Drainage Control

This week we’re trying to get our gutters ready for the rain that is (probably coming).

I was worried once we closed on our house, I wouldn’t have anything to write about. No more worries here! There is way too much to get done.

Working with Farmers

First off this week, I managed to get in touch with a neighbor who has a lot of farm tools / tractors. He mentioned to me a year ago that I should allow someone to grow hay on my land for free and they would till my land to keep it weed free and grow/harvest. They get free hay; I get free land maintenance. It seems to make more sense than let the weeds get out of control. Here is a picture of them tilling the land

Drainage Problem

Out here it always seems to be windy. It’s certainly more than in town. The winds elsewhere in CA were so bad that PGE turned off power. In order to move in to our home, Contra Costa County required that we have a drainage plan. My Neighbors were much more elaborate and did things with French drains

(French drain diagram)

Contra Costa allowed me to use downspouts and splash-blocks. That carried the water about 4’ away from the home. Unfortunately, I did not account for wind. And it broke a couple of them (also a child may have helped out).

….Almost French Drains

I did a hybrid approach for the drainage of my home. My neighbors did a large expansive system outside their home when they had their excavator and tools. I now live here and have been dying to try out a trencher. I rented a 24” ditch witch and attempted to do all the French drains and 200’ of line for comcast to come to my home.

I believe I bit off more than I could chew. With my father-in-law’s help we got all the drainage lines dug and about 50 ft of comcast dug.

Unfortunately, the size of the trench by the trencher is a good size for 2” conduit, and maybe 3” corrugated pipe. But the French drain comes pre-made with 3” surrounded by fabricated rock and a weed barrier. The trench needed to be dug out a little bit. I had a couple helpers with small shovels come help.

My French drains are 10’ of 4” solid corrugated pipe then a 10’ long 3” perforated corrugated pipe surrounded by stryo-foam like rocks, encompassed in a weed barrier. Then at the end of the run in case 10’ of French drain isn’t enough for a quarter of my home (which it won’t be) There is a pop up drain at the end to release any extra water. Hopefully 20’ away from the house keeps it from coming back. The front and backyard do gently slope away from the home.

Sizes of pipes

Again this was a learning experience for me. I learned about corrugated pipes, French drains, pop ups. And for some reason Home Depot and Lowes didn’t have convenient sizes of pipes. I had to go from 3” to 4” and back to 3” again. Here Thea is posing by some of the couplings I had to frustrating use.

Next week

We have plans for early Thanksgiving week. It’s not turkey either. Here is a picture see if you can guess 😊