How to Lay Weeping Tile

Dig a trench using the shovel a minimum of 12 inches deep and 12 inches wide at the starting location for the tile and extending to the ending location. An ideal ending location allows the tile to exit the ground without turning uphill. Place the dirt on one side of the trench, not both.

Lay the level on the bottom of the trench and dig or fill in the bottom to obtain a slope of 1/8-inch or more from the beginning point to the ending point. Check the slope every four feet.

Line the trench bottom and sides with landscape cloth. Pin the landscape cloth to the side of the ditch the dirt is on and extend the excess cloth along the other side. The landscape cloth helps prevent fine dirt and silt from clogging the crushed stone aggregate and the perforated drain tile.

Place two inches of the 3/4-inch crushed stone in the bottom of the trench on top of the landscape cloth for the entire length of the ditch. Put the tile end cap on the end of the tile and lay the tile in the ditch with the end cap at the starting point.

Check the tile with the level for the first four feet of run, starting at end cap, for a 1/8-inch per foot downhill slope. Make adjustments if necessary. Add crushed stone to the sides of the tile and enough to just cover it. Check the next four feet of tile, fill in with stone, then go back and fill the previous four feet with an additional two inches of stone.

Continue checking the tile slope and filling in along the sides and top until you reach the end of the ditch. Fold the landscape cloth over the top of the stone and remove the staples that held it in place on the other side. Fill in the top of the ditch with dirt.