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There is cuurently a 2 foot wide swamp runnig throug our backyard where water drains downhill. We would like to install drain tile in our back yard but were unclear about something. I know the perforated pipe sits on a stone bed and is covereled over by more rock. The question is can I then put dirt and grow grass over the top of that? I don’t want to have a rock filled trench running through the yard. PLEASE HELP….
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Martin,
That's pretty close. Use a very thin layer of rock under the perforated pipe if any at all. Set the pipe with the holes down, that is at 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock. Cover the pipe with drain rock (river wash is best because the rounded surfaces leave bigger spaces), at least 12". Then cover the drain rock with a landscape filter fabric to prevent the top soil above from settling into the voids below.
Dave
*My installation is a little more complex than David's, but he has the right idea.Trench down a little more than a foot. Line the trench with at least 10 mil plastic. Add about 2" of pea gravel. Add your ABS. There is a debate about which way to point the holes. I always thought it was down, and my soil engineer that we used on a home last summer, said holes up. Go figure. Cover the ABS with lanscape cloth. Add more pea gravel to level everything out. Then back fill.Make sure this ABS goes somewhere! It needs to run downhill to a dry well or other drainage area. Depending on how much water you have, you may want to install several of these that converge to a 6" ABS pipe and then to your drainage area. I don't know how much water you have.
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Scooter's point is a good one. A drain tile wont help if you have no where for the water to go. "Be the water." Look at your land and figure out where the water wants to go and use the tile to get it there. If there is nowhere to easily irrigate the water then other measures would have to be taken.
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There is cuurently a 2 foot wide swamp runnig throug our backyard where water drains downhill. We would like to install drain tile in our back yard but were unclear about something. I know the perforated pipe sits on a stone bed and is covereled over by more rock. The question is can I then put dirt and grow grass over the top of that? I don't want to have a rock filled trench running through the yard. PLEASE HELP....
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Also, where does the water come from? Is the whole yard just draining into a swale or do you need a catch basin at the top?