French drain pipe

[MarlynOC]

Went out to side yard to look at drain pipe that goes behind house. Found that the grass cutting service went over it repeatedly and now it is not there. They cut it back and over the summer cut it so much I can no longer locate. Any ideas how to find?

 

[Bent Handle]

Is it a French drain or buried downspout?

 

[MarlynOC]

The drain pipe is about 4 ft down and goes out a hill below the pipe outlet. Due to continued cutting and back cutting the grass into it. I have an idea of where it might have been but to actually find it is a real problem. Have used a long bayonet knife to probe down and hope to hit it. The problem is that it is clogged up now and the back up causes the water to migrate into the garage.

 

[nyy845]

Do you have access to the other end of the pipe?

 

[MarlynOC]

No, it is buried down 4 ft through stone and dirt.

 

[casmurbax]

So you have a ground drain?
How long is that distance?
Whats the distance from the top of the gutter to the ground?
Anyway you could use a pipe snake from the drain end?

 

[MarlynOC]

Not that type of french drain with down spout. Back of house is below grade by 4 ft. To stop water from seeping down and into lower level a trench was dug next to house and pipe installed then chip stone poured in and finally dirt. The pipe stopped at end of house and runs length of house to hill of same depth under ground to the end where the land is lower. It used to protrude about about 4-3 inches so water could pour out and down the hill away from house. Then the grass cutting guys decided to use their mowers on the hill at an angle and cut away the pipe continually until now the end of the pipe is buried in the hill. Length is about 60 ft. There is no drain end to access or I would use the water jetter to run up.

 

[gemniii]

Do you have ANY old pictures that might show where it was?

 

[casmurbax]

OK gotcha now.

I think a long thin rod is going to be best bet in finding the pipe. Start poking. I m sure other here might have a some better ideas.

 

[dfittizzi]

Best bet is going to be using what you know and getting a rough idea of where the end of that pipe may fall and use some sort of probe to look for it. I would probably dig out the end of the pipe at least a foot or two, and place some large stones around the end to make it clearly visible and maybe even a little crushed stone where the water runs out to avoid this issue in the future.

 

[Glory]

If the drain is to flow water away from your footing and daylight it out the hillside, then it should have been connected to the sump pit in your basement.

Do you have a sump pit in the corner of your basement? If so you could simply try running water into the sump pit and then go look for the wet spot on the hill side.

 

[MarlynOC]

No sump, Guess it is the probe with a rod about where I think it is.

 

[greg13]

If you have one end open, some rental houses rent pipe locators/cameras. Feed the transmitter end in and go over the ground with the receiver to locate it. You can also use the camera to see if it is crushed or plugged.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I'd be curious if you could go out there after a hard rain and find water coming out of the ground on the hillside where the drain is.

Phil

 

[MarlynOC]

Phil, that looks like bet option available. Hate to have more rain but....

 

[ford33]

You must know the general location of the pipe end. A shovel and about 15 minutes work should uncover the end.

 

[casmurbax]

Well did you find it?

 

[MarlynOC]

Not yet, ground has been too hard from weather to probe. Think SPRING