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My driveway drainage fix turned into a 6 month saga | Atlanta Homeowners - Vivisector

My driveway drainage fix turned into a 6 month saga

I noticed water pooling near my foundation after a storm last spring, so I figured a simple French drain would do the trick. Turns out the clay soil in my Decatur neighborhood is worse than I thought, and I had to dig up 40 feet of line three times before it actually worked. Has anyone else dealt with Atlanta clay turning a weekend project into a half-year ordeal?

3 comments

3 Comments

carr.abby3mo ago

Oh man, the "clay soil" part hit home for me. I'm just up the road in Norcross, and I spent three straight weekends trying to trench for a simple downspout extension. I dug the whole thing by hand (I'm stubborn like that) and hit this brick-hard layer of clay about 18 inches down. My pickaxe bounced off it like a trampoline, I swear. Ended up renting a little trencher from Home Depot, but even that thing barely crawled through it.

the_sean3mo ago

You ever get so frustrated you just start laughing at the dirt? I did the same thing near Lawrenceville last year, trying to put in a little rain garden. That clay is no joke. I thought my shovel was gonna snap in half. Ended up soaking the ground with a hose for like two hours just to soften it up enough to make any progress. Then it turned into this sticky, heavy mess that stuck to everything.

troychen3mo ago

Went through the same mess in my own yard. What finally helped was renting a walk behind trencher with a carbide tipped chain from Sunbelt, not the little ones from Home Depot. Also key was running a soaker hose along the trench line the night before, let it soak in slow so the clay softened up just enough without turning into concrete glue. Took two passes with the trencher but got 50 feet done in an afternoon instead of three weekends.