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Chicago Basements: Waterproofing with French Drains

waterproofing with french drains

If you are dealing with a problem of frequent water infiltration into the basement of your Chicago home, you know how difficult and costly this problem can be.

A wet basement is not only a drain on your finances, but it also poses a threat to the structural integrity of your building and subjects the home to the risk of mold with its attendant problems, says Golden Properties.

When addressing this issue, you don’t want to wait until water seeps into your basement before you act. Instead, you want a solution that lets you keep water out of your home.

French drains are one of the best waterproofing measures for combating water seepage in the basement. A French drain collects water from the soil to channel it away from your building.

How French drains work?

French drains do not try to keep water out of your basement. The system assumes that water will find its way into your basement. Instead, the French drain keeps that water from seeping into the foundation. Here is how it does it.

French drains are constructed by laying perforated or flexible corrugated pipes in a shallow trench with gravel at the bottom. This trench is backfilled and slightly compacted to keep the pipes in place.

Water that enters the basement or excess water in the soil flows into the French drain via the holes in the pipe. Under gravity, this water is channeled to a sump pit inside the basement or a discharge point in the yard.

By relieving hydrostatic pressure on walls, floors, and the foundation, French drains keep the soil from becoming over-saturated with water. It solves a problem that sealing the cracks and plugging the holes in the foundation cannot address.

Does your Chicago home need a French drain?

If you are currently dealing with any of the issues listed below, a French drain could be the right solution for the drainage problems  in your Chicago home:

  • Your basement or yard is soggy due to persistent seepage or flooding
  • Your home is located in an area with heavy rainfall and high water tables
  • The soil on your property is poorly drained, or the ground has inadequate grading
  • Your home’s foundation is already cracked, or you have porous masonry
  • You want to improve the existing waterproofing measures in your basement
  • You want a waterproofing solution that is long-term and doesn’t hurt the home’s aesthetics
a french drain installation on a chicago property

Installing a French drain is a major construction project. This is why you might need a professional French drain installation company or basement flooding service provider for this job.

Installing a French drain on your Chicago property

French drains are installed around your property, with a slope of one inch for every eight feet in the direction you want the water to flow. They are unobtrusive yet highly effective. Here are the steps for installing a French drain on your property:

  • Dig a trench: The trench is dug in the lowest area in the yard or basement. It should be excavated to a depth of 1-2 feet and a width of 1-2 feet.
  • Install fiber fabric: A layer of permeable filter fabric or weed barrier is laid inside the trench, with at least 10 inches of excess fabric at the sides. For the best results (optimal water flow and erosion prevention), use medium-weight fabric (4-6 ounces).
  • Add a gravel bed: Pour a layer of washed gravel or landscaping stone into the pit. It should be 3 inches thick after compaction. It is a good idea to add a layer of river rock on top for better filtration and ease of maintenance.
  • Lay perforated pipes in the pit: This is usually PVC or corrugated plastic pipes. After it is laid on top of the gravel bed, add more gravel to the sides and top of the pipe until it is well-covered.
  • Install an inlet grate: This should be positioned in the part of your basement where the water pools the most. The grate should be securely fastened and easy to access for cleaning.
  • Backfill the trench: After the pipes are laid and covered with gravel, pull the excess fabric over the gravel until the edges overlap and the entire system is hidden. Backfill the trench and compact lightly to ensure the pipes stay in place.
  • Sump connection: Connect the French drain to your sump basin, collection pit, or the location in your yard where you want the water to be discharged.

Finally, remember that installing a French drain is a major construction project. This is why you might need a professional French drain installation company or basement flooding service provider for this job.

Additionally, French drains need to be maintained periodically, as they tend to clog with time or if there is heavy rain. The quality of the French drain installation affects its performance and determines how easily you can maintain the system.

Speaking with an experienced Chicago professional French drain installation and basement flooding service ensures the lowest cost and best results when installing a French drain in your basement.

Stop Yard Flooding in Its Tracks with a French Drain

Stop Yard Flooding in Its Tracks with a French Drain

Stop Yard Flooding in Its Tracks with a French Drain 

Damaged landscaping, increased risk of lawn disease, mosquitoes in the yard or water draining from your yard into your neighbor’s property; are just a few of the problems you get from having standing water in your yard. This flooding doesn’t have to be massive to cause major issues. Just one inch of water in the yard can cause you more than $25,000 worth of damage.

What causes yard flooding?

To prevent flooding caused by rainfall, Sage Property Management explains most homes are built in a way that allows runoff to be directed toward the front of your house, so it can be channeled safely to the city’s stormwater management system. For most homes, this design works perfectly. But, if the slope in your yard is not sufficient to let rainwater runoff, there will be flooding around the house.

If your home regularly experiences incidences of yard flooding, what can you do about it?

French drains: the best way to protect your yard from flooding

There are many ways to prevent or minimize floods in your yard. But the most effective solution is to have a French drain installed on your property.

French drains are preferred to any other method because:

  • French drains are the most versatile solution for the long-term management of yard flooding.
  • The practical, highly affordable and reliable, whether used for flood response or yard drainage.
  • French drains can last 30-40 years, and they won’t alter the aesthetics of your property.

What is a French drain? How do they work, and how can you install one in your yard?

Installing a French drain

In simple terms, a French drain uses gravel and perforated/corrugated pipes to direct water from higher to lower ground. It is a trench dug in the area of your yard with the most flooding issues. This trench contains a perforated pipe, wrapped in water-permeable fabric and encased with a layer of stone or gravel before being covered with soil.

After heavy rainfall, excess water that collects in the yard will find its way into the French drain before being moved to a location where it won’t cause problems. This water percolates downward through the soil under the pull of gravity until it is drawn into the French drain, flowing through spaces in the layer of gravel and the pores of the water-permeable fabric.

To install a French drain in your yard, you need the following:

  • Landscape fabric: For the best results, use non-woven geotextile fabric that weighs 4 ounces per square yard (minimum). Make sure the fabric is designed for drainage and not for separation.
  • Stones or gravel: Avoid rounded stones; angular stone or gravel with particle size ranging from 3/4 – 2 1/2 inches is best. Base gravel #3 will work for most installations.
  • Drainage Pipe: 4-inch perforated PVC or 4-inch perforated corrugated plastic are the two most-used materials. If you need to go around corners, use a corrugated pipe.
  • Catch basins: These make it easy to clean the French drain.

To install the French drain, follow these steps:

  • Decide where you want the water to go. Remove about 3 inches of sod from the area where the trench will be. Lay this aside to be reused when you complete the trench.
  • Dig the trench using a shovel or mini excavator with a 12-inch bucket. The trench should be around 10-18 inches deep (shallow at its beginning and deeper as the slope increases).
  • The trench should slope at 1 inch for every 8 feet to ensure it directs water downhill. You can verify this by measuring the trench with a hand level or a rotary level.
  • Flatten the bottom of your trench with a hand tamper. Lay the fabric over your trench with the edges falling over the sides of the trench. 

french drainage tile before being installed.

  • Place the pipe inside the trench, on top of the fabric. If there are more than 100 feet of trench, join the pipe sections with pipe connectors and waterproof tape.
  • Install your catch basin to serve as easy-to-reach cleanouts for the French drain at every 100 feet interval or shorter.

a puddle from flooding.

  • Backfill the trench with gravel, and ensure there is gravel around the sides of the pipe and 4-6 inches of gravel on top. The more gravel you have in the trench, the better.
  • Wrap everything by pulling the edges of your fabric so they overlap on top of the gravel. You may use duct tape to secure those edges.
  • Lastly, backfill the trench with soil and replace the sod you removed at the beginning.

Finally, is this a project you can do on your own? The answer is YES and NO. Yes, because you should not have any difficulties following the instructions above. No, because you can damage utility lines when digging the trench or expose your home to foundation issues. That is why it’s always a good idea to talk to an expert before you install a French drain on your property.

How to Install Drain Tiles in the Back Yard

How to Install Drain Tiles in the Back Yard

Despite their name, drain tiles are actually not tiles. Drain tiles, also known as a French drain, are pipes that are buried in the ground around the entire perimeter of a house and surrounded with gravel. They protect the foundation of the house from surface runoff by collecting the water before it can reach the base of the house and discharging it in a safe place.

As Paramount Management & Realty explains, they are essential for homes on soil with poor drainage or if the characteristics of land make it easy for water to collect around a building’s foundation. A drain tile system consists of perforated pipes inside a trench dug around the home and surrounded with gravel. The setup is further surrounded by landscape fabric and sand to keep debris out of the pipes.

Installing a French drain in your backyard

Here are a few things to think about before you install a French drain tile system in your backyard:

  • Think of where the water from the drain tile system will go. You want the water to be able to flow away from the house – under the force of gravity – to a natural waterway or similar location. The water should not go toward another property or a septic leach field.
  • If the slope of your land or the area around the house does not permit water to flow away naturally, you will need a sump pit or dry well to hold the water temporarily. Dry wells should be dug in the lowest area on the land and should be large enough to hold water until it can soak into the ground.
  • If this is not an option, a sump pit can also serve the same purpose. Water from the drain tile system is channeled into the pit, from where it is pumped out and discharged in a safe location on your property or into your municipality’s systems for removing stormwater.
  • Lastly, before you lay a drain tile system in your backyard, think of what you will do with the dirt left after you have backfilled the trench. A good way to utilize dirt is to make raised flowerbeds or use it to level a part of your land.

Steps for installing a drain tile system in the backyard

What you will need:

  • A trencher or shovel
  • 4-inch perforated drainpipes
  • ¾ inch drain rock (gravel) or polystyrene
  • Sand
  • Landscape fabric or filter cloth

Step one: Digging the trench

Two important things to keep in mind when digging the trench are maintain a constant slope toward the point where you want the water to be discharged and keep the surface of the trench level to avoid dips where water can collect. 

The trench should be around 12” wide and 8-24” deep. It should slope at the rate of ¼ per foot. This means it will be deeper at the runoff point than it is at the drainage point. The easy way to make your trench is with a trencher, but you may have to do it by hand (with a shovel) if the land is soft and muddy.

Step two: Fill the bottom of the trench

If you used a trencher to make your trench, you may still need to shovel some of the dirt out along the entire length of the trench to make the surface level. After the trench is completed fill it with gravel to a height of about 2” and then lay landscape fabric or filter cloth over the gravel to prevent weeds.

Step three: Lay the drainpipes

You will need corrugated flexible plastic drainpipes. These have a diameter between 4-12” but you will typically use 4” pipes. Drainpipes are also available as 10-foot rigid PVC pipes with holes on one side. Corrugated pipes will often have slits across their entire surface. If there are concerns that the pipes may get crushed after the trench is backfilled, use PVC pipes.

The pipes are typically laid with the perforations facing down, especially if you use pipes with perforations on only one side of them. If there are curved points along the pipe, make sure the connections are secured with elbows and couplings. After the pipes are laid, backfill with gravel to around 2” below grade and then cover with dirt. 

Step four: Install cleanouts

Ideally, you should have two cleanouts: one at each end of the drain. Cleanouts make it easy to clear your drain tile system off debris without having to dig up pipes. A cleanout fitting is a tee that is installed slightly above grade, with a cap for easy access to the drain. 

If the drain tile system starts to get blocked with debris, you can easily insert a garden hose through the cleanout port to flush the system. For blockages which are a bit harder to remove, you can use an auger.