Landscape Drain Pipe Basics - Corrugated vs PVC Drain Pipe
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- Опубліковано 10 чер 2020
- homefixated.com/corrugated-vs...
We recently added a couple small french drains and numerous landscape drains and spent some time evaluating corrugated and smooth wall schedule 40 pvc drain pipe. Although we chose PVC for our particular application, I would say corrugated is much easier to work with and is likely a better fit for most people. In this video, and the accompanying more detailed article linked above, we dive into the pros and cons of both corrugated drain pipe and 4" pvc pipe. We also discuss perforated pipe for french drains and answer the age old question of what direction the holes in the pipe should be facing. - Навчання та стиль
Best video about location of the holes for the French drain pipes. Short, down to the point, and exactly the info what I needed. Thanks!!
Ditto. I wanted to know the answer about the holes - on top or bottom - and you answered that!
Really appreciate this, I've always thought corrugated was also a mosquito breeding ground, but the strength is what sold me. Cost is not that much more, probably worth it!
Thanks for the video! I was just at the hardware store and bought some 4" PVC to connect to a gutter spout and run underground away from the house. Had PVC in my head when I got to the store and then saw the corrugated flex pipe that's a fraction of the cost (roughly $10 vs $65). Almost second guessed myself but thought exactly the same as you pointed out... the flex pipe is cheap, breakable and is prone to clogging with leaves and sticks. When I was a landscaper, I remember always ripping it out and it was alway badly degraded and brittle.
I had a similar system in my yard. I also had a weeping willow tree close by. The roots found the way through the holes over the years and a few years later I found the pipe to be filled with just the roots.
I had the same experience here in Southern California. Had a perforated PVC pipe that filled with roots that I then had to dig out and replace with a non-perforated line. Ever try to remove a root-filled 4 inch pipe in the grips of many tree roots? Make sure you’ve got your sawzall and ax and other root chomping tools. Also, glue all the joints as well as use heavy Red hot glue where the PVC meets the ABS drain receptacles.
super helpful - planning on adding on to my house in san diego too
Thanks Mikey, glad you found it helpful. Good luck with your project and see you around San Diego! 😎
Correct there are couple folks on You Tube here trying to convince you that corrugated is better .Corrugated will smash down when the dirt settles then you have a pipe not working ,many other issues too . Your comments are spot on .
Thanks for the feedback Billy, we appreciate it!
Corrugated is cheaper so profit margins probably higher for the installer. Flexible corrugated pipe would be harder to pitch consistently at 1 degree across longer distances .
@@DP-eo5xdYou get a lot of sags in the line as things settle too. It’s probably fine in the vast majority of cases. 4” SDR 35 is only 80 cents more a linear foot in my area. It’s well worth the extra cost, even if it is a little more difficult to work with.
What’s the distance between the holes and are they 5/8 diameter?
Good video, I'm putting in french drains around the house and until now I saw no definite answer on whether the holes in the PVC went up or down. Kind of figured down would be better, as you explained, water rising in the trench, fills the pipe through the holes then flows away. What grade rock/gravel do you recommend. could you use pea gravel, and what material did you use to keep silt out?
Hey JC, glad you liked it. We'll have a video and article on french drains coming up too, but I would not recommend pea gravel. You want a larger / coarser aggregate for french drains (the larger spaces between the strones lets it move water more efficiently and in higher volume).
Another advantage of PVC is that you control better the slope. If the slope in the terrain is a matter to be critical, PVC will work better with in a 1% slope. I cannot say the same for the corrugated pipe because is hard to control a uniform slope when placing the pipes in the trench. When you have plenty of slope, a corrugated can be a saving
Agreed. Even if you get corrugated at 1% exactly, you’re going to get some sags as the line settles.
I’ve run PVC at 0.5% when I had trouble finding fall and that system is still working great 5 years later. I spoke to the civil engineer for my city and he said some of their stormwater drains are at 0.1% slope because our ground is so flat here. If they needed 1% or even 0.5”, they’d have to dig huge tunnels and build lift stations for runoff. We get huge rain events with hurricanes in the summers, so that volume of water is enough to flush out the debris that accumulates.
Great explanation
I'm wondering if you can give me some advice. I am planning to build a low-water gravel crossing through a creek in my backyard to let me drive my tractor to the back part of our property. The crossing will be partially submerged most of the year, allowing the creek to simply flow over top. However, during the dry months, it's possible the water level may drop enough to begin damming up behind the crossing. To prevent this, I was planning to install one or two culverts under the limestone. Originally, I planned to buy corrugated, but the cost is high. The previous owner of the property left about an 8-foot section of white 12" PVC pipe . My question is this, do you think that pipe would be strong enough to withstand the weight of a 1,000 lb subcompact tractor driving over it (assuming it is embedded in limestone with about 4" of gravel on top?
Hi there! I wish we could offer you an answer on that, but I'm afraid your question is outside any expertise we have when it comes to drainage pipes. Sorry we can't provide any insights on your project!
How many types of the PVC kinds are there? What kind do you use for tall retainig wall? SDR35 quality or thinner is ok?
SDR35 is the thin stuff. Schedule 40 is thicker. Functionally, the only difference is the pipe’s ability to withstand pressure. If a car isn’t regularly driving over it SDR35 works just well. It integrates well with corrugated pipe too.
Thank you good video just one question. Where did you buy this PVC perforated pipe I’ll check it Home Depot Doesn’t have like this You show thank you
We bought ours at a local irrigation supply company.
Can I used a 2 inch pipe as a srain for a backyard? I have a 2 ft by 60 feet area with little to no slope to work with, I don't want to place a pump what do you recommend?
Bigger then 2 inch
It's crazy that even in southern Cal. you need a drainage system for groundwater. Is the wall at the bottom of a slope?
Lawn irrigation. :)
What is your opinion on SDR-35? My local irrigation supply store said Schedule 40 is overkill and that SDR35 works just as well. I'm also in Calif, in dry area with no freezing.
I tend to like overkill! : ) I haven't used SDR 35, but I believe it's a bit lighter duty and also a bit more flexible as a result (which may not be a bad thing) Let us know what you wind up using and how it goes. Good luck with your project.
@@homefixated What's your thought on DL2729? I'll keep you posted on which one I use
@@doffazz I think that's another thinner-walled option. I tend to prefer durability over lower cost, which is why I used schedule 40 vs corrugated on our project. Durability and pipe wall thick can be more critical in some installations vs others though. Thanks for keeping us posted.
Good choice, but I would put more holes in that pipe, every couple of inches or so, I can't see any disadvantage to that, it will increase rate that water gets to the pipe increasing the flow in the pipe (keeping it clean) and draining the ground quicker.
Roots.
@@edabreu7871 doesn't a fabric membrane stop this?
@@DaveWatts_ejectamenta Nothing stops roots
All French drain trenches should have fall in the dirt work if it’s not already natural falling. The gravel should always be clean and at minimum 1” diameter or larger up to no more than 2”. If this is done correctly, the holes should go up, not down. Holes down would be for trying to percolate water back into the ground like a lateral line field on a septic system. This keeps the debris from the pipe, and allows for more uninterrupted flow in the pipe as well as the ability to move larger volumes faster. SDR35 perforated is the correct pipe. You can also add clean out stations or access this way as well and place a 6” irrigation cover over the clean out and flush with grade for a nice finish. With all that said, I live in area of heavy rain fall each year. San Diego, not much rain unless El Niño has a fit. The trench is the biggest mistake most people make, not enough fall in underground grading. To small of stone back fill and the fatal mistake after wrapping entire rock and pipe basin with non woven geo textile fabric is they put the junk soil they just dug out back on the system. You should always find the cleanest sandy loam soil available so water can properly percolate into the system. If you dug out clay, then cap it with clay, it will fail miserably. I will say thank you for actually putting out very sound information, so much terrible advice floating around and people are being taken advantage of. Project looks great!
Home Fixated, author of this video is correct, you Robert are not correct. Holes up is NEVER recommended. Recommend you consult other you tube videos for correct installation, holes down.
As the other guy said, there are plenty of experiments on UA-cam already. French drains work by draining the water table, not surface water. They’re only going to start draining once the water table rises up to meet it. If you want to catch surface water, catch basins and ditches are much more effective.
@@kungfoochicken08 nope, not on a small price of property and with 99% of home owners not wanting to clean out anything that’s not true. Plus, who the hell wants ditches and plastic crap in their yard to look at, no one. Not one person that can afford professionally worked drainage should ever have to look at a catch basin, they are for lazy people that have no idea what they are doing. And you have no clue of water table or why clay based soil has issues with drainage. Water tables don’t over flow sir. Good luck!
@@bobd7038 I know that most of you will never understand, you just walk off the end like everyone else. I have fixed thousands of peoples work like this, amazes me!!!! Some day people will understand math, have a good day!
@@robertmyers7542 French drains don’t work on surface water unless you run the drain all the way to the surface. If you’re worried about a catch basin being an eyesore, I know you’re not running channels of gravel through people’s yards.
As surface water percolates, the water table rises. French drains will only work once the water table rises above the holes on the bottom of the French drain. If the holes on your pipe are on the top, the French drain isn’t going to start draining until it rises to the top of that pipe. You’re wasting 4” of drainage by putting the holes on the top.
Once again, this isn’t the 1990s where old timers can just say shit and we have to shut up and believe it because there’s no way to prove them wrong. All these points are thoroughly explained and demonstrated on UA-cam.
What is the size of the hole you dril into the 4 or 6 inch PVC
They usually come predrilled for the same price. They’re roughly 1/4” holes that are 2” apart.
Hi! You probably don't want to drill these yourself. You can get the pipe in both perforated or non-perforated varieties. The perforated variety is intended for french drains and has two rows of holes along what is intended to be the lower portion of the pipe. You can see the size and spacing of the holes about 1/3 of the way into the video. If the pipe isn't intended for a french drain and is only for transporting water, then you'd want to use the non-perforated pipe.
So this is what Captain America is doing after End Game.
Here's an idea: put both! One on top of the other, underground. when one fails, the other picks up. You get the best of both worlds.
It's called tripple wall, use it instead of that garbage corrugated.
More holes on the top with fabric and gravel over it ....🧐
Holes on top of french drain does zero... drill all the holes you want. DON'T sock wrap pipe but "burrito" wrap the gravel and pipe... regardless holes on top does next to nothing and runs the risk of gravel getting into pipe, there are always "smalls" in gravel even if you hand wash and screened it.
No. You do NOT want holes on top. Debris will fall in over time and clog pipe.
You want holes on bottom, so as water table in your french drain rises, it'll enter the bottom and immediately be taken away. Holes on bottom! If you want more, use a larger diameter pipe!
🤭 you didn’t show blue covered high octane corrugated, it is way better, not
Hi DT! Thanks for commenting. I haven't used high octane blue corrugated pipe - what's your opinion on it?
@@homefixated Hi Octane blue pipe or yellow pipe seems to be only available in Pennsylvannia, Ohio, Michigan. I checked it out for delivery to Buffalo NY. Delivery of 3 pallets via semi was quoted at $970.00! So, perforated PVC it is!
You could say all that in two minutes.
I could have, but that would have been rushed and I might have skipped over some details that might have been useful to some viewers. I'd refund you the four minutes you felt were wasted, but that's hard to do.