13 ms·
How French Drains Work
- Rygian 2y agoFrench drains should be part of the "Unexpectedly Eponymous" list https://notes.rolandcrosby.com/posts/unexpectedly-eponymous/ https://notes.rolandcrosby.com/posts/unexpectedly-eponymous/
- ec109685 2y agoI don’t think it qualifies. This drain is intentionally named after Mr. French.
- sbradford26 2y agoThe would be the whole reason of it making the list. Most people would think it was named after the country or something not Mr. French.
- ec109685 2y agoGot it. Price club and Page rank are better examples because they make sense and don’t feel arbitrary even if the name had no relation.
- zeristor 2y agoThe coding language Julia; perhaps Ada should have been named Lovelace then?
- smt88 2y agoJulia doesn't count because it wasn't named after a person. Even then, neither of those would fit the theme of the list above because they aren't named after their inventors (even though Ada is technically an eponym).
- lucideer 2y agoI think narrowing the theme of the list to just inventors is more an accidental result of the author's selection rather than their intended theme - eponyms seems to be the theme.
- tialaramex 2y agoThe point is they're unexpected. Elo is a great example, people tend to assume this chess rating system is an abbreviation, but it's somebody's name. It's not unexpected that Ada is named after Ada. It is unexpected that PageRank is named after a person named Page rather than web pages. It may seem less unexpected if you happen to know who Larry Page is, but the same could be said for Glen Bell, if you knew who he was then it's "obvious" why the business is named Taco Bell right?
- belval 2y agoFun fact, in the French speaking part of Canada, "French drain" are fully translated to "Drain français" because of this quirk even though we don't usually translate proper nouns.
- philistine 2y agoBen ken toé, un drain français n'a rien à voir avec les français.
- lucideer 2y agoGreat site! (though Unilever seems like a stretch, & gasoline is extremely contested). This reminds me, my partner recently bought me some "Coffey Whiskey" because I like coffee, which led to my own discovery of another one of these (albeit one requiring a spelling oversight).
- walthamstow 2y agoWow what a brilliant blog post. Full of OMG moments, not least Max Factor!
- gilleain 2y agoAh, like Arkhan Land and his Land Raider.
- billbrown 2y agoGood point—added to the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponyms_(A%E2%80%93K)#F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eponyms_(A%E2%80%93K)#...
- xg15 2y agoSpearheaded of course by the late E. P. Onymous, may he rest in peace.
- aristus 2y agoI discovered French drains while trying to dig a hole for a fruit tree a while back. The land was on a hill and about 30cm down I hit this huge pile of dirty gravel. Ok, so maybe someone filled that spot with gravel. Sunk another hole a bit farther down. More gravel, etc. It took me longer than i'd like to admit to figure it out. Turns out it was the main drainage for the whole neighborhood. Heh. Moved my tree to the side and it thrived on all that lovely water.
- pfdietz 2y agoAnd, if people are fertilizing their lawns, all that lovely fertilizer runoff.
- aristus 2y agoOh, yes. No lawns in that neighborhood but I thought hard about what might be going into the fruits. Years on, no ill effects.
- phsau 2y agoWouldn't it be better to keep the tree and its roots away from the drain? That growth might come at significant cost!
- pfdietz 2y agoFertilizer would be welcome, pesticides less so. Fortunately, one doesn't really need pesticides on lawns, particularly if one doesn't have a dislike of non-grass species (like clover, which helps with fertilizing anyway).
- seanalltogether 2y agoOne thing I regret after moving into my new house was not getting a detailed list of drains installed in the property. I have lots of drainage issues and don't know if there is a drain there but inadequate for the amount of water we get, or just not installed at all.
- sbradford26 2y agoA major lesson of home ownership is that it is a continual fight against water. Keeping water away from places you don't want it, and keeping water in and available in the areas you do want it.
- anticorporate 2y agoThis is absolutely true. I think half of the home renovation projects I've done in my life have been to either move water, or repair the damage from where water ended up where it shouldn't be. These are never the fun projects, but in terms of protecting your property, probably the most important ones.
- pfdietz 2y agoDoes the house have a sump pump? In our current house, which we bought with full knowledge of the issue, there was seepage and no sump pump, and we ended up having one installed (after negotiating down the sale price a bit after the inspection.) This involved jackhammering through the unfinished basement floor around the perimeter and installing a drainage pipe, then repouring that part of the floor w. inspection/cleaning ports into the pipe, along with a sump and pump in one corner. Works like a charm now. There had been a drainage pipe but it was not working properly, probably being crushed or filled at some point by tree roots.
- philistine 2y agoWhen I bought my house the previous homeowners legally had to declare whether or not there was a drain around the foundation. Very useful, it's the first thing we did and we never had any water breach the house.
- mdaniel 2y agoEasily one of my favorite channels, and I'm glad Grady is on Nebula, too: https://nebula.tv/videos/practical-engineering-how-french-drains-work https://nebula.tv/videos/practical-engineering-how-french-dr...
- diggan 2y agoFirst time I hear about Nebula, and seemingly the website doesn't want to tell me what it is. Looks like a YouTube alternative? The FAQ mentions that it's owned by CuriosityStream, which I've heard about before, founded by John Hendricks who also founded the TV channel/network Discovery (now Warner Bros something something). As far as I've seen, CuriosityStream is mainly about "popular-science" stuff and over-dramatized American "documentaries", is Nebula something in the same vein? Would be weird to see Grady over there if so.
- WheatMillington 2y agoHave I got the video for you. This will explain the connection between Nebula and CS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X18vKVSPao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X18vKVSPao
- mdaniel 2y agoThat is rather unfortunate - if you were so inclined, you could contact their helpdesk <help@nebula.tv> as mentioned at the bottom of that FAQ page and tell them about your experience Regrettably, I have been following Nebula from its early years, so I don't have the elevator pitch to offer other than "videos on YouTube are dictated by YouTube, videos on Nebula are dictated by their creators" plus the obvious ad-free experience. This is some inside baseball from the channel that I recall introduced me to Nebula https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alqt6RCEWdM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alqt6RCEWdM As for your popular science concern, in general my answer is "no," it's not marketing drivel designed to inject ads into your eyeballs. However, since it is just a video platform (err, and also classes, news, and podcasts) the content quality is ALL OVER the place. That was actually why I didn't subscribe for such a long time - it was like those "web 3" video platforms - only fringe stuff was on it, so it wasn't worth my time or dollars. Since then, they have gotten a lot more content that I value so I pay by the year now Merely as a frame of reference, here are some of the channels that I follow https://nebula.tv/thethoughtemporium https://nebula.tv/thethoughtemporium https://nebula.tv/strangeparts https://nebula.tv/strangeparts https://nebula.tv/breakingtaps https://nebula.tv/breakingtaps https://nebula.tv/minutephysics https://nebula.tv/minutephysics https://nebula.tv/coldfusion https://nebula.tv/coldfusion https://nebula.tv/extrahistory https://nebula.tv/extrahistory https://nebula.tv/extracredits https://nebula.tv/extracredits https://nebula.tv/reallifelore https://nebula.tv/reallifelore https://nebula.tv/hai https://nebula.tv/hai https://nebula.tv/realengineering https://nebula.tv/realengineering https://nebula.tv/practical-engineering https://nebula.tv/practical-engineering https://nebula.tv/wendover https://nebula.tv/wendover
- gregmac 2y agoI love the glimpse into topics like this, where one might initially think "what is so hard? Dig a trench and fill it with gravel" but it turns out to be way more complicated: > It is hard to overstate the importance of properly filtered drains for dams. If you don’t believe me, take it from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in their 360-page report, Filters for Embankment Dams: Best Practices for Design and Construction. If that’s not enough, try the Bureau of Reclamation in their 400-page report, Drainage for Dams and Associated Structures. To the point that: > A civil engineer could spend an entire career just thinking about subsurface drains
- pimlottc 2y agoI wonder how many of these stories start with him discovering one of these massive government reports. They always seem to pop up in his videos! It really is impressive how much invaluable practical information is provided for free by the various federal agencies.
- engineer_22 2y agoA minor quibble - while the information is free to the world, those federal agencies cost the People money.
- rimunroe 2y agoThe fact that it costs the government money to do things is obvious to the point of pointlessness. I could understand pointing out the actual cost of producing the info if you had it, but just pointing out the fact that it cost them money to produce some report doesn't add anything to the discussion.
- JohnFen 2y agoMoney well spent.
- extraduder_ire 2y agoI have to assume most of these reports, standards, and other documents end up being tax-neutral or better from wider dissemination of this info and/or propping up the status quo in engineering and construction.
- avgDev 2y agoGreat video and I love this channel. My basement flooded recently, I'm going to rent some equipment and dig drains/grade. Previous owners spent money on fixing cracks and painting foundation with stuff that always fails. The best way to keep your basement dry is proper grade and if unable to achieve proper grade drains. It is literally that simple. This can help prevent formation of cracks and foundation problems as there is less pressure on them that way.
- finnh 2y agoWe cut a french drain into a below-grade room a few years ago. I was definitely happy to pay someone else to do it - cutting the concrete alone was a nasty piece of work and only the start of the job. Plus the unexpected footing running beneath an interior wall they had to cross below, such hard work.
- dboreham 2y agoThat's usually called a footer drain or foundation drain. French drain is typically a trench dug from the surface, some distance away from buildings.
- dboreham 2y agoAnd this is why I own an excavator, loader and a dump trailer.
- avgDev 2y agoI wish I had the space, I'm too close to the city and would need to buy some land. I feel like if software didn't pay this much I wouldn't mind having a business utilizing heavy equipment.
- d0gsg0w00f 2y agoSame. I live vicariously through Andrew Camarata, Farmcraft101, and Diesel Creek.
- 2y ago
- refibrillator 2y agoI’ve built quite a few french drains in residential settings, some lasting longer than others - I’ll share a few hard earned lessons here: Soil migration is the number one failure mode. This is mentioned but perhaps a bit understated in the video. To prevent soil migration you absolutely need commercial grade geotextile fabric wrapping the gravel and pipe. You can buy pipe with much bigger and more numerous holes than the tiny slits depicted in the video. That also obviates the need to decide what orientation the holes should be. Void space is the most critical factor when choosing gravel. You need a lot of space between the rocks to support fast drainage. Do not use playground pebbles or anything similar. Pay close attention to the type of aggregate you’re buying. Calculate how much water you actually need to drain. You can use the “100 year flood” values for your locale to get an upper bound on rainfall, then multiple by drainage area. This is especially important if your roof is part of the watershed. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/100-year-flood#overview https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/sci... Sometimes there is insufficient gradient to move the water anywhere, ie the land is too flat. In this case you may be better off building a drywell, which is constructed very similarly. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_well https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_well
- daedrdev 2y agoThe video also mentions that sometimes the geo textile fabric is not enough since it too can get clogged, though this seems important in dams and not so in simpler projects
- bshacklett 2y agoIf you live in a place with a lot of clay, geotextile fabric can certainly be problematic for simple residential settings.
- datavirtue 2y agoThe drain pipe is at the bottom of the drainage excavation. On top of the pipe is 3/4 aggragate, and on top of the aggregate is geotextile. Soil is filled in over the geotextile. There is no clogging risk in this design. Any soil particles that make their way to the pipe are carried away.
- Dumblydorr 2y agoAnyone know how to maintain retaining wall pipes? Installed by previous owner of home, have no idea if they’re done properly or if they’re clogged or anything. Just want to keep that water moving! :D
- toomuchtodo 2y agoWhat are the existing pipes made of?
- orthecreedence 2y agoYou might be able to ask a plumber to snake a camera into the outlets and do a visual inspection on the inside. That said, it might not tell you if they used real, actual drainage rock + fabric as opposed to just surrounding it in dirt just via visual inspection, although I suppose based on the amount of dirt buildup you might be able to tell.
- bane 2y agoI had absolutely no idea this was named after an American! My parents home is on a mountainside. All the rainwater collects higher up the mountain and then moves down the mountain where their house is in the way. The soil is thin, mostly clay, and you hit bed rock very quickly. When it rained, water would have little place to go under the soil and would surge up under pressure in areas to the surface. One of those areas was that house. They purchased the house new and the builder neglected to consider this water reality, so for the first couple years the basement would flood from the bottom, then later water would come rushing into the basement windows. They spent a small fortune with heavy equipment digging out underground trenches in this rocky environment and laying french drains around the perimeter of the house, and then also in a long diagonal in front of the house as a sort of catchment. The collected water was routed underground and around the house to an exit further down the mountain. This stopped all the flooding immediately, so much so that my parents finished the basement and turned it into a massive master suite where it stayed dry for decades. A handful of years ago, my father passed on, and early the next year when the rains started, the flooding starting up again. My mother, absolutely distraught had me come out, and the water had destroyed flooring, drywall, window treatments, furniture, books -- it looked like the aftermath of a hurricane. During one rain I watched waterfalls come in the windows...clearly something had gone wrong with the drainage system. We had engineers come out, concerned that the water had cracked and penetrated the foundation, but no, it turns out the French drains had failed in someway. Another small fortune, they were dug up, replaced, redone, and now....no flooding again. This is a great video that may have explained exactly what happened.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y ago> I had absolutely no idea this was named after an American! Yeah, I feel like French drains should be added to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23888725 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23888725
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jnwatson 2y ago
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- T3RMINATED 2y ago[dead]
- seltzered_ 2y agoAs someone whos been thinking quite a bit about land restoration I cringed a bit when watching the video about the Henry French's philosophy. There's a more encompassing worldview perspective that should be taken where rather in terms of thinking about 'superfluous water' there should be an inquiry around what relation one wants with water - where are the areas you want to perhaps concentrate water (e.g. at a pond/rainwater harvesting) and dryness (e.g. where you have a human settlement structure), and how one can 'slow, spread, sink' water to have a healthier relationship to the greater watershed and relationship to atmospheric water vapor. Courses like https://waterstories.com https://waterstories.com and writings like https://climatewaterproject.substack.com/ https://climatewaterproject.substack.com/ may help with expanding with thinking this way, along with Brad Lancaster's books ( http://harvestingrainwater.com/ http://harvestingrainwater.com/ ) on rainwater harvesting. From a farm perspective Chris Jones is also worth listening to for his critique of drainage tile ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svwjd3FwNCY&t=5668s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svwjd3FwNCY&t=5668s ) (Bias: I've partly taken the water stories class, and an investor in the upcoming climate water project book)
- engineer_22 2y agoThere are many places where there is no shortage of water, and for safe hygienic habitation it becomes necessary to remove it
- seltzered_ 2y agoYes but.. We have to also think about how waters being removed from land. Is it being removed so quickly that we end up with low rivers and risk of saltwater intrusion during drought conditions [0]? Is water drainage not getting buffered by say, growing vegetation? My argument isn't against French drains outright, but whether we're thinking more broadly about the impact of human relations with water. [0]: new orleans saltwater intrusion scare from 2023: https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/28/louisiana-saltwater-intrusion-federal-emergency https://www.axios.com/local/new-orleans/2023/09/28/louisiana...
- ComputerGuru 2y ago
- zoklet-enjoyer 2y agoAll sewers lead to Paris
- hk__2 2y agoAs the article says, this has nothing to do with France but with inventor Henry French.
- zoklet-enjoyer 2y agoI comment and then read the article
- aynyc 2y agoAs someone who battled water in basement in the last few years: 1. Make sure your house is not at the bottom of a hill or swamp or whatever. French drain will not stop surface run off from uphill. You need to divert that from the top. Which is almost impossible since it's most likely someone else's land. 2. Make sure your gutter is cleaned and properly installed. And Make sure your gutters drain into a solid PVC pipe and channel that solid pipe away from your house at a pitch as far as you possible can. Most likely to the street, but that kinda mess with downhill and town drainage. 3. Have sump pump(s) in your basement and make sure they work and have back up power. 4. If your yard has flooding issue, then try french drain and/or dry wells. I found dry well work better on flat ground. Just a side note, most french drains will fail at some point depending your soil and installer.
- morkalork 2y agoWhat about humidity? I have no actual water seeping in anywhere but the endless humidity destroying my flooring.
- aynyc 2y agoDo you have crawl space or basement? If you have crawl space, then you should encapsulate it. - Increase airflow in your basement or crawl space. Add a pest proof window that you can open and close. Or operate a fan based on humidity or temp, similar to a gable/attic fan. - Add a properly sized dehumidifier that pump water out of your house to keep the humidity low. - Keep plants away from your house if your house is swamped by plants. Plants hold ton of moisture and it's great for your air, but terrible at humidity.
- throw0101d 2y ago> What about humidity? I have no actual water seeping in anywhere but the endless humidity destroying my flooring. Whole-house dehumidifiers. One popular brand in the US: * https://www.santa-fe-products.com https://www.santa-fe-products.com Search Youtube (and generally) for the topic and you'll get a bunch of building science stuff on the topic. Just because your thermostat says the temperature is fine (and so does not run AC or heating) does not necessarily mean your internal environment is (totally) "fine". Perhaps, to start with, buy a (few) humidity metre (hygrometer) and see what various rooms / floors are in your house: * https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP50-Digital-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B01H1R0K68/ https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP50-Digital-Thermometer-Te... Ideally they should be 50±5% (though ±10% can be fine).
- jiveturkey 2y ago(1859)
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y agoThis drives home the power of water. Of all the natural disasters out there; volcanoes, wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc., the one that does the most damage, and kills the most people, is water. Floods, tsunamis, and storm surges are absolute blockbuster bombs of destruction. Up here, we had Sandy. It wasn't even that "powerful" a hurricane (I think Cat 2 or 3, by the time it got here), but the water that it brought with it, caused a huge amount of damage and death.
- turtlebits 2y agoThis applies to houses as well, ideally you should have an air gap behind your siding to let moisture out (to prevent rot) - some common methods are strapping or ventilated rainscreens.
- uslic001 2y agoWe just had French drains put in around a farmhouse we bought as it had major drainage issues. They seemed to be working well last weekend during a few thunderstorms. Given the current tropical storm pounding NC I am glad we did it before all this rain.
- wonder_er 2y agoI think a french drain to a pit-type depression that can hold a few hundred gallons of water and drains across hours is the way to go. And the french drain can be simply a slight trench. It doesn't need to be underneath anything. This worked for me and water runoff management around an old house. The lot had a funky grade, and all I wanted to do was get the water away from the structure. A little light pickax/trenching work got me what I needed.
- hinkley 2y agoPermaculture uses very shallow ditches to force water to serpentine across the property. What doesn’t sink in shows up in the greater watershed much later in the precipitation. Not unlike urban rain gardens.
- positr0n 2y ago> that can hold a few hundred gallons of water I was curious with all the talk of drywells in the comments, so I had to calculate it. Here in Texas my roof produces 68 gallons per minute of runoff during a typical heavy thunderstorm. No wonder the drainage ditch gets so full after a storm!
- jaquers 2y agoRecent YT vid for how this is installed in practice (for a home in the mountains): https://youtu.be/nA_-SFRkY94?si=z6UYNNVS8Zdk0tIt https://youtu.be/nA_-SFRkY94?si=z6UYNNVS8Zdk0tIt
- JohnFen 2y agoEverything I know about French drains I learned from this video. I was greatly amused, though, to learn that the "holes on top" vs "holes on bottom" thing is a bit of a holy war in that industry. We have so many similar highly charged but largely meaningless holy wars in our industry that it was fun to see the same thing in a different one.
- __turbobrew__ 2y agoI remember there were PC Call of Duty 4 servers back in the day that would hack your game to add mods like paintball. Back in the day I thought this was cool but now all I can think of is how batshit insane it was to allow someone RCE on your PC. I know valve was looking into running games within a containerized runtime (Pressure Vessel) on Linux which is really what should be happening. The fact that games run as your user and have defacto access to all of your secrets and keys is crazy.
- arendtio 2y agoWhen I read the title I wondered how speaking French would reduce the work to be done :-D
- starquake 2y agoI read it as: How the French take the energy out of people that want to do work
- i4i 2y agoI suddenly remembered why, having previously found this channel, which is full of great information, I can't stand to watch the videos - the innocuous background music! Anyone else have this problem... where you're perhaps overly sensitive to music, especially non-fiction videos and podcasts? I find the background music unbearable.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sharkbird2 2y agoI don't know much about codecs, but why isn't the music separated its own audio track so one can turn it on/off themselves in the browser? I'm guessing the current codecs being used doesn't support it, but couldn't/shouldn't it?
- pm3003 2y agoI've always had French drains where I lived. My parents' current house also has a dispersal drain for gray waters / toilets associated with a sort of septic tank (true septic tanks are now forbidden). This drain disperses water under some sort of front yard (it's the countryside...) where the grass consequentially has a very high growth rate...
- aitchnyu 2y agoUmm, why are septic tanks forbidden there?
- shmeeed 2y agoUsually because waste water from putrefaction is loaded with nitrogen and bacteria that can contaminate ground water.
- aitchnyu 2y agoThey are supposed to never leak right?
- shmeeed 2y agoThat depends on the principle, some are actually built to trickle and seep into the ground below. Anyway I suppose that such concrete underground structures are often built on the cheap, and by the very nature of their content they're hard to inspect, so they're bound to develop a tendency to leak over the prospect of decades.
- m463 2y agoWhen I read the title of this article, I somehow thought it was something about french work policies poorly affecting productivity.
- calini 2y agoMy potentially dyslexic brain read this as “How the French drain in work” and pondered for a second: Hmm, I thought the French had great work-life balance and early retirement and all of that, what happened?
- KolmogorovComp 2y agoTangential, but does anyone know the VFX software used for book/report animation used in the video? Very sleek.
- smnscu 2y agoI've just recently this video on the engineering of Venice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77omYd0JOeA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77omYd0JOeA -- relevantly, it shows how they devised an "active" drainage system that relied on the tide movement (both vertical and horizontal). The timestamp for waste management is 7:45, but I recommend watching all the video.
- cturner 2y agoI found the part about clay cisterns fascinating (6:40). Does anyone know the trade-offs about lining the outside of cellar walls with a thick layer of clay. Would it be effective to pour a slab foundation onto a thick layer of clay? Or, to have a thick layer of clay, and then a few feet of gravel, and to pour a slab onto that?
- throwaway48476 2y agoThe trend of simultaneous blog and video posts is so nice.
- interludead 2y agoThis video was a little bit meditative for me...
- Eumenes 2y agoWater mitigation is very interesting, humans have been battling it forever. The Romans are famous for it.
- at_a_remove 2y agoThey all seem so terribly expensive. I have wondered if there is a cheaper, stopgap solution while I gather the money, something like aerating the soil along a path, the path that a drain would take, such that the water flows preferentially through the aerated soil.
- ychackernews611 2y agodo soil analysis before even grading work. decide if need to import soil and modify before erecting any structures