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.