reply back. Take care and stay safe
Generally speaking about how much does this type of work (from the video) cost doing it right?
That one tree he had removed was the root of his problems. As it grew the roots pushed up and raised the land so it no longer was pitched correctly. As that stump and root system decays over the years he will be back to having a puddle in the same spot. Great job doing what you did, I feel to properly fix that issue entirely the stump and roots would need to come out and that is a lot bigger of a job than originally anticipated by the customer
Did you watch the video? Stump had already been ground and this guy pulled the remaining roots with his special equipment.
Yes we tried to get the remaining wood material out of there. I take out trees with my excavator, stump, roots and all. The idea of cutting a tree down and then grinding the stump is not ideal.
Thanks for another great vid...😊
Thank you!
Thanks for showing the result.
Thanks for watching Squid!
@@GCFD love watching your work.
Another good video, keep 'em coming. It's your channel and you can do whatever you want, of course, but personally I enjoy these drainage project videos more than the equipment buy/build ones, and clearing land for Other Shawn. I just enjoy the problem-solving aspect, guess. But like I said, keep 'em coming!
Thank you! I have several drainage videos waiting for rain footage. I have a large project that I'm wondering if I should make into a series of videos because of the length.
@@GCFDYes please! I always appreciate when titles indicate the series, the order, and one way or another when we're reached the end: "Big Project: part 1 of 4", "Big Project: part 2 of 4", etc. Or "Big Project 1: Getting Started", "Big Project 2: Unexpected Issues", "Big Project 3: The Rain Footage".
Good idea! I like the idea of a complete story in one video but on my end I'm looking at 175 video clips for this project and that is daunting to try and get started. I have some rain footage but not the best so waiting for more. Ideally, I have the videos all finished up until the rain footage then I can very quickly add that and upload.
Another good video! Thanks
Thank you Cody!
Great swale! Clog free solution: I like it
👍👍
If I get a little deep spot in a swale like that I go with a shovel during or just after a big rain and cut a 6" wide trench or so in the soft ground down the middle of the swale till it drains out. Grass will grow across it and it will be unnoticeable and drain out the low area. Nice work. Much better than a French drain in that application.
nice way to end my day with your vid!
Thank you Brian!
Looks like a development i.e. all homes built at the same time. Plots built privately and in isolation, I can understand why drainage isn't considered correctly. But a development where water is not considered, and gardens flow into others etc. That's just wrong. The cost of appropriate land drainage when building a new estate is cents on the dollar. Drainage is simple if you consider it before building. Water flows downhill. You don't even need pipework if you work with the land, just a couple of hours of earth moving. Flat sites, just grade a gentle slope. A site like this, you'd need to slow the flow to reduce erosion, so some berms to direct flow into shallower swales. You're encouraging me to set-up my own business in the UK. Use what I know for myself 😊 all the best.
I see this type of thing all the time with developments.
I've worked on a load of ground work firms, they're either really good or absolutely dire, I've seen it all from good foremen who consult drawings and clients on levels and amend as necessary to slapped up with no physical drainage from patio drains, driveway pots, gulleys and gutters to storm lines.
Poor or no city planning n building laws...NO Standards ..means no laws ..
I was baffled when he said there was no place to go with the water - I was like, why aren't they just running it out to the street? Shocking to me that there are no drains off the street.
Cool moat on the side and backyard when it pours.
UPS 🙂 I WAS JUST THINKING 🤔 ABOUT WORK.. TAKING AN EXTRA DAY OFF AND USE YOUR TIPS
Nice work
Another fine job
👍 Thank you!
Very crazy house and land planning to have the house on low ground.
I see it all the time!
Good idea 😇😇😇
Another successful job thumbs up Shawn, hey a swale bucket for the big excavator would make quick work of jobs like these, I saw Andrew Camarata make one in one of his videos that might be a neat implement to add to your arsenal.
Yea that was a cool bucket he made. I seriously thought about it for my machine. It seems so fast to produce a nice swale.
Nice job 😎👍
Thank you! It was very effective!
Looks like a lot of utilities coming in on that side of the house.
I like the music.
Thank you! I do too.
Great job. Does that Harley rake do well pulverizing the sod? I've been going back and forth on getting one.
Good job!
Thank you Ben!
nice work! what does the straw do?
Another great video! Question: when would you incorporate a sod cutter to save all of that precious sod and reuse? Thank you for your great very informative videos!!
(Raleigh, NC)
I Had bought a sod cutter for that very reason but no one ever wanted the sod placed back. I sold the sod cutter and never even used it.
lol- i call bull on that answer !@@GCFD
I was thinking digging a trench, gravel, sump pump and all he did was just grade the land and problem went away. It goes to show you the simpler solution is usually the best.
Another good idea at the end of the video covering the white pipe with landscape fabric to hide it and let it blend it. I wonder why he moved the rocks, probably to make mowing easier.
I think so too. He originally wanted the pipe sticking out but it looks like he cut it back. Either way, he's happy to have that water off the house now.
Hell, this a big job
Next time I would definitely put the wood chips (then add straw if needed) down in the swale. It will act as a sponge and also break down over a long period of time for the soil to have nutrients for less run off. Permaculture principals.
Edit: I forgot to commend u for using a natural swale! That was the perfect choice. So many others would have done a French drain know nothing about permaculture. If they did their jobs would be much easier.
We could use this at our house in Alabama. Can’t find anyone to do it. I may have to rent equipment and do it myself. Thanks for the videos and education !
Thank you Steve and good luck!
The trouble with these little jobs that only take part of a day is you still have to pay people for the whole day. Also when you need a bump truck and a machine you need people to drive them there, but in some cases there may be insufficient work for both people on the site. People will get contractors to come over and give a price for the job then not like the price. The contractor after a few of those will not want to waste their time going to the site to price a job that they think they will not get.
I agree John. Or if the contractor prices it so low to try and please the homeowner, they will never want to actually go do the work because it's not worth it.
What trade are you considered in? First time problem for me and I don’t know who to call for help, although I only have concrete around my house but still need to figure out how to keep water from settling and getting in the house at ground level?
How do you make an existing swale more permanent? I have a dirt swale about 2' wide on one side of the house behind a bush. I'm thinking of digging it out a bit and putting down landscape cloth, paver sand and pavers to make it more permanent. Would that work or are there any issues? Is there an easier way? Thanks for the videos!
11:44 Looks like a suitable candidate for a French drain :-)
This is Jim. Thanks Shawn
Thank you!
Cheers.
👍 Laurie
Nice spot for a rainwater garden…also, remove the grass and put in some plants?
In the UK we connect our downspout gutters to the waste water sewer, otherwise known as gullies. Do you know why this is not apparantly done in the US?
Love your work! Been watching a lot of your videos. Do you ever come down to Georgia for any jobs? I need a quality person to do some work.
I only come to Georgia for the sea kayaking off tybee!
I like the solution you came up with, but wouldn't that cause a problem with water under the driveway slab? I'm looking at doing something similar just don't want to cause a repeat problem with my drive way.
Is there any reason why roof water doesn't get taken to the street? In almost all metropolitan areas here in Australia it is a requirement to discharge stormwater to a legal point of discharge - this is often the street or a dedicated storm drain.
A lot of new subdivisions do have drainage handled much better. (Or at least they are required to plan for it better). But most houses don’t have their gutters caught, and most of the time it isn’t a problem.
99% of downspouts don't cause any problems discharging by the house. You're seeing the worst cases on this channel. In newer developments they seem to take drainage into more consideration than some older neighborhoods.
Buy a deburr tool , they sell them at Lowe’s or home depot, super cheap like $1-3 , it’ll make that cut pvc look cleaner
👍
i use my tshirt to deburr. Cheap and effective.
@@toddgolling5760 or that ☝️
Im from Denmark so I get its different around the world, but how can it be legal to make a downspout and just lead the water towards the neighbour and be done with it
It's legal here in our area to discharge your water on your own property. The fact that the neighbor is downhill is your problem. You can't discharge a pipe directly onto a neighboring property but the effect is the same in this case.
@@GCFD that’s terribly inconsiderate. I’d be embarrassed if water from my property was causing such damage to someone else’s property.
Same but water flows downhill, right? Drainage problems are tough ones for sure.
Dave, I know. I was very surprised. Here in Australia, you must make sure water from the roof of your home either goes to the street, a water-tank (overflow to the street) or towards a council pipeline taking the water away if unable to take to the street.
@@josephj6521 that’s how it should be. Otherwise you end up with chaos.
Looked like a job you do the basic fixes and then see how it works. I really thought you'd have to go back to tweak the repair, but it seems you got it right the first shot!
I thought so too. I kept in touch with the homeowner in case I needed to tweak something.
How much would something like this cost?
Should have put drainage pipe in there. That low spot collects water from several neighboring properties that sit at a higher elevation. The "after" shot shows standing water which means the ground is oversaturated. Under the surface it will make its way to the foundation since its just 5 or 6 feet away.
"Neighbour downspout" is something that I really don't get about a lot of your videos. If somebody did that in my city, a call to the city would quickly result in an inspector paying them a visit and telling them to remedy the situation.
For whatever reason property owners in our area are not responsible for water flowing off their property. So it's completely the downhill person's problem.
Quick question: would you recommend a skid steer if we have a number of old ficus tree roots in our yard? The two trees were removed over a year ago but many roots remain - the biggest I've come across are maybe 1-1.5" in thickness/diameter. We had turf removed but the excavation company didn't go deep enough to account for what we're trying to do (a flagstone patio and crushed rock path). I do need to grade the area to make sure it's properly sloped but wondering if a skid steer will be enough or if I should be using a mini excavator. The tree removal company stump grinded the ficus stumps but not entirely, and if you start in the area where they were removed (in one corner) you'll likely hit the stump (along with old irrigation lines we will have abandoned). The main area of the yard we are excavating though is sort of away from the stumps but the roots have spread...
You can use a sawsaw with a Pruning blade. It must be a pruning blade. Or hook up a chain and pull it with a pickup truck. Yes, skidsteer will work but not necessary unless you already have it for grade.
What function does straw makes it here?
Couple dry wells, size of a 55 gallon barrel's. 2 barrel's deep 👍🏻😵💫 lots & lots of small holes drilled in the barrel's.
Wrapped with ground cover so dirt/soil doesn't
Dirt doesn't get into the barrel...Let the ground suck it up.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Why isnt there underground storm drains to sent gutter water into? Should be one of the first thing developers do before building houses! The 'Big Five' are foul drains, storm drains, electricity, gas, and telephone - all 5 should be in place for the whole development before you can even bring a single builder onsite!
No one ever thinks about drainage it seems Debbie. It's always an after thought once the flooding has started.
I can't tell you how many houses I have looked at to purchase and everyone single one of them has drainage issues. Water running from neighbors into your driveway. backed up water. Pools of deep standing water in yards and all sorts of nonsense. I will never ever buy a home that is near a main drainage pipe or water source.
No builder ever thinks about water drainage or management. One realtor exclaimed that "These houses were meant to be sold not lived in".
If you ever want proper drainage on your property you buy some land and make sure the builder builds it right the first time.
Going back and checking your work would seal the deal for me! Do you recommend anyone in Oklahoma, I need the exact same work done.
Hey Cindy -
In a tricky swale like this I always tell the customer to check back in with me in case I need to go back and touch something up after it settles for awhile. I don't know anyone in OK to recommend to you.
Try diggingok on UA-cam, he occasionally posts videos, from what I've seen he does excellent work. OK is a big state, I don't know where he's located.
These guys never tell you how much it’s gonna cost
Your channel blew up? This is why we call 811.
Haha!
Could part of the problem with water pooling alongside the house be due to the gutters being clogged with leaves and/or debrie? At 1:40 it appears that very little water is draining from the gutter.
👍 you know yer stuff.
Thank you!
The hay you guys put down was that to keep the grass moist for the seeds ??
Yes and to protect the bare soil from erosion.
What’s a job like that cost, I have the same exact issue in eastern PA?
SHAWN, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT I AM THE FIRST PERSON TO COMMENT, I DONT CARE WHAT YOU PUT UP, I AM GIVIG IT THE THUMBS UP.
Thank you Randy! I hope you enjoyed the video.
Always Shawn, you don't drop them regular enough, I am always checking every day buddy, lol, top notch work, keep it up.
@@randythomas4549 click subscribe and the bell and UA-cam will notify you when I post some thing
Shawn, I am a subscriber from the first day that I saw your videos bro, lol.
Awesome video Shawn. Tell him to concrete that pipe coming from the neighbors property, is that even legal to dump water onto your neighbors property? I would be upset if neighbor was dumping water on my property, I would concreting that quickly if he didn't move it .. They should have just run it to pipes from either side of the house to get rid of that water once and for all.
Here in our area homeowners are not responsible for water flowing off their property. You can't discharge a pipe directly onto a neighboring property, but in this case the pipe discharges away from the property line, but obviously flows directly downhill to my customers property.
@@GCFD that is an intentional drainage discharge, as opposed to water merely flowing off their driveway, lawn or patio. Different localities have different codes and laws than others...
There's also probably holes / cracks in the basement wall.
i want to do the same for my house. Can i ask you how much do you charge? so i can save my money for the work. Thanks!❤
0:49 - I would certainly be having a conversation with my neighbor about that downspout.
I think he did and we decided the swale should catch that water too. So far so good!
By definition a swale creates ponding which exacerbates flooding. Removing a swale is often the most cost effective solution to solving a drainage problem.