GroundquestMSA wrote:What kind of volume can a French drain handle? Will a layer of leaves and sticks atop it destroy its effectiveness?
The largest flexible French drain pipe I've seen is 6". 3" to 4" is common. A picture would be helpful, but I'm guessing a French drain will only handle light rain fall.
How about taking the biggest culvert you can fit down the entrance hole, preferably 24" to 36", and leave about a foot of it sticking up above grade. When installing, you wrap the culvert in perforated drain board so that the water drains down the outside of it, thus slowly draining the area right around the culvert. I'd still use the fence idea to catch the bigger stuff, but for really large flows, you will put a screen over the culvert entrance to catch anything that gets past the fences. Basically large flows will go down the culvert and the rest will settle out and drain around the outside of it. Make sure to wrap the drain board material with landscape fabric if it doasn't come with it preinstalled.
Too bad you don't live closer.....I love these kind of projects.
Member: Colorado Madrats, SoCoMoGro,CWSG.