(gentle music)
- So why did this retaining wall fail?
Yup, you guessed it, drainage.
See that white pipe?
That's where it daylighted at it.
Notice this black grate at the end of the wall?
That's where the downspout dayligthed at.
And it gets better.
See the waterline,
it literally sitting on top of the ground.
So in this video, we're going to show you
how to install a French drain system
for concrete retaining wall, the right way.
Some things you're going to need,
filter fabric,
SDR 35 pipe
and drain rock.
I hope everyone's doing fine and stayin' positive.
(upbeat music)
So be sure to check out part one of us demoing this wall,
in the description below.
And while you're down there,
be sure to subscribe, like and leave a comment,
it's greatly appreciated.
So we're going to start with the filter fabric.
Filter fabric is used to keep the soil
separated from your drain rock.
Here, we are putting it against the wall.
Once it's against the wall,
we would then put it against the dirt
and get ready for the pipe.
Up next is the pipe, we use SDR-35, four inch.
Now it's very important if you're gonna install
some SDR-35 pipe, you'll notice that the letters,
well, the letters have to be up and that way,
you know you have it in the correct position.
So here's a look inside a perforated pipe.
You notice that they're at the four o'clock
and eight o'clock position for my military folks.
So with all our connections, we use what they call
a sweet T or sweep elbow.
These are called sanitation T's or elbow also.
Sweep parts make it easier to clean out if we have to.
And why they call it red glue when it's blue,
I'm still trying to figure it out.
Here we are using two 22's to make our pipe
go around the corner.
Again, we use the SDR-35 pipe as opposed
to the black rigid pipe, which you can see here
was a failure.
By the way, we took care of that.
All the house downspouts on the left side,
is connected to this new pipe,
which is tied into the new drainage
behind the retaining wall.
No more water next to the foundation.
And if you guys wanted to see us installing
huge French drain system with over 35 yards of drain rock,
click the link above or in the description below.
So here we are all masked up, adding drain rock.
You may notice us going back and forth with rock and dirt
which is separated by the filter fabric.
With this drone shot, you can see how the filter fabric
separates the dirt from the rock, which is really important.
Once we achieve this, we wrap the fabric over
then back-filled the rest with dirt.
Some people call this the burrito wrap.
So that's how you install a French drain
for a concrete retaining wall.
Appreciate you guys checking out this video.
You can check out part one through three
in the description below.
If you're in the Bay area, Sacramento,
hit us up, description below for a free estimate.
Enjoy your day, stay positive.
And remember it's cool to ask for help.