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Shawn (Gate City Foundation Drainage @ YouTube; Gate City Foundation Drainage) is at a house with a steeply-sloping gravel driveway. A corrugated stormwater pipe runs underground within the slope and drains some catch basins and gutters at the rear of the house, but it was damaged when some earlier drain work was being done at the neighboring property. Due to the drainage system no longer working properly, the driveway was beginning to get washed out when it rained. The damaged line is to be replaced with PVC piping, and a sump pump hose exiting from the exterior wall will also be drained into the new line.

The existing corrugated piping at the rear of the home still seems to be working, so the plan is to leave it as-is. The new pipe system will connect to that existing piping near a downspout by the back corner of the house. Instead of reusing the original discharge that’s at the bottom of a retaining wall next to the sidewalk, Shawn plans to have the new system discharge next to the retaining wall instead.

Shawn’s crew member begins to dig by hand near the base of the downspout at the back corner of the house, to determine what exactly they’re working with there. An open pipe is discovered below the downspout’s elbow, although the corrugated piping that’s attached to the downspout appears to be routed toward the front of the house. Further investigation reveals that the opening is part of a T-fitting.

An excavator is used to start digging up the old pipe, but a wooden fencepost at the corner of the house is in the way. This fencepost is removed, and the digging continues. Since the new pipe has to attach to the existing T-fitting, the new trenching has to be dug relatively deeply. While doing this digging, an unanticipated steel pipe that the 811 service didn’t mark is discovered. It’s decided that the new pipe will run below this existing pipe. Shawn also removes a segment of the old corrugated pipe that was running alongside the house, and shows how it is about seventy-five percent full of debris.

A PVC Y-fitting is used below the surface to connect the existing corrugated system to some PVC piping that runs to the existing downspout near the corner of the house. The output of this Y-fitting connects to the long, relatively-straight run of pipe that goes down beneath the surface of the sloped driveway, toward the sidewalk at the front of the house. Care is taken to avoid damaging the sewage drain line that also cuts across the driveway.

Eventually, the digging reaches a large rock near the stairs leading up to the home’s front entry. The excavator is used to move this to the side, and the trenching for the new drain pipe continues. Some small portions of the upper part of the newly-laid piping are partially covered with soil, and a smaller sideline pipe is then added to capture the water coming from the sump pump hose that exits from the side of the home. The existing flexible sump hose is fed into a vertical piece of this solid PVC piping that runs up along the exterior wall of the house.

The remainder of the pipe leading down to the sidewalk is added. A square piece of flat granite rock is embedded in the soil next to the sidewalk for the end of the pipe to rest on. The final piece of pipe is laid down, and then it’s cut to length so the end of it drains over the piece of granite. The pipe is cut at an angle to try to help it blend into the slope of the driveway, to try to avoid it getting damaged.

With all of the pipe laid, the excavator is used to bury the new system. The dirt is graded away from the house, and the excavator’s treads are used to compress it. Shawn shows that some moisture that was in the existing pipes is already beginning to drain out of the newly-laid PVC piping, all the way to the sidewalk.

Shawn return several weeks later, during a rainstorm. Water is observed flowing out of the end of the pipe, as expected, and the system appears to be working. Although some gravel is still getting washed down the driveway when it rains, he notes that it seems to be much less than was getting washed away prior to the new system being installed.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) is working at a house that has an exterior stairwell leading to a basement storage area below a building. The drain at the landing at the base of the stairs is clogged, causing rainwater to collect and back up on the landing and also into the nearby basement area. The situation is complicated by how there’s a sump pit and sump pump in the basement that happens to have a hose that empties into the drain that is clogged and causing the water to back up in the first place. The same water ends up going in a cycle, where it collects at the bottom of the stairs, then eventually overflows into the basement storage area, then gets pumped back up to the bottom of the stairs where it can’t drain away, and the cycle repeats.

The high-pressure water jetter is used to try to clear the drain pipe. As Oliver jets it, it becomes difficult to see what’s going on due to there being a few inches of murky water at the bottom of the stairs above the drain’s opening. The hose from the sump pump in the basement is still emptying into that area, too, which makes it harder to tell if the drain might have been unclogged and is draining away the water. To help avoid this, Oliver temporarily moves the hose to empty into the basement area instead.

It takes several minutes of jetting, but eventually the blockage is popped, and the pooled water begins to drain away. The sump pump hose that was redirected toward the basement earlier is returned to the bottom stairway landing, so that the significant amount of water that has collected in the basement storage area can finally be drained away.

Due to the volume of water involved, it takes a little while for the sump pump to remove all of it. Oliver monitors its progress, and ensures that the grate over the sump pit doesn’t get obstructed by any debris or other items that are carried over by the water in the basement. Eventually, enough of the water that was in the basement storage area gets pumped out, and the sump pump shuts itself off.

In the first video of a two-part series, Shawn (Gate City Foundation Drainage @ YouTube; Gate City Foundation Drainage) is helping to install a French drain and catch basin system at his friend’s rural property. Rainwater coming down off of some sloped ground at a neighboring property has been causing flooding around a garage structure.

Some dirt behind the garage is excavated to create an area for the French drain to be laid, and some more excavation is performed under a canopy along one side of the structure to allow a square plastic catch basin to be placed in the ground.

A layer of gravel is laid in the French drain pit, and two runs of drainage pipe are then placed on top of that. The two runs are then joined into one pipe that will lead to the catch basin at the side of the garage, near the canopy.

To drain the catch basin, some eight-inch-diameter piping is used. The pipe is laid out on the ground next to the garage to figure out the eventual path, and spray-painted lines along the edges of the pipe segments are used to mark on the ground where to dig. When the alignment is finalized, a trench is excavated for the pipes.

A hole is drilled into the corner of the plastic catch basin to allow the pipe from the French drain to be connected. The first segment of the larger-diameter pipe draining the catch basin is also connected to the catch basin.

Another layer of gravel is placed on top of the pipes of the French drain.

Shawn mentions a number of times throughout the video that this drainage system is being designed by his friend, and the approach being taken differs from what Shawn would typically do.

Shawn returns in the second part to complete the drain system installation.

A small trench is dug by hand to add a pipe that will be used to connect an eventual downspout for the canopy over to the catch basin that was installed earlier. A hole is drilled into the side of the catch basin to accept this pipe, and the pipe is laid within the trench. The ninety-degree fitting used to accept the downspout is then spray-painted black.

More trenching is done for the pipes that will run from the catch basin, across and down a gravel driveway that leads to the garage structure, and then eventually through to a lower-lying area some distance away. During this trenching, some underground rocks are discovered that would interfere with the pipe, so a jackhammer is used to break them up.

Eight-inch-diameter drain pipe segments are laid within the newly-dug trench. The larger size of the pipe makes the gluing and connecting process seem more challenging that it typically would be for the smaller-diameter pipe segments that Shawn uses in his other videos. It takes both Shawn and his friend some effort to get the work done, especially when connecting a forty-five-degree fitting used to alter the direction of the pipe system toward its final destination.

The pipe laid earlier to catch the canopy gutter’s downspout is covered over with dirt, and a portion of the pipe inserted through the side of the catch basin is trimmed down to its final size.

Near another post at the other corner of the canopy, another trench is dug leading to the main drain. Instead of using an expensive fitting to connect this smaller-diameter pipe with the larger-diameter pipe leading away from the catch basin, a hole is drilled in the top of the larger-diameter pipe. A ninety-degree fitting is then used to connect the two pipes, with the smaller pipe draining into the primary drain pipe.

Some more pipe is laid along the side of the garage opposite the canopy, to catch some eventual drainspouts on that side of the structure. More trenching is done for another separate run of pipe that will also be used to help drain the French drain that was installed behind the garage, and the pipe is laid for that.

Trenching continues for the large-diameter drain pipes running below the garage’s gravel driveway. Several segments of pipe are then installed in the trench, to bring it to the point where the drain pipes coming from the other side of the garage will connect to it. It again takes some effort to get the larger pipes glued and connected, with the small excavator’s bucket being used to help push the one pipe into the other pipe’s connector.

Two more trenches are dug to connect the pipes coming from the far side of the garage to the main drain pipe. Expensive Y-fittings are used for these connections.

A trench is dug below a fence, and then in the direction of a lower-lying area where the entire system will eventually drain to. The final segments of eight-inch-diameter pipe are laid, with the excavator once again being used to help push them together. With the pipe installation now complete, the trenches that remain open are filled in with soil.

Shawn returns a couple of times later on to check on the state of the system. It’s raining during the second visit, allowing him to show water coming out of the system’s outlet. Behind the garage structure, the water coming down from sloped ground is draining into the catch basin, although it appears to be going around the corner of the French drain to get there.

Subsequently, some natural debris ends up obstructing the catch basin, which results in flooding at the garage. Shawn’s friend’s wife is able to clear it, which allows some of the collected water to drain away.

At a later date, Shawn returns to show some modifications that were made to the system to help avoid such flooding, including a small berm and swale that were constructed along the edge of a neighboring property to help direct away the water before it even reaches the drainage system that was installed around the garage. Some of the holes in the catch basin’s grate had been enlarged, to allow at least some debris to pass through and out of the system, rather than clogging the grate and causing the sort of flooding that had happened earlier.

Shawn discusses some of the challenges encountered with this system, and he mentions that the lessons learned are being used by his friend when designing the drainage system for other building projects. He also briefly shows the initial work being done for the very early stages of a home build.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) is at a site on the edge of a waterfront cliff with a blocked stormwater drain, but isn’t sure where the drain leads. After some investigation, it’s determined that the drain pipe emerges on the side of the cliff.

Shawn (Gate City Foundation Drainage @ YouTube; Gate City Foundation Drainage) digs a trench and places a new culvert to take water from an existing catch basin in a different direction and toward a more convenient destination.