Who here is a Plumber?

[Pez]

Been having a lot of heavy rain these past few weeks and if anyone knows East Texas it takes an eternity to ever dry up. Well, the rain has gotten so bad its forced me to finally install a channel drain across the entrance of my shop which is on the rear of my house. Drain has been installed and I started digging a 50' long x 6" deep trench along side my house leading to the front where the "natural" slope brings rain to the street. This trench goes between mine and my neighbors house (10' gap between us..) staying on my side of the property line.


Beyond the background of the story, my issue arises at the last 5' of trench. And like I said I'm only 6" down and I see water percolating from beneath my dig. I start trying to get to source of water by hand but 2' of exploration shows no source. So, I check gauges at street, no movement. I cut off water at street for both my house and the neighbors. Water is still percolating even after opening up both of our faucets to confirm no water to houses. So, in my simple mechanics brain that says the source is not a supply line to a house.. Can this really be I hit the water table and its just rain?
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Always chasing Squirrel's.

[Abscate]

If the table is only 6 inches below grade you would be liv8ng in a swamp..it could be temporary , though. How much rain has fallen in the past 48 hours?
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.ssS!

[Pez]

[Abscate]

If you are putting in perforated pipe just keep digging the trench and wait for the water to subside , then gravel and pipe.
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.ssS!

[my59]

The soil looks to be saturated, not surprising given the amount of rain.
The type of soil may be part of the problem, if has a high amount of clay in it.
If you are putting in perforated pipe and gravel, lay filter fabric in the trench before the pipe and gravel, and then fold the fabric over the top of the gravel before backfill. It prevents the soil surrounding the drain from clogging the gravel.
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my59: Well son, my grandfather died before I got to drive it, so does that answer your question?
our79: sunroof bus w/camper interior and 2.0 FI
Other:'12 Jetta, '77 Benz 300D, and a 74 MG Midget.

[Pez]

[mark tucker]

there my already be a french drain there....or natural drain... you could add another or dig one deep wide hole and make a deep water drain to try to disperse it farther under ground.....I added a french drain around the hosue and down the side yard, dug a deep hole, cut the bottom out of a few 3 gallon buckets the one of the bottom had alota 3/8holes in it, rockes under it., stacked them all togeather ran the french drain to it added the top. zero drainage issues. you can also add clean rocks to the buckets to keep them from colasping.... and it's only rain water going to it. from a aera that used to flood. witch was toped with play sand the same level as the drain tube bottom with the weed stop stuff on the bottom on 2 or 3 layers. then also around the end of the drain tube and around the tube witch has a sock on it already. sand up and about 2" over the top of the tube then pavers on top to let the h20 to drain down to the sand and to the french drain tube to take away., no more mess or standing h20 not even after 14" in 2 days. different griund will need differsnt approach and different drpth for the deep hole"well" and it needs to be covered well.mine has 24" pavers on top of the aera that had the deep well drain/buckets hole. so there is no axe a dents, like OJ had. dont worry aboyt the spellen it wont affect drainage,,unlessss you druel. it worked fer me.it may or may not work fer you.

[67 Florida Deluxe]

Are you at the bottom of a hill? At 38 feet above sea level in St. Petersburg (which is one of the highest points), I occasionally get percolation under my house (built on piers with a crawl space and wood subfloor covered in hardwood inside.) This only happens after extended rain events because I'm at the bottom of a hill that's bounded by a hard-packed road bed and the under drains that run along the road designed to carry off the hydrostatic pressure water are clogged with tree roots. I would sometimes get water intrusion via percolation/hydrostatic pressure in my garage and laundry on the lowest floor which was slab on grade on the lowest end of the sloped grade in a tri-level house (the rest of the house has a crawl space.) Under the house would be flooded. I dug a big sump catch basin under the crawl space of the house and installed an automatic sump pump attached to a drain pipe that expelled the water down grade from the house. That finally cured my "wet feet" issue in the lower slab on grade level.
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-Kent (BaT "daleallen")

OG member of the '67 Posse

A few of my toys, past and present
'56 Oval, '66 KG Conv't, '67 21-Window, '67 Bug, '79 SuperVert, '55 Pre-A Continental

[Cusser]

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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[Pez]

[Pez]

[67 Florida Deluxe]

[my59]

[KTPhil]

Yes, regulations vary. When I lived in the boonies (yet still in L.A. County) I had to have my property drain in the same direction it had before I graded my building pad and driveways. This means it dumped into a neighbor's property, which it had for decades; years ago, he had a ditch dug that likewise sent it off his property and into the dirt road. Until the area gets paved streets with culverts and drains, it will stay that way.

On the other hand, urban/suburban areas change when subdivided, and all properties have to drain toward the streets, where it becomes a public utility's problem.

[Long-roofs]

[KTPhil]

[Cusser]