Hoping someone can help or refer me to someone who can. I live in southern California. I have two old mortared terraced (2 tier) split-faced cinder block walls with footings. They are only two feet tall with about 3 feet of soil bed behind each. Soil is clay base but amended with organic matter. Seems to drain pretty good. The two tiers are split in two by steps with two 30 foot long walls on one side and two 20 feet long walls on the other. They were leaking and the french drain didn’t drain. So took out all the soil. Found the french drain sloped in the wrong direction and sitting on top of the footing. Anyway, will be re-waterproofing them but wondered about the french drain. So….
1. Do I need the french drain?
2. If so, where is it supposed to be placed in this situation? Next to footing, below footing, etc. and how much gravel do I have to have. The less the better as far as I’m concerned, because want room for plants (woodys and herbaceous) in them and these are not very tall walls or very wide beds. However these are nice walls and want them to last. Also do I need to compact the soil behind the gravel? Again don’t want too much compacted soil, because plants aren’t going to like it.
3. Also, if I need a french drain, do I have to have an outlet for the drain? Have a bit of an issue with getting the slope it would need in the yard if I have to set the drain lower than it is.
Most advice out there is for basements, or cold/wet parts of the country, or tall walls, or steep slopes, etc. So need some intelligent site-specific help. Thank you !!