After watching Chuck's first video on this, I tried a single vertical drain in a area of my yard that would hold water after heavy rains. It has made a huge difference so far, has worked well for me.
This has nothing to do with vertical drains but I just want to give you your props . My yard is graded horribly causes rain to flow under my porch and flood against my house. Found your videos and spent a few days installing 2 speed basins to a sump pit to a drummand 1/2 HP and discharge right to the street it works perfect and I saved thousand. Once my bank account recovers I’ll start on my crawl space with footer tiles . I owe all that know how to your videos.
I’ve installed a French drain before but now I absolutely loved this tutorial video, I’m eager to roll up my sleeves and tackle the issue in the backyard and my daughter’s driveway ❤❤❤❤❤ thank you so much
Thank you Chuck for your unselfish sharing of tips, tricks & knowledge. I've got better than half of my downspouts done from your videos and they're working great. I'll also try this water removal method in other parts of the yard for the large puddles. I'm 79, so things go slow. Thanks again.
Wrap the fabric around a piece of 8in pipe and push it into the hole, then pour your rock into the pipe and lift the pipe out of the ground... You have perfectly installed fabric and rock by using the pipe as an installation device
Please tell me exactly what kind of fabric, I have no idea what he is talking about. On one video he says GEO fabric, but there are dozens of those around.
@@bonnie448 it's just landscape fabric, it comes in different "ozs" .. a "4oz landscape fabric" is thin and not as heavy duty as an "8oz landscape fabric" ...the higher the OZ fabric is the better it will keep the sand out of your hole and that's what you want...
I used to live in a Florida suburb that had no storm drains near the lowest point in our road. Terrible drainage problems, when it would rain we would have probably 5" of water at the bottom of our driveway. It would actually flood the road too. My dad dug a simple trench drain along the whole length of our property, maybe 7" deep x 50 feet, but the neighbor across the street put in a vertical drain using an empty 55 gallon drum that he filled with stone. Both approaches seemed to work about as well, and it was probably less work to dig one hole than a large trench.
You are the man Chuck! You have me advice a couple years on encapsulating a crawl space. It took me a month to get the job done having to use 2 sump pumps but it has made a 100% difference in this home! The homeowner brags about it all the time to his neighbors. I’ll be trying out your vertical technique on the same house this week. Thanks for your expertise!!!
Did one of these in my backyard in AZ (side yard with gravel, no grass). We had a good rain today and it looks like it worked, at least it's better than before. There is still a puddle of water, but that puddle of water is concentrated around where the vertical drain is. Kind like you'd expect with a drain. If anything, I think it will let the water drain faster. I'll do a couple more in the general area and wait for a really heavy rain and report back.
My stone sausage drain cost $50 at Lowe’s in Illinois. New lawn fabric and 4 bags of egg stone. I had to dig a hole about 4’ deep before I got through the clay soil to a different soil type. It works like the video. Went from a lot of standing water to a soggy area. I have a few other spots I could put them.
@@johnpan2654 it’s just like the video. There’s no standing water, but the ground around it is saturated. It’s not as good as a fancy French drain, but you’re getting probably 40-50% of the benefit with 1/10th the cost and effort.
It will cost more than $10 for materials but it may save me from 10 headaches in my backyard along with the 85 foot long trench I dug..this will help in other areas of the yard..Thanks Mr. Chuck
I did this 25 years ago in my 1/2 acre front yard that would hold standing water for days. I dug a much bigger hole, inserted a 55 gallon drum with both the top and bottom removed, and filled it with gravel. Water is gone in less than 3 hours.
What I have done is dig a pit, line it with landscape cloth to prevent soil intrusion into the pit, and then fill the pit with drain rock so that the walls do not cave in under water pressure from the soil. That accomplishes the same thing, and it's a great way to solve many home drainage issues, when there is no french drain system in place.
@@persistentone3448 Thanks for the tip. I talked with a landscaper yesterday about installing another drain line to catch water coming off a hill towards my pool deck, but your tip makes me think a trench filled with gravel will work well.
@WalkingbytheSpiritAlways Rather than filling a trench with gravel, which if it’s ipe graded has about a 25% void ratio, you’d be much better off with an underdrain pipe that has 4 times the capacity.
I caught wind of this about a week ago and wasn't sure about it. Now finding this video, I think you have inspired me to do just that for my problem areas. Thanks for the video! Planning on renting an auger cause I have plenty of places I could do this do and will let you know how it helps. Thanks again!!!!
Your share knowledge & experience with vertical drainage is such a bless to our family. . .We have flood easy and Baryle ready did a number on us and the culprit was the constant heavy rain. We will definitely put vertical drainage where need and I am hopeful it will be effective. Thank you sir. Bless you & Shalom
Right I went 4-6 feet deep on some fence and gate posts that shit was still red clay! That’s why I’m tryn to figure out how deep the hard cap is or if the hard cap is another word for frost line?
This is awesome. And it "seems" like maybe this would be giving rain water a much better chance of reaching the aquifers that supply our drinking water before it's contaminated in our streams and rivers. Any geologists out there? The simple hole/gravel thing MIGHT be something that could help our water situation! Especially anywhere that rain is rare and then heavy rains run off too much when it does rain. Maybe something everyone should do.
I am just curious if a slightly larger diameter hole would do better, or overkill? Yours appears to be the perfect size, so I’m assuming stick with that size and do a few versus doing a bigger one. What are you guys think?
Basically I do the same but I call it a mini dry well and out the catch basin in the middle with holes drilled in it. Ya 2ft works in most states.. just depending on the soil content
Ya these work great… they are mini dry wells basically. You are just hoping you reach the sand table for water to drain away easier. Sadly not everyone can reach it
A vertical drain could work in places where you have a thin layer of hard clay or caliche that holds water above a more sandy, loose layer that could carry groundwater away. The vertical drain just pokes holes to let the water drain through the hard pan. Around here (SF Bay Area) we have heavy clay as deep as you can reasonably dig. So a vertical drain would never work here, it would be just like little bowls of water that fill up quickly. But if your geology is right, it might be a great way to go.
Yeah I'm in the south bay. . .and I cannot imagine this working in our expansive clay, though I don't know how deep it goes on my property. I think it's very deep before I'd be into an easy draining type of soil.
Oh this looks effective! After one of the hurricanes came through (Broward County Florida) with flooding I had water pooling on one side of my home that found its way seeping through the concrete foundation and flooding one bedroom. I was looking to do a french drain along the side of the home, but now I'm wondering if instead I install like 8-10 of these along the side of the home (but a few feet away from exterior) where the flooding is. Would I need to go deeper to keep away from the foundation or would you recommend a french drain over this technique?
I’m in Pa. I was wondering how far from my home foundation I can put these drains. I have a couple of areas close to the house that hold water. They sit 12-15 ft from the house. If you have any ideas please let me let me know. Thanks
These work in certain places, people whom are dismissing it really need to understand the "certain places" and "certain applications" and not just dismiss things.
Just try it. One never knows till they try. Go out on a nice sunny day, put some music on, light up a nice stogie (cigar) crack a beer open and start digging . Maybe it works maybe it doesn't. But you spent some positive time outdoors got some vitamin D. @@peternyc
@@peternycI use them in place of catch basins to get surface water into my French drains. The vertical drain filters out any debris from getting into my French drains while channeling surface water into the drain.
Hi am from the UK when you say down to the hard pan is that the same as digging down to see how deep you put the French drain when you hit water is that the hard pan ???
I live in Florida and in a flood zone where the water table is near the surface. We have a place in our back yard that gets standing water after heavy rains. Will this work in a mostly sandy soil area?
I too live in East Fort Bend County and I am hoping this will work. Baryle really dumped so much rain and thereafter. And we live in real area where County does not maintain outflow drainage from our neighborhood. So it's up to us to salvage our property & septic from being ruined time after time due to constant heavy rain and neighbors raising property higher than us, left us to drown in their run offs.
To understand your situation with hardpan, do you have a sandy loam layer on top, and you have clay soil beneath that? Or does the sandy loam just compress more at a certain depth?
I'd love this idea but where I live in Central Texas, there is about 6 inches of topsoil and then it's hard rocks and massive clay. I literally had to use a mattox to make holes deep and wide enough for my fig bushes (they're not trees yet) to be planted. Sadly, I'm having massive drainage problems along the backside of my house and there is no way that this great method would work beyond having holes that fill up with water very quickly once the rains hit. I'll have to dig a trench to try to drain water away from the home and towards the road. French drain will be a no-go because the fabric and the pipes would be clogged within a month.
I had the same problem with that clay soil. French drains failed. So I installed catch basins and with solid pipe, I sent the water to a sump pump basin. I installed a Zoellar M98 pump and discharged that water to a swale in my side yard. I live at the bottom of a hill and when it rains, I get my water plus all that drains from my neighbors. I had a flooding problem so when I found Chuck's videos, I learned how to do this. I needed immediate relief from the flooding water. I do have some spots in my yard a long way from my house that hold water a long time. I may try some of these vertical drains on them.
Will this work in North Texas, where we have a lot of clay? I suppose we would have to get down below the clay, and I'm not sure how far that would be or if it's doable.
If I can go further than 2 feet should I? I am in extremely sandy ground. I have a mini ex with an auger. So without breaking my back I can go 4 feet down. Wondering if you think that would be over doing it. thanks
I wonder the same for us here just west of Manvel Texas. . .we will get digging this weekend on installing vertical drainage and hopeful it will work. It's worth the shot, we've had enough with neighbors raising up property around us above street level and their run off dumped into our property and even crossing the street filling our ditches intended for our water to drain and unable to do so with their water cross over into our ditch. It's overwhelming, disheartening and they have no regard as how what they do affects others. Really hopeful. . .it has to work.
Some one should share this in AZ, NV, and SoCal. But use our rain for water for us and veggies rather than rivers to flood the ocean with needles SoCal.
So if you have a large area that floods, what would keep you from digging a large area 36 inches down - say 3 feet by 12 feet and do the same process instead of a bunch of smaller holes. Would it not work the same or better? In theory
Seems like you wouldn't want this near a structure with footing or foundation as if the water gets below the hardpan and spreads to the structure, I'd assume there would some issues there?
Just found out your videos yesterday. Extremely excited and will do it today. But how many vertical drainage spots needed for a small backyard. Love your site!!! Thanks
Does any fabric really work? I tested running water from a faucet on Scotts standard landscape fabric and the water is held like a cup. Only when I squeeze like a balloon does the water go through. Now, I am worried I didn't go with geotextile drainage fabric instead.
Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think if you dug a 24" hole with a post hole digger, beyond the hard pan, and filled it with water it should drain pretty quick. I'm thinking 2-3 hours. That's really not all that much water, maybe 6-7 gallons depending on the diameter of your hole.
It took 4’ for me to get through mine. I could tell that the soil was noticeably different. The clay soil was wet and stuck to the post hole digger. Eventually it got dryer and was loose enough to fall off on its own.
@@jim3922 where are you located? I'm in southwest Ohio. My soil does this to me too and considering trying this method. Curious how far I will need to dig.
@@Cincyskdcentral IL. Not sure about your area. Doesn’t take too long to dig a hole with a post hole digger. My soil change right about when the handle got to ground level.
Excellent idea i never thought about. I have a problem area right next to my property line about a 8 foot square low spot that holds water after a heavy rain. Definitely going to try this method.
Texas here. I dug down 20" into clay soil, I did the whole set up of weed barrier and 1" gravel, it was still pooling up in the low spot. We just had a big pouring rain. Any other recommendations?
Would putting fabric below drain keep mosquitoes from using catch basin as a breeding house? Mine hold water for days, we have clay soil so it perc’s super slow.
Go as deep as you can until you hit the clay. Fill the hole up with water and let it set overnight. Go dig the next morning. (About 12 hours). Worked for me here in Southeast Texas.
Chuck is in Houston, Texas. It isn't far South Texas, but it is perdy darn South. If you don't like Texas dirt, move to California. You'll probably like their dirt.
Where I’m at there is a lot of clay, but all my digging projects get done in the spring when I have just enough rain for things to be moist but not muddy. Just the right moisture and it goes from concrete to very soft. But I don’t have any rocks in my soil. I also file my shovel so it’s sharper and cut through small roots easily.
It is all about your density of the soil. In most cases, drainage systems like this including french drains etc are working just a short time. Because those systems are clogging. A fabric is clogging by small particles in notime. The ground is going to sink in this wholes and you guessed it, there is going to be a sinkhole. Is there a half decent permanent way for these problems? No. There are airpressure systems, that pump compressed air into your soil, giving the soil structure more capillars and less density, decompacting the soil even in depths of 40 inches. They are used like small underground explosions. A bomb, if you will. It doesn't create sinkholes and it helps your lawn and trees to grow. Space for a more developing root system. The roots are taking the water out of the soil. Trees are masters to soak gallons of water away. If you dont have plants, even airpressure systems can't help for long. They help, well, a year or so, especially if there is heavy clay in the ground nothing helps long enough. The answer is, you need deep rooting plants, which break the soil, decompacting it, changing it from hard clay to organic matter. You need plants to soak the water away and even then some "natural" dry beds are needed in extreme weather conditions. See, what a drybed is in other videos.
@@appledrains A better answer is to direct them to 17:42 in the video, where you explain what a hard pan is. Clearly they didn't watch the whole thing, or missed this. But just saying you can't answer the question seems weird. Also some areas don't have a hard pan, and just have really deep clay, bedrock, etc, so universally recommending it without having them check that first seems like poor advice.
I would think no, since there is no where for the soil to erode to. The hole isnt open to some larger hole or cavern so the soil cant go anywhere imo. But i am also not a geologist or authority, just a general contractor.
Just did 6 of the Vertical Drain sets in my yard. We have 100% chance for storms all tomorrow, so I’m going to see if it works for me and my location in South Louisiana and if it does I’m gonna be a Hole Punching fool Chuck
I'm in Covington and got water in 2 rooms from all the rain...first time water got inside in almost 4 years of living here. All of the water flows downward behind my house
So what if someone steps on the milk carton containment without a lid on it. It's just the fabric and dirt covering it and a foot would definitely go through that.
After watching Chuck's first video on this, I tried a single vertical drain in a area of my yard that would hold water after heavy rains. It has made a huge difference so far, has worked well for me.
"YOU CAN DO THIS"
❤ I love this guy's coaching 👍
This has nothing to do with vertical drains but I just want to give you your props . My yard is graded horribly causes rain to flow under my porch and flood against my house. Found your videos and spent a few days installing 2 speed basins to a sump pit to a drummand 1/2 HP and discharge right to the street it works perfect and I saved thousand. Once my bank account recovers I’ll start on my crawl space with footer tiles . I owe all that know how to your videos.
I’ve installed a French drain before but now I absolutely loved this tutorial video, I’m eager to roll up my sleeves and tackle the issue in the backyard and my daughter’s driveway ❤❤❤❤❤ thank you so much
Thank you Chuck for your unselfish sharing of tips, tricks & knowledge. I've got better than half of my downspouts done from your videos and they're working great. I'll also try this water removal method in other parts of the yard for the large puddles. I'm 79, so things go slow. Thanks again.
You are so very welcome
Wrap the fabric around a piece of 8in pipe and push it into the hole, then pour your rock into the pipe and lift the pipe out of the ground... You have perfectly installed fabric and rock by using the pipe as an installation device
Please tell me exactly what kind of fabric, I have no idea what he is talking about. On one video he says GEO fabric, but there are dozens of those around.
@@bonnie448 it's just landscape fabric, it comes in different "ozs" .. a "4oz landscape fabric" is thin and not as heavy duty as an "8oz landscape fabric" ...the higher the OZ fabric is the better it will keep the sand out of your hole and that's what you want...
@@theloosemoose8200 Thank you! Seems simple once you understand.
Your the man thank you diving into all your videos now!
I used to live in a Florida suburb that had no storm drains near the lowest point in our road. Terrible drainage problems, when it would rain we would have probably 5" of water at the bottom of our driveway. It would actually flood the road too. My dad dug a simple trench drain along the whole length of our property, maybe 7" deep x 50 feet, but the neighbor across the street put in a vertical drain using an empty 55 gallon drum that he filled with stone. Both approaches seemed to work about as well, and it was probably less work to dig one hole than a large trench.
You are the man Chuck! You have me advice a couple years on encapsulating a crawl space. It took me a month to get the job done having to use 2 sump pumps but it has made a 100% difference in this home! The homeowner brags about it all the time to his neighbors. I’ll be trying out your vertical technique on the same house this week. Thanks for your expertise!!!
Did one of these in my backyard in AZ (side yard with gravel, no grass). We had a good rain today and it looks like it worked, at least it's better than before. There is still a puddle of water, but that puddle of water is concentrated around where the vertical drain is. Kind like you'd expect with a drain. If anything, I think it will let the water drain faster. I'll do a couple more in the general area and wait for a really heavy rain and report back.
My stone sausage drain cost $50 at Lowe’s in Illinois. New lawn fabric and 4 bags of egg stone. I had to dig a hole about 4’ deep before I got through the clay soil to a different soil type. It works like the video. Went from a lot of standing water to a soggy area. I have a few other spots I could put them.
In the same area and having the same issue. How about this week? The weather is not good and rains a lot. How's everything?
I'm located in Rockford Illinois. I can lend a hand if we are planning a project. I love getting my hands dirty.
@@johnpan2654 it’s just like the video. There’s no standing water, but the ground around it is saturated. It’s not as good as a fancy French drain, but you’re getting probably 40-50% of the benefit with 1/10th the cost and effort.
It will cost more than $10 for materials but it may save me from 10 headaches in my backyard along with the 85 foot long trench I dug..this will help in other areas of the yard..Thanks Mr. Chuck
I did this 25 years ago in my 1/2 acre front yard that would hold standing water for days. I dug a much bigger hole, inserted a 55 gallon drum with both the top and bottom removed, and filled it with gravel. Water is gone in less than 3 hours.
What I have done is dig a pit, line it with landscape cloth to prevent soil intrusion into the pit, and then fill the pit with drain rock so that the walls do not cave in under water pressure from the soil. That accomplishes the same thing, and it's a great way to solve many home drainage issues, when there is no french drain system in place.
@@persistentone3448 Thanks for the tip. I talked with a landscaper yesterday about installing another drain line to catch water coming off a hill towards my pool deck, but your tip makes me think a trench filled with gravel will work well.
@WalkingbytheSpiritAlways
Rather than filling a trench with gravel, which if it’s ipe graded has about a 25% void ratio, you’d be much better off with an underdrain pipe that has 4 times the capacity.
It depends on your water table. In South Georgia it doesn't work so well. Kind of swampy.
I caught wind of this about a week ago and wasn't sure about it. Now finding this video, I think you have inspired me to do just that for my problem areas. Thanks for the video! Planning on renting an auger cause I have plenty of places I could do this do and will let you know how it helps. Thanks again!!!!
Your share knowledge & experience with vertical drainage is such a bless to our family. . .We have flood easy and Baryle ready did a number on us and the culprit was the constant heavy rain. We will definitely put vertical drainage where need and I am hopeful it will be effective. Thank you sir. Bless you & Shalom
@@sonyaluhman4648 great
I really envy your sandy, Floridian soil! In the Midwest, we have clay on top of clay on top of clay!
Right I went 4-6 feet deep on some fence and gate posts that shit was still red clay! That’s why I’m tryn to figure out how deep the hard cap is or if the hard cap is another word for frost line?
Yeah I was thinking the same thing
South Texas as well
You are the best of all video I have been watch
This is awesome.
And it "seems" like maybe this would be giving rain water a much better chance of reaching the aquifers that supply our drinking water before it's contaminated in our streams and rivers.
Any geologists out there?
The simple hole/gravel thing MIGHT be something that could help our water situation! Especially anywhere that rain is rare and then heavy rains run off too much when it does rain.
Maybe something everyone should do.
Chuck is the mvp
I am just curious if a slightly larger diameter hole would do better, or overkill? Yours appears to be the perfect size, so I’m assuming stick with that size and do a few versus doing a bigger one. What are you guys think?
Basically I do the same but I call it a mini dry well and out the catch basin in the middle with holes drilled in it. Ya 2ft works in most states.. just depending on the soil content
Ya these work great… they are mini dry wells basically. You are just hoping you reach the sand table for water to drain away easier. Sadly not everyone can reach it
A vertical drain could work in places where you have a thin layer of hard clay or caliche that holds water above a more sandy, loose layer that could carry groundwater away. The vertical drain just pokes holes to let the water drain through the hard pan. Around here (SF Bay Area) we have heavy clay as deep as you can reasonably dig. So a vertical drain would never work here, it would be just like little bowls of water that fill up quickly. But if your geology is right, it might be a great way to go.
Yeah I'm in the south bay. . .and I cannot imagine this working in our expansive clay, though I don't know how deep it goes on my property. I think it's very deep before I'd be into an easy draining type of soil.
This is excellent. Perfect for my dads place in FL
GREAT IDEA!! I will have to give this a try!!
Dig a hole and bury rocks, got it!
LOL
Chuck I’m a new subscriber and thank you for this video and all the others …. You’ve been a world of help
Oh this looks effective! After one of the hurricanes came through (Broward County Florida) with flooding I had water pooling on one side of my home that found its way seeping through the concrete foundation and flooding one bedroom. I was looking to do a french drain along the side of the home, but now I'm wondering if instead I install like 8-10 of these along the side of the home (but a few feet away from exterior) where the flooding is. Would I need to go deeper to keep away from the foundation or would you recommend a french drain over this technique?
I’m in Pa. I was wondering how far from my home foundation I can put these drains. I have a couple of areas close to the house that hold water. They sit 12-15 ft from the house. If you have any ideas please let me let me know. Thanks
Hi joe, how far from my home foundation I can put these drains?
These work in certain places, people whom are dismissing it really need to understand the "certain places" and "certain applications" and not just dismiss things.
Can you tell us where the certain places are and how we can find them and eliminate the places that don't work?
Kekistani speaks the truth
Just try it. One never knows till they try. Go out on a nice sunny day, put some music on, light up a nice stogie (cigar) crack a beer open and start digging . Maybe it works maybe it doesn't. But you spent some positive time outdoors got some vitamin D. @@peternyc
@@peternycI use them in place of catch basins to get surface water into my French drains. The vertical drain filters out any debris from getting into my French drains while channeling surface water into the drain.
Would a red clay area like where my home is not work?
Hi am from the UK when you say down to the hard pan
is that the same as digging down to see how deep you put the French drain when you hit water
is that the hard pan ???
Thank you so much for your work.I'm definitely gonna try these! I forwarded your info to My friends and family.😁👍
This might helpless with an issue I’m having in my back yard. I would suggest knowing when your utility lines are before you dig though!
I live in Florida and in a flood zone where the water table is near the surface. We have a place in our back yard that gets standing water after heavy rains. Will this work in a mostly sandy soil area?
I used to live near Houston Texas so I'm well acquainted with black gumbo clay and standing puddles of water!
Would this work in the Houston (fort bend) area? I know it is a lot of clay so I am not sure if this would work for our type of "soil".
I too live in East Fort Bend County and I am hoping this will work. Baryle really dumped so much rain and thereafter. And we live in real area where County does not maintain outflow drainage from our neighborhood. So it's up to us to salvage our property & septic from being ruined time after time due to constant heavy rain and neighbors raising property higher than us, left us to drown in their run offs.
I just put like 5 of these in my yard lll keep ya posted next time it rains
Let me know! How far from your house?
@michaelgraceffa7197 about 3 feet then every 4 feet about 5 holes all together
@@rockys3654 it won't add to your water table? I have no sump pump
@@michaelgraceffa7197 so far so good but I’ll let everyone know after I get a hard rain again
This was great info! Thanks for your video!
To understand your situation with hardpan, do you have a sandy loam layer on top, and you have clay soil beneath that? Or does the sandy loam just compress more at a certain depth?
I'd love this idea but where I live in Central Texas, there is about 6 inches of topsoil and then it's hard rocks and massive clay. I literally had to use a mattox to make holes deep and wide enough for my fig bushes (they're not trees yet) to be planted. Sadly, I'm having massive drainage problems along the backside of my house and there is no way that this great method would work beyond having holes that fill up with water very quickly once the rains hit. I'll have to dig a trench to try to drain water away from the home and towards the road. French drain will be a no-go because the fabric and the pipes would be clogged within a month.
I had the same problem with that clay soil. French drains failed. So I installed catch basins and with solid pipe, I sent the water to a sump pump basin. I installed a Zoellar M98 pump and discharged that water to a swale in my side yard. I live at the bottom of a hill and when it rains, I get my water plus all that drains from my neighbors. I had a flooding problem so when I found Chuck's videos, I learned how to do this. I needed immediate relief from the flooding water. I do have some spots in my yard a long way from my house that hold water a long time. I may try some of these vertical drains on them.
@@nancywilliams7833huh, I have clay and my French drains work great. But I’m not at the bottom of a hill.
Thanks for the good work and sharing
Can you do this while it is raining/wet out? or do you need to do it in dry conditions?
Will this work in North Texas, where we have a lot of clay? I suppose we would have to get down below the clay, and I'm not sure how far that would be or if it's doable.
Yeah it just depends on how deep your clay is. Around here it would never work. But if your clay isn’t very deep, it might help.
A heavy duty digging bar will get through tough cement-like clay.
Thanks so much Chuck...
Thank you! This was amazing
Give it a try
My backyard gets a lot of water I was hoping to share a photo do you think a vertical drain would work
If I can go further than 2 feet should I? I am in extremely sandy ground. I have a mini ex with an auger. So without breaking my back I can go 4 feet down. Wondering if you think that would be over doing it. thanks
I did it with the auger on tractor and went down 36”, then watched the water disappear.
@@amyreaves2166Wow! 36" Good to know. Thanks 😊
If you’re digging down to clay, where does the water go afterwards? If it rains consecutive days won’t the drainage holes be ineffective?
I wonder the same for us here just west of Manvel Texas. . .we will get digging this weekend on installing vertical drainage and hopeful it will work. It's worth the shot, we've had enough with neighbors raising up property around us above street level and their run off dumped into our property and even crossing the street filling our ditches intended for our water to drain and unable to do so with their water cross over into our ditch. It's overwhelming, disheartening and they have no regard as how what they do affects others. Really hopeful. . .it has to work.
@@sonyaluhman4648 wonder why no one has provided an answer
Is it a bad idea to do this about 20 ft from a well?
Totally worked!!!! Watched the big puddle just "disappear "🎉🎉😊
Some one should share this in AZ, NV, and SoCal. But use our rain for water for us and veggies rather than rivers to flood the ocean with needles SoCal.
How far does this need to be from a septic system's drainage field?
So if you have a large area that floods, what would keep you from digging a large area 36 inches down - say 3 feet by 12 feet and do the same process instead of a bunch of smaller holes. Would it not work the same or better? In theory
Does it matter what kind of gravel/rocks you use?
Seems like you wouldn't want this near a structure with footing or foundation as if the water gets below the hardpan and spreads to the structure, I'd assume there would some issues there?
If water pools near a structure's foundation, then the catch basin with a 10 ft pipe to a soakaway might be the best method.
Just found out your videos yesterday. Extremely excited and will do it today. But how many vertical drainage spots needed for a small backyard. Love your site!!! Thanks
Does any fabric really work? I tested running water from a faucet on Scotts standard landscape fabric and the water is held like a cup. Only when I squeeze like a balloon does the water go through. Now, I am worried I didn't go with geotextile drainage fabric instead.
Where does the water go? Will this not be good near a foundation?
How do i test if i pennetrated the hard pan? I guess if i fill the hole with water, and it drains overnight- i am good.
Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think if you dug a 24" hole with a post hole digger, beyond the hard pan, and filled it with water it should drain pretty quick. I'm thinking 2-3 hours. That's really not all that much water, maybe 6-7 gallons depending on the diameter of your hole.
It took 4’ for me to get through mine. I could tell that the soil was noticeably different. The clay soil was wet and stuck to the post hole digger. Eventually it got dryer and was loose enough to fall off on its own.
@@jim3922 where are you located? I'm in southwest Ohio. My soil does this to me too and considering trying this method. Curious how far I will need to dig.
@@Cincyskdcentral IL. Not sure about your area. Doesn’t take too long to dig a hole with a post hole digger. My soil change right about when the handle got to ground level.
Is this recommended in soil like up in Wisconsin where there's all four seasons?
Try it!
Thank you !
Would you recommend these for situations like Milton where we had 12" of rain within a 24 hour window?
@@someidiotchild no
Could I connect this to a French drain so the water from the french drain will empty into this system into the sub-soil?
Yes, this is just a small dry well. Watch videos on those.
@@Frank7748124 Thanks
Excellent idea i never thought about. I have a problem area right next to my property line about a 8 foot square low spot that holds water after a heavy rain. Definitely going to try this method.
Texas here. I dug down 20" into clay soil, I did the whole set up of weed barrier and 1" gravel, it was still pooling up in the low spot. We just had a big pouring rain. Any other recommendations?
It's the clay, can you get below it?
Have to go deeper. I live her in Dallas and went about 3 feet down. Worked great for me, went from pooled water for days to dry the next afternoon.
Nice video!
How far down can u dig in FL with this?
Would putting fabric below drain keep mosquitoes from using catch basin as a breeding house? Mine hold water for days, we have clay soil so it perc’s super slow.
Joe, great video; thank you! I live in Upstate South Carolina (clay, clay, clay from the surface down). Will this process still work?
It should help
Did you try it? Coastal NC here.
Does this work for a 15x15 saturated area. With no rain this area will have water on the surface, just standing water and mud. Central Ga
It will help
Can anyone tell how i would know when i hit the hard pan? I'm in Florida and am not sure how deep the hard pan would be.
It might be peat moss. Very dense and non permeable
@appledrains oh, so are you saying that I possibly can't do a vertical drain here in Florida? Is there no hard pan down here near the coast?
You most certainly can!
@@appledrains I appreciate your fast responses! 🍻
Awesome video, Chuck! Thanks for the suggestions! Keep up the great work!
What fabric do you recommend? Can you get it at Home depot? Why not just put the rocks in the hole.
I’ll answer. Soil would eventually clog the voids in between the little stones. But water will pass through it.
Yes, you can get landscape fabric at HD.
Try to use GeoTextile fabric
Some one get Chuck a 18 or 40v Ryobi auger !!! Direct tools has them super cheap on sales !!
Does this work for Clay dirt/yard also
It will help
@@appledrains thank you maybe I should stick to writing music 😀
You’re not getting 24” down in southern Texas soil with a post hole digger. It’s like clay cement.
Go as deep as you can until you hit the clay. Fill the hole up with water and let it set overnight. Go dig the next morning. (About 12 hours). Worked for me here in Southeast Texas.
Use a digging bar to break through that hard clay. Let the tool do the work.
Chuck is in Houston, Texas. It isn't far South Texas, but it is perdy darn South. If you don't like Texas dirt, move to California. You'll probably like their dirt.
Same in california. claycrete.
Where I’m at there is a lot of clay, but all my digging projects get done in the spring when I have just enough rain for things to be moist but not muddy. Just the right moisture and it goes from concrete to very soft. But I don’t have any rocks in my soil. I also file my shovel so it’s sharper and cut through small roots easily.
Any experience in south Florida ?
The person that uploaded this video is in Florida.
I wonder if this would work on desert soil?
Gracias por su video!!!!!!
My hard pan varies from 2 inches to 12 inches…unless I’m hitting wrong hard pan.
It is all about your density of the soil.
In most cases, drainage systems like this including french drains etc are working just a short time. Because those systems are clogging. A fabric is clogging by small particles in notime. The ground is going to sink in this wholes and you guessed it, there is going to be a sinkhole.
Is there a half decent permanent way for these problems? No. There are airpressure systems, that pump compressed air into your soil, giving the soil structure more capillars and less density, decompacting the soil even in depths of 40 inches. They are used like small underground explosions. A bomb, if you will. It doesn't create sinkholes and it helps your lawn and trees to grow. Space for a more developing root system. The roots are taking the water out of the soil. Trees are masters to soak gallons of water away.
If you dont have plants, even airpressure systems can't help for long. They help, well, a year or so, especially if there is heavy clay in the ground nothing helps long enough.
The answer is, you need deep rooting plants, which break the soil, decompacting it, changing it from hard clay to organic matter. You need plants to soak the water away and even then some "natural" dry beds are needed in extreme weather conditions.
See, what a drybed is in other videos.
What is the hard pan? How deep do I need to dig to get below the hard pan?
How could I possibly answer you question? Just do it and you’ll get a great drain
Just do it! You’ll love the e
@@appledrains A better answer is to direct them to 17:42 in the video, where you explain what a hard pan is. Clearly they didn't watch the whole thing, or missed this. But just saying you can't answer the question seems weird. Also some areas don't have a hard pan, and just have really deep clay, bedrock, etc, so universally recommending it without having them check that first seems like poor advice.
What is a hard pan and do i have to call 811 b4 i dig?
Love it!!
Would this work in clay soil?
It will help
@@appledrains Thanks so much!
Will these set you up for sink holes I wonder? I don’t know enough about soil erosion.
I would think no, since there is no where for the soil to erode to. The hole isnt open to some larger hole or cavern so the soil cant go anywhere imo. But i am also not a geologist or authority, just a general contractor.
Good job
Is hard cap another term for frost line?
Once you get through it, you have a great chance for success
@@appledrains but how do I know? It all looks like red clay to me 😂
What is a "hard pan"
Yeah I dug down over 3 feet and got to red clay and 0 drainage.
How do I know how deep to dig?
wow mind blown!!
Just did 6 of the Vertical Drain sets in my yard. We have 100% chance for storms all tomorrow, so I’m going to see if it works for me and my location in South Louisiana and if it does I’m gonna be a Hole Punching fool Chuck
Let. Us know how well it goes
I'm in Covington and got water in 2 rooms from all the rain...first time water got inside in almost 4 years of living here. All of the water flows downward behind my house
Why can’t you put a pipe in the ground and fill that with gravel?
Awesome
So what if someone steps on the milk carton containment without a lid on it. It's just the fabric and dirt covering it and a foot would definitely go through that.
The milk crate is upside down
Vertical drainage aka dry well
It’s much similar but works much differently
What is a hard pan?
Non permeable soil
thumbs up
Doesnt work in alabama clay. I tried. Dug a 4 foot hole. All clay. It just fills up and doesnt drain at all.
WHAT TYPE OF FABRIC ????
Sta Green
I had choices of 30yr fabric and 15 year fabric at Lowe’s. I chose 30 year…. Time will tell if it was a good choice.
Landscaping fabric or weed barrier