How drainage ditches work « Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers!
I will never forget how excited my dad was when he hired someone to install drains in his basement about 10 years ago. I remember thinking: Okay, keep cool, it’s a French drain, not a free first class ticket to Paris, France. Growing up in this house that’s below sea level, I’ve gotten used to finding an inch or two (or more) of water on the basement floor after a storm or heavy rain. I never thought much of it until I bought my own old house that has a similar drainage problem. Now I’m not just thinking about installing soakaways, I’m dreaming about it (unfortunately, they’re not cheap). This video from Practical Engineering does a great job of explaining how soakaways work, and it also has some interesting historical facts. For one thing, the idea didn’t originate in France, but in fact it came from a 19th-century American named Henry French.
Whether you’re protecting a multi-million dollar building or simply want to keep your basement dry, underground drains remove water without erosion of the soil.
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