All right, so let's jump into it.
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So what do you need for a French drain?
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One, you need some geo-textile fabric.
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Two, you need the SDR-35 pipe.
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And three you need the drain rock.
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I hope everyone's having a good day and staying positive.
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Be sure to stay to the end of the video.
We're gonna show you how we installed a dry well system
for this retaining wall.
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So one of the main reasons for failure of a retaining wall,
especially a wood wall, is drainage.
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Besides the wall being built correctly,
if you don't have the proper drainage system behind it,
it will fail in due time.
So today I'm going to discuss the three important parts
of a French drain system for a retaining wall.
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First being the geo-textile fabric,
sometimes called commercial grade fabric.
The main purpose of this is to separate the soil
from the drain rock, as you'll see later in the video.
Next up is the SDR-35 pipe.
Most of the times we use a four-inch pipe,
with the holes being at the four o'clock
and the eight o'clock position.
Now, one way to know if you're installing
this pipe correctly, is the letters are up.
So if the letters are down or to the side,
it's not installed correctly.
So approximately every 20 to 25 feet,
we installed these clean outs.
This is in case something gets stuck in the pipe
and you have a way to clean it out.
You could think of it as a sewer clean out
but you have to be careful.
Believe it or not, a little kid will take the top off
and put a tennis ball in there.
It happened to us.
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So next up is the drain rock.
We used about four and a half yards of drain rock
on this project.
Ideally, we'd go six to 12 inches and back of the wall
and approximately a foot below the top of the wall.
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You can click on the link above or at the end
of this video showing us installing a French drain system
on a six foot high retaining wall.
It was an interesting project to say the least.
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Once we finished installing the drain rock,
we had our bag fill.
You may have noticed we overlapped
the geo-textile fabric and this is what they call
a burrito wrap.
Pretty much just add dirt from here.
That's one important thing with a wood wall
is that you want to keep the fabric against the wall itself.
And this just kind of helps keep moisture off
the pressure treated wall.
Pressure treated walls are designed to last 20 to 25 years.
And with the proper drainage system, you can expect that,
if not more.
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For this retaining wall, we ended up installing
a dry well system.
If we don't have enough slope to make it to the street,
we will install a dry well system
or, in some cases, a sump pump.
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So that's it for this video.
We will have a part four coming soon.
So be sure to hit the subscribe button
below so you don't miss out.
I appreciate your guys' time.
Have a good day, stay positive.
And remember, it's cool to ask for help.
If you're in the Bay Area, Sacramento,
check the link below for a free estimate.
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