I am getting bids for drainage work on our property before we start the basement on our house. The low point on the property is in a pasture where we plan to have a drain tile and then trench with pipe running to other end. So there are 3 things needing drainage - the foundation, the gutters and the pasture. (The house sits uphill from the pasture). How many pipes and what size/type would you recommend in the trench that runs across the property. One contractor said one 6" would be sufficient but I wonder if we need more. We get about 30 inches rain per year. Thanks!

I would not mix any of these three drains. If it became clogged, your gutters would very quickly flood your foundation drains (think a foot of water in your basement). Also, I doubt that one 6" pipe will carry all the water from gutters and pasture (how big is the pasture area?). Frankly, I prefer to have gutter and foundation drains come to daylite as quickly as possible. I would probably daylite these two into the pasture area and then drain the pasture area seperately.

Thanks for the input. I talked with contractor some more today and decided to go with 8" pipe. I also am thinking to maybe drain foundation and gutters to daylight as you suggested. He was planning to have cleanouts for inspection on the foundation and downspout pipes before tying into pasture drain tile.