Posts Tagged ‘DIY Drainage System’

Identify the Problem Area, French Drain, Surface Drain, Channel Drain or Sump Pump

Posted: April 2, 2026 in DIY Drain Installation, DIY French Drain, french drain
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Identify the Problem Area.

Sometimes it is very easy to see where your water problem is.

If you step out of your car and get immediately soaked because of the water standing on your driveway, it is easy to determine what is bothering, you.

But Maybe water is seeping up into your floor vents at a very slow rate, and you only discovered it by accident.

Start with the obvious

Surface Water is Easy to see.

Surface Water may stand in your front yard.  But you may not realize or think about it soaking into the ground.  Once in the Ground it becomes Sub-Surface Water or Ground Water.

Guess What!

It continues to move.  Many times, it doesn’t go straight down but instead moves laterally.

The water in the picture could soak in and then move toward the house, filling the AC vents or causing Foundation Damage.

If a French Drain or a Surface Drain were installed on the left side of the picture, Water would drain away over time, but Ground Water would still flow toward the house.

French Drain Placement and Design is all about knowing as much as you can about your Problem Drainage Area.

Sometimes there are Several Problem Areas.

Problem Drainage Area

Problem Drainage Area

Try to determine which one is the worst and label it the Primary Drainage Area.

The other Areas would be Secondary to varying degrees.

Sometimes it is hard to tell where the Problem Area is.

We had to cut the sidewalk on the side of the house.  Next, digging 3 feet deep was necessary to find the Problem.

 

Water seeping under foundation

Water seeping under foundation

Sub-Surface Ground Water was moving under the house on the Southwest Corner.  It flowed all the way under the house in a steady stream and came up in the kitchen on the Northeast corner.

It took several days for my company, Oklahoma Drainage, to determine the entirety of the Drainage Problem Area.

In most cases it is not nearly this hard to determine the Water Problem Area.

Patience and focus are key.  Don’t be in too much of a hurry to start digging.

water seeping under foundation

water seeping under foundation

 

French Drain Answers are a Central Focus for Oklahoma Drainage.  We installed our first French Drain and completed our first Sprinkler Repair in Norman in 1993.

Oklahoma Drainage and Sprinkler Repair — Installing – French Drains – Surface Drains – Channel Drains – Sump Pumps.

We also install Sod and Provide Dirt work for Lawn Leveling.

Providing Expert Sprinkler Repair – Broken Sprinkler Pipes – Sprinkler Head Adjustment – Sprinkler Valve Replacement

We provide Service for Folks in: Norman, Oklahoma City, Edmond, and Moore.

Servicing all of Central and Western Oklahoma since 1993.  

                                                           (405) 203-9419

Complex Drainage System or a Simple Drainage System

Posted: March 30, 2026 in Drainage System, french drain, Surface Drain
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Complex Drainage System

A Complex Drainage System has two or more “Intakes.”

An intake is a Drain of some kind where water is taken into a Drainpipe.

A Surface Drain connected to a French Drain with Gutter Downspouts connected as well is a Complex Drainage System.

4 Inch NDS Channel Drain With Grey Grate Connected to 6 Inch ADS French Drain With Trench Liner and Pipe Filter Making a Duel Intake Drainage System

French Drain Connected to a Channel Drain across the Driveway

Above is a picture of a French Drain connected to a Channel Drain which connects to a transition pipe.  The Transition Pipe takes the water downhill to the exit.

ADS Drain Pip Running Out Through The Curb

Transition Drainpipe Installation Running Out Through the Curb

Simply Put, a Complex Drainage System has several water sources that comes from different kinds or drains or gutter connections.

Surface Drain Installation

Installing Surface Drains

The Complex Drainage System shown above has three Surface Drains connected to one Transition Pipe.  It can be one type of drain or several.

Many times, a gutter downspout is connected to a Complex Drainage system too.

Gutter connected to Drainage system

Gutter Connected to Drainage System

Complex Drainage System Problem

If you connect too many Drains (Intakes) to a Transition Pipe it will become overwhelmed.  A hard rain will cause water to back up and can even cause Vapor Lock which will slow down the water even more.  You will definitely experience poor performance.

A Good General Rule.

Most Transition Pipes are 4 inch in diameter.   Don’t connect more than 3 Intakes (Drains or Gutter Downspouts) to a 4-inch pipe.   If more than 3 intakes need to be connected to the transition pipe, then add a second 4-inch Transition Pipe or use a 6-inch Transition Pipe instead of two 4-inch pipes.

Multiple Drain Pipes

Multiple Drainpipes

 

The Picture above shows two 6-inch pipes and Three 4-inch pipes.  They are all Transition Pipes taking a lot of water to the exit.

Transition Pipes can be ADS which are Black and Flexible or PVC which are white or green and are very rigid.

ADS Transition Pipe is much easier to work with.

Check out our Blog Post on Drainpipes.

Flood Prevention vs Drainage System, do you know the difference? Part 4

Posted: February 11, 2020 in Drain Installation, Flood Prevention, french drain
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French Drain along walk

French Drain along walkway

Flood Prevention vs Drainage System

Do you want your French Drain to prevent flooding or to drain away water after if floods?

 

This is a series of blogs that first explains exactly what French Drains and Surface Drains are,  and how they are used in a Drainage System.

Next, I will explain exactly what the benefits and drawbacks are of each type of drain and why you would use one type of drain over another in many different situations.

Last, I will explain the specifics of how to install your own Drainage System and how to diagnose exactly what type of system you need in the first place.

At the top and  bottom of every blog in this series will be a listing of all the connecting blogs that you can “Click” on to easily move back and forth through the series.

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Problem Drainage Area

This is a good spot for a French Drain

A final thought on Intakes as part of a Drainage System.  Remember, an Intake is a French Drain or a Surface Drain.  It is the part of the Drainage System that draws water into the Drain Pipe.

Once you have decided where and  how many Intakes your drainage system needs,( how many and what kind of Drains ) the next thing to think about is the Transition other wise known as the Drain Pipe.  For a typical Drainage System there are three choices of Drain Pipe by Size.  ( 3 Inch, 4 Inch, and 6 Inch )

Three inch is least expensive but can easily be overwhelmed if a large amount of water needs to be drained away.

Four inch is by far the most common.  It also can be overwhelmed if too many Intakes (Drains) are connected to it.

Six Inch Drain Pipe is almost never overwhelmed, but it is bulky and hard to work with and is by far the most expensive.

4 inch Drain pipe

4 Inch Drainpipe before it goes in the trench

What Do I mean by overwhelmed?  It means that water is going to the Problem Drainage Area faster than the Pipe can move it away.

This is very important to some people and not important at all to others.  Here is why!

house flood

This is a great place for a French Drain

Really, think for a minute about why you want to install a Drain in the first place.

Do you want to prevent water from ever reaching Problem Drainage Area?  Or is it OK for water to reach the Problem Drainage Area and then be drained away over time.

If, for example, you are trying to protect your prize plants, you don’t want flood water reaching them at all.  Or you might be trying to prevent water from reaching part of your house because it then runs into the basement.  You don’t want water, under any circumstances,  to reach a specific spot or area.   If this is the case,  You want a

Flood Prevention System

Gutter to French Drain

Gutter Connected to High Volume 6-inch French Drain

A Flood Prevention System is actually a type of Drainage System, However the goal is different and that can change the Design.

On the other hand if you don’t mind so much if water gets into the Problem Drainage Area,  you just want it to drain away in a relatively short amount of time.   This is called a

Drainage System

If your motivation is to have a Flood Prevention System, Then the Drainpipe being overwhelmed is a really bad thing.  It means that your Flood Prevention System has failed.  Your Drainpipe could not move the water fast enough to provide the Safety that you desire.   Your plants have drowned and your basement has flooded.

 

 

 

If your motivation is to have a Drainage System, Then the Drainpipe being overwhelmed is not so bad.  Even though water is flowing into the Problem Drainage Area faster than the Drainpipe can take it away, The Drainpipe is still moving a lot of water and eventually the rain will stop and the Drainpipe will catch up.  In relatively a short amount of time, the water will be gone.

French Drain install front

French Drain Installation in Edmond

What you want, dictates how you design your Drainage System!

Drainage Systems are not as robust as Flood Prevention Systems.  A Flood Prevention System has all the same basic concepts and structure as a regular drainage system, just more!

If you want a Flood Prevention System, the goal is to intercept water before it runs somewhere.

This means:

  1.  More Intakes ( Lots of Drains) French or Surface
  2.  Larger Drains,  6 inch French Drains, or 18-inch Surface Drains for example
  3.  Larger Transitions ( Larger Pipe)
  4.  More Transitions (  More Pipes)
  5.  Larger Drainage Exits
  6.  More Drainage Exits

I know we haven’t talked about Drainage Exits, but we will in the next blog.

A Drainage System is less of everything listed above.

Obviously a Drainage System is less expensive, less evasive, and easier to install.

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