Civil engineer here, anyone doing this install should follow the suggestion to putting in filter fabric over the crushed stone otherwise eventually you will have fine particles fill in all of the void spaces between the stone and you’ll end up with a useless drainage system.
Excellent advice, in fact when I used an aqua cell system in England, to meet code it had to sit on gravel, wrapped in membrane and a gravel barrier between soil and aqua cell system all around the sides. It’s all about minimizing sediment building up in the cell
@DJWerkz with storage cells like this it's probably not going to make much of a difference either way but if you're doing drainage pipe where the water needs to get to the pipe a clay soil will clog the fabric.
I’ve been watching ATOH since I was a kid on Saturday’s. I’ve seen them do this install minimum 3 times. The first one was a guy who used to run outside and unfold a gutter to get the water away from his house down a driveway when it rained.
The laborers were sitting in the truck around the corner happy they only had the one hole to dig vs doing all of this job then the next 3 they typically would have had time for in the same day!
I thought this exact thing seeing as how the pipe goes above the down spout by about a foot and then goes underground..not that easy to just peel it apart if it becomes clogged.
The grade at both downspouts lacks slope away from the house--there are even depressions for the water to sit. The first step should have been to address this. Getting rainwater a couple foot headstart away from the foundation is often enough to mitigate water intrusion into the house.
i don't think there are any laws prohibiting you to discharge roof water to the street. The challenge here as she stated was it was discharging directly to a sidewalk. So theres some perceived liability for the homeowner if the water created an icy spot in the sidewalk. So shes doing the right thing. The drywells effectiveness is based partly on the permeability of the underlying soils. If its clay soils which is common in new england the well would not drain very fast when it fills up and would only be providing storage for small storms. Which is fine, just know that for heavy or prolonged rain events it should be expected to overflow.
Unless standing water was already a problem, I don't know why they used a drain... Most basin install videos I've seen they just use a pop-up to prevent stuff flowing inside and still have overflow protection.
Years ago my stepdad did this with pvc pipe. While I was helping him install it I asked “what if this gets clogged or if it freezes?” he quickly shut down my concerns and said that wouldn’t happen. Lo and behold when the weather got cold enough the pipes froze and ripped the downspouts off the house. I had a good laugh.
I have the same set up in WI , where it freezes. All you have to do is make sure the pitch/slope is there for water to drain away. It’s not rocket science!
I would have caught both downspouts with schedule 40 pipe and routed the water to the street, away from the foundation. The drainage pit and pop up emitter are way too close to the house.
Why isn't storm water a utility in the US? Here in Norway all houses have 3 water connections to the city - fresh water, sewer and storm water. My downspouts go down into the ground and all tie in together and goes to the public storm water system.
@@sjokomelk Even maintaining the electric, gas, and water connections is a tough enough job. Many of the older cities tied the storm into the sewer which has been problematic every time it rains hard, because they have to discharge raw sewage.
That pipe to the drywell doesn’t have to be below the frost line so water doesn’t freeze in that pipe ?? Otherwise, it’s just a big icicle when it’s around 20-30 degrees
@@thomasmeagher4801 That hole is over 25 cubic feet of dirt... My home sits on clay soil once you go below 12". That size hole would take me half a day to dig and I'd be exhausted after that.
I have to ask: What's the longevity & maintenance of these systems? I would imagine the water collector would fill with debris/leaves that need to be cleaned out every so often. Also, the popup emitter only opens when there's a substantial amount of water already in the pipe. The rest of the time that water is just sitting in there stagnant? That breeds mosquitos, rot, generalized trouble... I dunno... doesn't look like a good maintenance free solution to me.
Yep - leaf filters before it goes underground. Wrap the crushed stone. If the ground freezes, that PVC pipe may break, strong corrugated if you are in a freeze zone.
I guess all other options for mitigating the wet basement problem were ruled out. These include proper lot grading, adding a drainage tile, damp proofing the foundation walls, adding sump pump, or terminating the downspouts 6' from the foundation. I've read that connecting downspouts to underground pipes is not the best solution due to the possibility of blockage. Did the homeowner rule out the wet basement being due to a high water table?
Seems like a good idea... but I am not sure about the container that goes in the ground. I don't think that I would have very high sides and a top on it. Seems like it could eventually grow mold. I have been driving down streets near businesses but also residential areas and will smell mold and who knows why but this could even be one reason. Something to keep an eye out for, or a nose
The stone doesn't go in the catch basin. It goes below and around it. You are supposed to knock out the small holes all the way around or if you want the water to go out one side, like toward the street and not toward the house in this case. Then place 4" of stone in the bottom, wrap the tank with filter fabric and set in the hole. Then fill around the tank with stone, cover top of stone with more filter fabric then place the drain on the top and back fill. Putting stone in the tank just decreases how much it can hold. The whole idea is to route the water into the tank where it can percolate through the small holes into the stone surrounding the tank and into the ground. If the tank gets full during a long storm, the excess will come out the top drain. The install process is detailed in the installation instructions for the catch basin. Really surprised to see such an incorrect installation.
I’ve watched hundreds of hours this old house since I was very young and it shocks me that you didn’t recommend or apparently Contact local utilities to Mark where you can dig so you don’t dig up something or damage damage something
bad idea, you need regrade and get all of the water away from the house. the shrubs can be replanted. watch Gate City Foundation Drainage for the correct solution.
The grading around the house looks ok. Basement is flooding because a good chunk of the roof's water is being dumped right next to the foundation. Just have to get it further away from the house.
My favorite part was when they cut scene to have the men come in to do the digging off camera and then started recording again after the holes were dug. Notice not a bit of sweat on either female. LOL
That's not schedule 40 PVC pipe! I would of left it as it was. Big problems down the road with that half assed systems! Waste of time & money. Wait until winter!
There are so many wrongs with this video. There was a storm drain right there to run your down spout extensions to and yet you chose a pit for drainage. That's just wrong. TOH should have consulted with the French Drain Man or at least watched his videos to do this job better.
Civil engineer here, anyone doing this install should follow the suggestion to putting in filter fabric over the crushed stone otherwise eventually you will have fine particles fill in all of the void spaces between the stone and you’ll end up with a useless drainage system.
Excellent advice, in fact when I used an aqua cell system in England, to meet code it had to sit on gravel, wrapped in membrane and a gravel barrier between soil and aqua cell system all around the sides. It’s all about minimizing sediment building up in the cell
Be careful with installations that have clay soils though. Fabric will tend to clog.
@@aaronshaw6743 soil in my area of England was heavy clay yet to meet code fabric had to be used
@DJWerkz with storage cells like this it's probably not going to make much of a difference either way but if you're doing drainage pipe where the water needs to get to the pipe a clay soil will clog the fabric.
If you were ever stranded on a deserted island, the best thing you could have is the "This Old House" crew. They pretty much know everything.
Lol they would be absolutely useless without their modern building materials and power tools 😂
As long as there is a house on that deserted island
Roger watching from above! 🙏
This is exactly what I have needed to see for months now since buying my first home. This video answers almost all of my questions. Thank you!
This would have been a good video for Roger. Rest easy Roger
I believe Roger did one of these house calls years ago with a similar situation and solution
@@n8_the_carpenter816 he put in a drain grate then piped the water to the back neighbor's property.
How do you know he died?
@@TjStammenTOH did a thing for him.
He is pushing up tulips now
I’ve been watching ATOH since I was a kid on Saturday’s. I’ve seen them do this install minimum 3 times. The first one was a guy who used to run outside and unfold a gutter to get the water away from his house down a driveway when it rained.
They dug that 40" hole rather quickly.
The laborers were sitting in the truck around the corner happy they only had the one hole to dig vs doing all of this job then the next 3 they typically would have had time for in the same day!
Jenn's got skillz
always, always looks easier and takes no time at all on TV. Plus, it's only a 23 minute show....
What happened to the sod they were supposed to be saving in the front?
Great job! I have a question to ask; Would it be better if you installed a clean-out at the base of the downspouts?
The pipe is not glued, it's easy enough to remove for cleaning if necessary.
I thought this exact thing seeing as how the pipe goes above the down spout by about a foot and then goes underground..not that easy to just peel it apart if it becomes clogged.
Great job guys
Nice work. (that looks like 4" outdoor drain pipe, though, not schedule 40 plumbing pipe, which would be overkill anyway)
Yeah that’s sdr 35 it’s got the bell on one end
@@joeDirte Looked like SCH40 to me. I’ve only seen SDR35 pipe in green. Seen both available with bell ends.
@@KerkmanRAit comes in white. Home Depot sells white mostly.
@ I stand corrected, cheers
The grade at both downspouts lacks slope away from the house--there are even depressions for the water to sit. The first step should have been to address this. Getting rainwater a couple foot headstart away from the foundation is often enough to mitigate water intrusion into the house.
That drywell is pretty close to the foundation...
I wonder if they were restricted from putting it too close to the sidewalk. Seemed like a small, tough space.
plus the basement wall doesn't appear to be coated on the outside...
No gluing PVC?
i don't think there are any laws prohibiting you to discharge roof water to the street. The challenge here as she stated was it was discharging directly to a sidewalk. So theres some perceived liability for the homeowner if the water created an icy spot in
the sidewalk. So shes doing the right thing. The drywells effectiveness is based partly on the permeability of the underlying soils. If its clay soils which is common in new england the well would not drain very fast when it fills up and would only be providing storage for small storms. Which is fine, just know that for heavy or prolonged rain events it should be expected to overflow.
So what stops grass clipping from going down that drain opening?
Unless standing water was already a problem, I don't know why they used a drain... Most basin install videos I've seen they just use a pop-up to prevent stuff flowing inside and still have overflow protection.
The rainwater will clean it out.
Years ago my stepdad did this with pvc pipe. While I was helping him install it I asked “what if this gets clogged or if it freezes?” he quickly shut down my concerns and said that wouldn’t happen. Lo and behold when the weather got cold enough the pipes froze and ripped the downspouts off the house. I had a good laugh.
“Low.”
@johnlebzelter4208 low what?
@@johnlebzelter4208 I guess you're a full adult who just learned that you've been writing "lo and behold" wrong your entire life.
I have the same set up in WI , where it freezes. All you have to do is make sure the pitch/slope is there for water to drain away. It’s not rocket science!
Great job🎶
Where's the shot of the husband sipping his coffee in the window?😂
He's dying after all the time and fertilizer he spent making the grass perfectly flat and green!
Sweet episode, can we get you to do one for FL or some tropical environment that gets monsoons sometimes? 😂✊️🤙
1. Start with a moving truck. 😂
@ Hah move? Nah Im good
Why do you need the big dry well underground? Just run the PVC underground with pop up emitter several feet away from the house.
Drywell would be utterly useless in my area. Soil doesn’t drain quickly at all.
I would have caught both downspouts with schedule 40 pipe and routed the water to the street, away from the foundation. The drainage pit and pop up emitter are way too close to the house.
In lots of municipalities, discharging gutter or landscape drainage systems to the street is not legal…
Why isn't storm water a utility in the US? Here in Norway all houses have 3 water connections to the city - fresh water, sewer and storm water. My downspouts go down into the ground and all tie in together and goes to the public storm water system.
@@sjokomelk Even maintaining the electric, gas, and water connections is a tough enough job. Many of the older cities tied the storm into the sewer which has been problematic every time it rains hard, because they have to discharge raw sewage.
That pipe to the drywell doesn’t have to be below the frost line so water doesn’t freeze in that pipe ?? Otherwise, it’s just a big icicle when it’s around 20-30 degrees
Depends on where they are, in my area we get maybe 8" of frozen ground on the coldest winters.
Winter all the pipe crack 🧊 ⛄
thats a big hole to dig with a shovel
Seriously??? People are so lazy it's unreal this is an easy DIY weekend job to fix a problem
@thomasmeagher4801 yes seriously, try digging a hole like that in the southwest with a shovel. I guess they have really soft soil.
@@thomasmeagher4801 That hole is over 25 cubic feet of dirt... My home sits on clay soil once you go below 12". That size hole would take me half a day to dig and I'd be exhausted after that.
rent an auger or mini back hoe; money well spent
@@cup_and_cone plus they did not talk about the water table, i hit water at 18 inches.
I have to ask: What's the longevity & maintenance of these systems? I would imagine the water collector would fill with debris/leaves that need to be cleaned out every so often. Also, the popup emitter only opens when there's a substantial amount of water already in the pipe. The rest of the time that water is just sitting in there stagnant? That breeds mosquitos, rot, generalized trouble...
I dunno... doesn't look like a good maintenance free solution to me.
Popup emitters have a tiny hole at the elbow so the water inside can slowly drain away….
I'm a big fan of TOH, but I'm sorry, installing a drywell for 1 single downspout is just overkill
First in!
Love TOH, thanks for this video.
I did a system like this, but it took me a month to dig the giant hole because the wasps wanted to fly in there to gather mud.
You would need a jackhammer to dig that in my yard and it would take a month.
How does the “pop-up” work when it’s covered with snow and ice??
There's a hole in the bottom so the water can disperse into the gravel.
Here come all the “pros” with their stories and suggestions. 😂
@@johnlebzelter4208 you’re a retard who beats off to woman’s bras how is your opinion not worthless? Simp old man.
I suppose pvc solvent glue isn't necessary these days?
Close enough, some will leak out but then again it is raining on the grade 8" above. Also makes it easier to clean out later!
It would be nice to show whether the system works or not after installed. Kind of an abrupt end to the video
No glue at the PVC joints???
It was raining so they just skipped that step
@@derewreckPVC glue still works when wet...
That is a job for a French Drain Man solution.
Yep - leaf filters before it goes underground. Wrap the crushed stone. If the ground freezes, that PVC pipe may break, strong corrugated if you are in a freeze zone.
Why not just cap the vertical clean out instead of collecting mosquitos and grass clippings
I guess all other options for mitigating the wet basement problem were ruled out. These include proper lot grading, adding a drainage tile, damp proofing the foundation walls, adding sump pump, or terminating the downspouts 6' from the foundation. I've read that connecting downspouts to underground pipes is not the best solution due to the possibility of blockage. Did the homeowner rule out the wet basement being due to a high water table?
Waiting for you to start your own channel.
Missing Roger
I would have just extended the gutter.
Seems like that drywell was a waste. She could have did the same thing in the front, as she did in the back.
That was my thought too the smaller emitter seemed like it would be adequate for both sides.
they don’t say the sq ft of roof driving the two downspouts do they?
@@superpolymath Why does that matter?
The more the roof area feeding the downspouts, the more water to get rid off.
@@davidquinn6161 Yeah, but it can just all go in the grass.
The time watching i kept thinking of Roger :(
It’s Rahjah!
Seems like a good idea... but I am not sure about the container that goes in the ground. I don't think that I would have very high sides and a top on it. Seems like it could eventually grow mold. I have been driving down streets near businesses but also residential areas and will smell mold and who knows why but this could even be one reason. Something to keep an eye out for, or a nose
🤩💧🌱
The stone doesn't go in the catch basin. It goes below and around it. You are supposed to knock out the small holes all the way around or if you want the water to go out one side, like toward the street and not toward the house in this case. Then place 4" of stone in the bottom, wrap the tank with filter fabric and set in the hole. Then fill around the tank with stone, cover top of stone with more filter fabric then place the drain on the top and back fill.
Putting stone in the tank just decreases how much it can hold. The whole idea is to route the water into the tank where it can percolate through the small holes into the stone surrounding the tank and into the ground. If the tank gets full during a long storm, the excess will come out the top drain.
The install process is detailed in the installation instructions for the catch basin.
Really surprised to see such an incorrect installation.
I’ve watched hundreds of hours this old house since I was very young and it shocks me that you didn’t recommend or apparently Contact local utilities to Mark where you can dig so you don’t dig up something or damage damage something
They did, she mentioned the gas line was "way over there". But pretty much everyone is aware to call before they dig anymore.
She’s no rogah
bad idea, you need regrade and get all of the water away from the house. the shrubs can be replanted. watch Gate City Foundation Drainage for the correct solution.
The grading around the house looks ok. Basement is flooding because a good chunk of the roof's water is being dumped right next to the foundation. Just have to get it further away from the house.
proper grading and gutters around the house would correct the basement flooding.
Miss Roger Cook.
My favorite part was when they cut scene to have the men come in to do the digging off camera and then started recording again after the holes were dug. Notice not a bit of sweat on either female. LOL
That's not schedule 40 PVC pipe! I would of left it as it was. Big problems down the road with that half assed systems! Waste of time & money. Wait until winter!
Depends on how severe winters are there. They didn't actually mention what part of the country this was being done at.
$10 says men dug the hole for the dry well.
The acting is so cringe
There are so many wrongs with this video. There was a storm drain right there to run your down spout extensions to and yet you chose a pit for drainage. That's just wrong. TOH should have consulted with the French Drain Man or at least watched his videos to do this job better.
That can cost you more in the long run around here (PNW- so much rain and stormwater charges are no joke). Better to soak into the ground.
french drain man and apple drains are the worst. better to watch gate city foundation drainage.
That is not legal in most municipalities, you cut that curb to reach that drain and it will likely result in fines.
Yeah Im sure they dig this hole...
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