A Simple Solution - Creating a French Drain

Many times Off-Grid locations are in amongst wilder countryside. Places where facilities like electric power, water systems, internet and phone systems are already unavailable, as people begin to seek refuge away from the chaotic cities and townships. In these more remote locations, it is often a reality that the terrain and weather play an important role in the possibility for a well working off-grid system.

In this instance, a simple "French drain" can become an easy, inexpensive and most effective way to channel water drainage from any source, in order to secure land, property and living areas where water and the damage it can create easily, is not only a possibility, but a reality. On our estate property, we had a most distressing situation occur. It was early December here in the Santa Cruz Redwood Mountain Forest of Central California. I had just finished putting up all the Christmas decorations, a bit early, in excited anticipation of my three children coming for the first Christmas as a family in our ancestral cabin since I had been a young child. There was a rain storm, and it poured down over 12 inches in little over two days. The over-abundance of water from the entire upper neighborhood came down and ended up draining into the front of the Great room of the house. I walked into the living room and found myself an inch deep in water, soaking the carpet and padding beneath. One could not imagine my initial surprise and then panic as the water still poured in through a crack in the old mortar between the hand-hewn railroad ties that the wall was made of. It was as if someone had poked a hose through the wall and it was just pouring into the room. Through a most valiant effort by several kind-hearted neighbors lending their most capable hands, we were able to diagnose the problem, stop the leak, and I began the most arduous task of taking up the wall-to-wall carpet and padding and trying to vacuum up as much of the water as possible. Other neighbors lent me fans and heaters and several ran for nearly a week straight in an effort to dry the room out, while it was still continuing to be stormy outside. It was truly a nightmare of epic proportions, although ended up finding a major problem that had apparently been leaking for some years and accounted for the musty smell in the room that could never be rid of. Fixing this did the job, and simply. Here goes..... We were fortunate, not only to have discovered a serious problem, but to have had a 12-14 inch deep trench already dug. A walkway decking had been built over the trench alongside the house. In our case it was simply a matter of making sure the water had someplace to go. We also already had an established drain that ran beneath the house foundation and down into the creek below. So the first thing was to make sure the trench had a grade to it that would use gravity to lead the water to the drain. Next we needed to make sure that the continuously eroding hillside above would not clog the waterway. Reused and salvaged four-inch plastic drain pipe with pre-drilled holes was laid in the trench.

Next a filter cloth was laid over the plastic pipe, the width of the trench, to keep debris out of the holes in the pipe. The trench was then filled up to the top with one inch rock, covering the plastic drain pipe and filter cloth.

We re-laid the walkway decking with confidence that any floodwater would effectively run-off through the French drain and the house was now no longer in danger of water damage. Total Cost: Under $80 and well worth the peace of mind. Sometimes, it can be this simple.