Pathway as drain

[Epawtows]

Question concerning drainage from a back yard:

Most of my back yard slopes towards one corner, and currently drains out a footpath. It was put in by the previous owner, and isn't a very good one. It's a series of paving blocks (the red 16"x8"x1.5" things from HD) sitting directly on dirt, spaced a few inches apart, with a little bit of gravel sprinkled between them (less than 1/2" of gravel).

What I am thinking of is making a combination of 'french drain' and a path. That is, dig the current path out much deeper, fill the trench with gravel, then some sort of path on top- either more paving stones, or bricks. I don't have a problem with some exposed gravel on the surface.

Anyone here have any advice about this sort of thing? I've seen plenty of landscaping books with notes on how to build paths, and how to build drains, but not much on trying to do both with one installation. Should I make the trench an even depth the width of the entire path, or should I make a wide, shallow trench for the 'path' with a narrow, deeper trench for the 'drain'? Middle, or side? I'm also not sure if I should count on gravel as the drain material, or if I should put a perf. pipe in. How deep does a perf. pipe have to be buried, if someone is going to walk on top of it? There is no way that a vehicle could take this path, the heaviest thing it's ever going to see is a wheelbarrow.

Eric P.

[ameijers]

Does it snow/freeze where you are? That path is gonna get awful slippery at certain times of year. May not be a problem if it is mainly decorative, but if anyone uses it as a shortcut or something..... I'd definitely use rough-surface pavers, not the shiny ones. Not a clue about your drainage questions, w/o seeing your yard. But I would hesitate to bury a drain pipe where I had to pull a bunch of pavers to get at it. And where are you going to drain TO? Unless there is a natural 'daylight' drainage point, you are now talking about adding a drywell, which is a lot more digging.

aem sends...

[Jimmy]

Should work well, I have what you are talking about. It didnt start out that way though. The french drain was installed and it just happened to be in a convient place for a path, kids wore the path in so I just put down some stones and gravel.

[B]

All french drains (a.k.a. Freedom drains) get clogged in time, so definitely bury a 4 inch corrugated perforated plastic drain pipe in a six inch trench, surround it with a cloth sleeve and gravel, and walk on it all you want. Such pipes can be buried forever, so don't worry what you put on top. Keep the pipe somewhat straight with no dips that would accumulate excess mud, and you'll be able to hose it out every other year or so.

-Bruce