Electra_Glide
Senior Member
Looking for some help on how to bid the following job.
A friend of a friend is looking for some french drains. (As Digger has pointed out, the huricanes of September did a pretty good number up here in western PA). I went out to look at it today, and I'm a bit stumped.
The house is about 40'x50' with a two car attached garage. Full basement under the house. Driveway on one side and a swimming pool in the back. (I really need to remember to start taking the digital camera with me when I go look at jobs.) House probably sits 30'-50' off the road. The majority of his water problems seem to be in the front of the house, and they're not small. He says he burns out a sump pump about once a year, as the thing runs almost constantly.
He wants to install a french drain along the front of the house and down the one side. The driveway and the pool pretty much eliminate the other side and the back. I cautioned him that if he only put in a partial drain, he couldn't be certain that his water problems would be solved.
However, the real problem is where to take the water. The property is almost perfectly flat. Slightly evelated from the road, but otherwise flat. I'm guessing I'd have to dig about 5' to get to his footer. Doing the digging and installing the french drain is pretty straightforward, but the real question is where to terminate the drain? There's no where to daylight the pipe, and give the volume of water, I'm nervous about just digging a big dry well out in his yard.
A little voice is starting to tell me to walk away, but I normally don't give up so easy. Be interested in hearing of any other opinions.
Thanks for listening...
Joe Kantz
A friend of a friend is looking for some french drains. (As Digger has pointed out, the huricanes of September did a pretty good number up here in western PA). I went out to look at it today, and I'm a bit stumped.
The house is about 40'x50' with a two car attached garage. Full basement under the house. Driveway on one side and a swimming pool in the back. (I really need to remember to start taking the digital camera with me when I go look at jobs.) House probably sits 30'-50' off the road. The majority of his water problems seem to be in the front of the house, and they're not small. He says he burns out a sump pump about once a year, as the thing runs almost constantly.
He wants to install a french drain along the front of the house and down the one side. The driveway and the pool pretty much eliminate the other side and the back. I cautioned him that if he only put in a partial drain, he couldn't be certain that his water problems would be solved.
However, the real problem is where to take the water. The property is almost perfectly flat. Slightly evelated from the road, but otherwise flat. I'm guessing I'd have to dig about 5' to get to his footer. Doing the digging and installing the french drain is pretty straightforward, but the real question is where to terminate the drain? There's no where to daylight the pipe, and give the volume of water, I'm nervous about just digging a big dry well out in his yard.
A little voice is starting to tell me to walk away, but I normally don't give up so easy. Be interested in hearing of any other opinions.
Thanks for listening...
Joe Kantz