Outside french drain or trench drain (Nassau: new house, construction, live)

[manhasset hills1]

I have some areas of my lawn in the backyard that don't drain properly. I see some of the houses in the area have gutters that go directly into PVC piping which drain into the street? and I would like to know if anybody can recommend a company in Nassau County to dig a hole to divert the water from my gutters in the backyard to the street ~100 feet. It can be a DIY but I'd rather not tackle the job myself since its not easy to dig up 100 feet of dirt at a depth of 3-4 feet and maintain a slope in the piping....
I've heard that outside french drains tend to clog up easily despite placing landscape fabric over the perforated pipes. Is that true? and if so do those homeowners just install a "mini" dry well in the middle of their lawn?

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated

[nuts2uiam]

No help here just check and be sure you don't need a permit. If you do they will make you rip it out to show them what you have, as they did my neighbor.

[Buckthedog]

Originally Posted by nuts2uiam

No help here just check and be sure you don't need a permit. If you do they will make you rip it out to show them what you have, as they did my neighbor.

More *#&%ing permits! I think we need to abolish these local governments. What affect does a french drain have on your neighbors or 'safety'

[nuts2uiam]

Originally Posted by Buckthedog

More *#&%ing permits! I think we need to abolish these local governments. What affect does a french drain have on your neighbors or 'safety'

No effect. It has to do with water being diverted to a different area that it was not originally being sent to and ultimately whether or not the towns drainage (i.e the street in front of your home) is going to be adversely impacted.

In other words, if you put a dry well or French drain in your yard that moved water that would have been handled by the storm drain connected to the street in front of your house to the side or back street it could overwhelm that storm drain and cause problems.

That is how the town explained it to my neighbor who put one in without a permit and they made him dig it up to show them!!!

[mb11111]

Originally Posted by manhasset hills1

I have some areas of my lawn in the backyard that don't drain properly. I see some of the houses in the area have gutters that go directly into PVC piping which drain into the street? and I would like to know if anybody can recommend a company in Nassau County to dig a hole to divert the water from my gutters in the backyard to the street ~100 feet. It can be a DIY but I'd rather not tackle the job myself since its not easy to dig up 100 feet of dirt at a depth of 3-4 feet and maintain a slope in the piping....
I've heard that outside french drains tend to clog up easily despite placing landscape fabric over the perforated pipes. Is that true? and if so do those homeowners just install a "mini" dry well in the middle of their lawn?

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated

It's HIGHLY unlikely that your town will let you drain water directly into the street from your gutters, purposely. New house construction in my village must drain into a drywell. Yours and your neighbors' houses are likely old enough that when they were originally built, that wasn't a requirement back then that water runoff needs to be kept on your property. That's the reason why they make you put hay bales around the perimeter of a new construction project, to catch dirt run off when it rains so it doesn't clog up the sewers. You absolutely need to go to your village hall first and check whether you can drain water directly into the street from your property.

Drywells will run you between $1-2K to install and the same company that installs the drywell can probably help run the pipe from the gutter downspout into the drywell.

You could also just try a simple drainage trench in the area where the water collects (ask your landscaper if they can help) whereby you dig a 4-5' deep trench the size of where the water usually accumulates and then fill it mostly with gravel and then cover with sand and then topsoil and when it rains, the water will drain down into the trench out of sight. Depending on how rocky your ground is, and how physically fit you are, you can easily do it yourself if you have somewhere on your property to put the displaced earth you dig up. Home Depot or Lowes will deliver the gravel and sand and topsoil for relatively cheap.

[manhasset hills1]

Originally Posted by mb11111

It's HIGHLY unlikely that your town will let you drain water directly into the street from your gutters, purposely. New house construction in my village must drain into a drywell. Yours and your neighbors' houses are likely old enough that when they were originally built, that wasn't a requirement back then that water runoff needs to be kept on your property. That's the reason why they make you put hay bales around the perimeter of a new construction project, to catch dirt run off when it rains so it doesn't clog up the sewers. You absolutely need to go to your village hall first and check whether you can drain water directly into the street from your property.

Drywells will run you between $1-2K to install and the same company that installs the drywell can probably help run the pipe from the gutter downspout into the drywell.

You could also just try a simple drainage trench in the area where the water collects (ask your landscaper if they can help) whereby you dig a 4-5' deep trench the size of where the water usually accumulates and then fill it mostly with gravel and then cover with sand and then topsoil and when it rains, the water will drain down into the trench out of sight. Depending on how rocky your ground is, and how physically fit you are, you can easily do it yourself if you have somewhere on your property to put the displaced earth you dig up. Home Depot or Lowes will deliver the gravel and sand and topsoil for relatively cheap.

Thanks for the info. Didn't think it would be this complicated! I will research this further and most likely install a drywell to do it the right way. I was under the impression that drywell installation cost thousands of dollars...will go and get some estimates of cost. Thanks again.

[nuts2uiam]

Originally Posted by manhasset hills1

Thanks for the info. Didn't think it would be this complicated! I will research this further and most likely install a drywell to do it the right way. I was under the impression that drywell installation cost thousands of dollars...will go and get some estimates of cost. Thanks again.

They can be very expensive and thousands is not out of the realm of possibility.

[victlopjr]

Originally Posted by manhasset hills1

I have some areas of my lawn in the backyard that don't drain properly. I see some of the houses in the area have gutters that go directly into PVC piping which drain into the street? and I would like to know if anybody can recommend a company in Nassau County to dig a hole to divert the water from my gutters in the backyard to the street ~100 feet. It can be a DIY but I'd rather not tackle the job myself since its not easy to dig up 100 feet of dirt at a depth of 3-4 feet and maintain a slope in the piping....
I've heard that outside french drains tend to clog up easily despite placing landscape fabric over the perforated pipes. Is that true? and if so do those homeowners just install a "mini" dry well in the middle of their lawn?

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated

If you make small drain hole all pvc send gutters water to the ground.This job cost you about 750.00 is similar work others do for the washing machine