How to Install French Drains

Do you have standing water in your yard? Or water in your basement after a heavy rain? Are you looking for a solution? French drains are perforated pipes that funnel water from problem areas away from foundations, basements, and your yard. Follow the 5 steps below to ensure good drainage that will keep your home and yard dry.

Before starting call 811 to locate all underground cables and pipes. Locate the problem areas in your yard, where water builds up. In order for a French drain to work properly, it must slope at least 6” for every 50 feet. Use striping spray paint to map out the direction for proper drainage away from your home and neighboring properties.

Supplies Needed:

• Perforated drainage pipes
• Gravel
• Shovel
• Top soil
• Landscape fabric
• Landscaping stones
• Striping spray paint

Using a shovel, dig your drains at least 6” wide and 18" to 24” deep. You can rent a trenching machine to cut down time, but they do require more experience to use. Check the depth of your trench as you go to ensure the correct downward slope.

Before laying down the landscape fabric line, the trench with a few inches of crushed stones. Then lay the landscaping fabric on top of the crushed stones. This will stop soil and other contaminates from getting into the pipe that could cause a blockage. It also discourages weed growth. Leave at least 10" of extra fabric on either side of the trench, to cover up the drain pipe.

After you have laid down the gravel and landscape fabric, lay the perforated drain pipe on top. French drains work by allowing water to flow into them from below, so be sure to face the holes in the pipe down.

Wrap the excess fabric over the top of the drain pipe. Add more gravel on top of the pipe. You can fill the trench completely with gravel to grade. If you don’t want a gravel path, you can alternatively fill gravel up just a few inches before grade, then add soil, dirt, and grass seed to span the remaining distance. This will allow the French drain to be completely concealed.