Yeah !!! Some of you may remember late last year I was going through some real hell with moisture problems here at the lab, mostly my bedroom. In 1 month I ended up having to gut and scrub my bedroom for mold twice, moisture content out of this world.
This has been an ongoing problem for years, but it has been getting progressively worse. I didn’t have the money or the skills to install a French Drain. I made do with dehumidifiers in several rooms of the house with a mobile hygrometer to see how things progressed day and night. Even with the balmy weather and dry winds, I’d have to start the dehumidifier in my bedroom at 3am and shut it down at 6am. In 2 to 3 days, I would collect 1/2 gallon of water. Just so you know, that’s a lot. Heavy moisture in, around and under a home is not a good thing, it’s bad. Real bad. It’ll destroy a foundation before you can raise a child.
After months and months of saving, I finally got enough pennies to have a French Drain installed along with a sump pump. I live on the flat lands and gravity flow is of no help here. Today the most awesome group of guys started digging. I found Manuel’s company on google a year ago locally for Richmond California and he’s turned out to be the most responsible, skilled and able guy I’ve met in a long time. The trench is not only dug perfectly & properly, but it’s smoothed out as though they were Aztec Gods.
As with previous jobs, I have no doubt that within a few days that Meathenge Labs will be moisture free for years to come. I can finally decorate my bedroom and install clutter as I see fit without worry of moisture that transforms to mold. Ain’t it great? Now I can spend more time sleeping, napping and cooking.
Jaripeo Landscape
Manuel Jasso, owner
New lawns, Fences, Trees, Concrete, Drain Systems, Hauling, Retaining Walls, Stump removal, Sprinkler Systems, probably more.
License #876389, References available
510 620 0998 Office
xo, Biggles
MeatHenge
"If it ain't pork, it ain't sausage"
Is this just the first step or does the presence of the trench dry out the basement?
It looks like drain trenches I’ve seen on golf courses that were filled with gravel.
Why do they call it a French drain? Why not a Belgium or Canadien drain?
Happy News! Good on you!
If you live on the flat, how does the water drain and to where?
Hmm, well I’m going to say it’s called a French Drain because the ground is Frenched. Like a French Fry, ahem.
Right now the water doesn’t drain anywhere, in heavy downpours the water-table is pretty much at the surface of my property. What makes it worse is the downspouts carry the water directly to my foundation, this is bad. I should have had this done years ago, but couldn’t afford it.
The trench is going to be lined with a permeable cloth, then rocks/gravel, a plastic pipe with holes in it will be laid in the trench. The 2 downspouts will drain directly in to the pipe and take all the runoff and ground water in to the sump/big hole. Then, the pump will turn on and pump the water out through another pipe and will be emptied in to the street/city sewer system! This will keep under the house dry! And my bedroom and home dry!
Without the dehumidifier in my bedroom the humidity gets above 70% moisture, you can smell the moisture.
xo, Biggles
ohmagah.
So glad you are having this done. I can smell moisture in my house some days, but it seems to be harmless. No buckets of water. No humidity that I can detect.
Fah. Now I’m scared.
Hey Cookie,
A good rule of thumb to know if you have too much moisture in your home is when you wake up in the morning, is there condensation on the windows? If so, too much moisture. It may not be a big deal, especially if you can get the home aired out soon enough. But if this continues on a regular basis, in a short amount of time? It can get so very nasty, so darned fast. Once it starts, moisture hits again and again, it’ll bloom like the weeds in your yard.
xo, Biggles
Congrats on the drain! That trench looks just the way it should, picture perfect.
>the pump will turn on
We had to have that done inside our finished basement the first month we moved into our house. They had to jackhammer up the basement, tear out drywall, etc. That really hurt right after moving, wiped us out.
You are going to be so happy when they are done, we haven’t had a single moisture problem in the 9 years since we had ours done.
Nope, no condensation on windows. Whew.
So pleased by all these comments cheering you on.
It’s like… a solution!
Nice!
You have brought about a memory lane moment. Drain trenches as you have described used to be a daily part of my former life. It’s basically the same get-up I’d install in golf course fairways to drain off pooling water quick after a massive rain. Then did the same thing to my sister’s house when she had basement problems. Works slick, you will be most pleased.
Is it legal in your city to dump “storm water” into the sanitary sewer? It sure isn’t where I live! We have a separate storm water system.
Here at work, where I am underground (utility company operations center), we had huge problems with water seepage. I finally engineered a “french drain” system for them (we had to dig about 30 ft though!). In addition to what you described, I used a bentonite slurry to seal the walls. It has worked great for the past 20+ years.
Lookup bentonite on Google…
Love your site.
john (old utility company engineer)
Hey John,
Yeah, our poop and storm go down the same system. Not sure how old it is, but my guess is about 70+ years old. Gets exciting during heavy downpours and some portions over-flow, STINKY. But it only happens maybe once a year, not a deal breaker.
xo, Biggles