French drain. Well, that's what he told me it was.
I have a regular handyman who just recently put in a "french drain" by one of my basement windows. He did this on the recommendation of his friend. However, he admitted he had no idea what one was. Both of these guys told me to dig a 2' deep hole around the window. I did. Then, after he attached the window surround and grate (which look to me like it's placed too high), he said to fill it with rock.
This is how it looks now:
Picasa Web Albums - erin - house - may 2007
Somehow, this doesn't seem right to me.
When we dug the area out, there was a layer of styrofoam against the wall (which got removed when we dug the hole) - I am assuming for water protection/waterproofing. I had this wall repaired when I bought the house as it was bowed in. they never did attach the window surround back correctly, so that's why I had my handyman do this in the first place.
So now I have a giant hole filled with rock. No protection, no pan, no plastic pipe leading elsewhere. I don't want to fill the rest up 'cause I have this strange suspicion this has been done incorrectly.
Please help! I think he's actually made the problem worse!
What SHOULD have been done? I need something simple and cheap as I've already spend close to $100 for this goofy solution.