French Drain Installation in Tyler, TX

How a French drain works

A French drain is a trench, usually 6 to 12 inches wide and 12 to 24 inches deep, lined with filter fabric, filled with washed gravel, and fitted with a perforated pipe. Water in the soil finds the gravel (the easiest path), enters the pipe, and flows downhill to an outlet such as a lower part of the yard, a pop-up emitter, a dry well, or the street where allowed.

The key detail is slope. The pipe has to fall steadily toward the outlet, so on flat East Texas lots a good installer plans the route carefully before digging.

When a French drain is the right answer

• Ground that stays soggy long after rain
• Water seeping toward a slab or crawlspace
• Runoff coming from a neighbor's higher yard
• Wet areas along fences, driveways or retaining walls

If water simply pools on the surface in a low spot, a surface drain or regrading may work better or be combined with a French drain.

Doing it right in clay soil

In the Tyler area's clay, French drains can clog if built cheaply. Good installs use filter fabric to keep clay out of the gravel, clean washed rock, quality pipe, and a real outlet, not just a pipe that ends in the yard. Ask your contractor about each of these.

Questions about french drain installation