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French drains - Is a french drain part of a "plumbing system"?

Public Comments

  1. No, it is part of the rain gutters on your house.
  2. No...it is used for drainage outside. If you have an area near you home or out buildings that has bad drainage you dig a trench and the add crushed gravel. It works very well....I need to do this near my barn before the rain sets in.
  3. Not really, it is like a perforated pipe that you lay around the foundation to prevent your basement from flooding. It works if done properly!!!! We had this done to a former property.
  4. Its part of the rain/surface water system. We have installed them in gardens to help drain the lawns/soil.
  5. No, a French drain is not part of plumbing. It's used in landscaping to create a runoff path for water. You must first dig a trench. Lay some gravel in the bottom of the trench, then lay PVC pipe with holes (available at Home Depot, etc.) on top of the gravel, and lay more gravel on top of the PVC pipe. Then either leave as-is, or cover with dirt and sod (depending on where you put the drain and how you've landscaped). This creates a path for the water to drain out of your yard out to the front.
  6. Well it is a type of plumbing - but it is not connected to your House plumbing. This was just done in front of my home - bah humbug - Anyway - the county is doing this in random areas of my little town - to ease the flooding we get here in South Florida. The trenches were dug 6 feet deep - then filled with 1 or 2 feet of two inch stones then a 18 inch black perferated pvc pipe placed in - then more rock - then vibrate with a rolling machine and cover. My trench is about 150 feet long - then goes across street and then another 80 feet to a surface grated drain. I also have a drain - grated looking thick steel like BBQ grate - in my yard on the easement. They did not even ask me - just took my property away... NOW I have a VERY UGLY 10 foot by 8 foot black asphalt patch in the middle of my once beatiflul Green Grassy front yard, with a steel drain in the middle... Also none of these French drains connect to each other, (they are just spread out all over the community) OR to sewer lines - as we do not have any sewer system here. A storm just came thru yesterday - Called Ernesto and all the drains were flooded - it did not change a thing - waste of my money...