Hi Scarleta, Don't know a lot about drains, I found this bit of advice by googling. There's a bit about which way the holes are supposed to face. Hope it is of some help to you.

A......

Here is a link that might be useful: A simple drain/trench

I don't have any experience, but I found info with a google search.

This is one site. Product descriptions and how-to-use pdf files to read/download.
http://www.flex-drain.com/flex_drain_products.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: one company's drain stuff, w/how-to info

thanks so much...

Just curious, but why would you think information gathered here would be more valid than that of professionals who work with this stuff on a daily basis?

Just as there is more than one way to skin a cat in gardening, there are multiple variations of French drains and every landscaper or drainage professional will have their favored method(s). As long as the drain works to divert water away from the house or low spot and into an approved catchment basin, dry well or sewer system, the details are not all that major. Often the pipe is perforated all around its circumference, so placement up or down is immaterial. Make sure it is sleeved or the ditch itself lined with landscape fabric to ensure silt or dirt does not clog it up. And layering the pipe on bare soil or a layer of crushed rock is equally acceptable. Originally French drains were just slightly sloped ditches filled only with the crushed rock - the addition of perforated pipes is relatively recent.

Good question Gardengal:: I had my garden re done professionaly few years back and the drainage waas to be resolved.So we thought as we were assured by professional.So the information here may or may not be more valid, but I want to make a decision on my own this time around.We had spend quite a bit of money to have the problem not only still be here , but actually be much worse now.
Hope you understand my point now.
thanks for your explanation its all taken into account.French drain is out of question for me the water has to go to the sump instead.My vegie garden at the bottom is soaking wet already and the water goes into my garage as it follows the natual slope.
As I said b4 I had few professional opinions and they were totally different as to how to resolve it.Before we do any digging this time around I want to be a bit more educated myself..

I like where Gardengal's question was heading...

The more good versions that you can learn about, the better. Then you can weed-out a few ideas that have no logical or technical basis.

One thing I would add, is that I wouldn't consider perforations pointing down, if those were the only perforations and the drain can potentially take in sediment. Otherwise, the perforations are the first targets to get clogged, rendering the entire tile useless. In many cases, perforation is all around the pipe anyway.

Go here, and read and critique if you like...

DRAINAGE TIPS / INFO

When its too long to post, only a page will do : - )

That's a page for do-it-yourselfers.

Scarleta, I like your reasoning. I research projects like this to death. And I always get multiple bids. And get references. I learn from each contractor that I speak to, and inevitably at least one of them will be talking total BS. Also, I have come to expect a 3-to-1 or even 5-to-1 price range. More often than not, the guy who is BSing me is also the highest priced. So...caveat emptor. Also, once you hire the "best" one, he/she will require constant watching. If they are very busy, they may send the "B Team", the knuckle-scrapers, to your place. They may "forget" to finish what they promised, and slip away to their next customer. Once they are gone, it will take a LONG time to get them back to finish the job. As the guys on Car Talk say, contractors spend a lot of time in the Parallel Universe. Let's face it folks, this behavior of contractors is so common that it has become a part of our cultural humor.

That's my rant, and I'm stickin' with it. Cue the righteous indignation...

Lillydude is probably referring to the bottom feeders of the industry.

The reputable landscape contractors I've met - like in Portland, Oregon - don't have many issues like that at all.

What you want to do, is find a way to GET names of the reputable companies. That way you are conducting professional business with established services, rather than wasting your time. Its the difference between an entire produce package of fresh edible fruits, and another package where maybe 30% of the fruits or berries are good.

Sometimes, that means tapping-into the right referral highway, whether it be Master Gardeners, a long-established garden center, or instructors at the college. Often, that's the first step: finding good sources of referrals, not neccessarily finding companies.

You will not need more than 1 or 2 estimates if you called good companies. Remember, estimates are not really free once the contract is accepted. Time is money in a company, and estimating time is paid time within a company.

Suppose 6 customers each got a bid from 6 landscapers: a total of 36 estimates. And suppose each customer hired one of those 6 landscapers. That means that each customer will be paying for 6 estimates worth of time, because estimating time is a cost of doing business, and ALL costs of doing business are passed-on to the customers. All of them.

So, one of the biggest price inflation enemies of the gardening / homeowner community, are the homeowners who routinely get too many estimates, or who negotiate with the bottom feeders. Those are the people who raise overhead of companies, and raise installation prices for other people. By dealing with bottom feeders, they risk hiring a bottom feeder, which indirectly affects other costs and expenses for homeowners and reputable companies.

Today, whether we need a roof, plumbing, fence, gutters or irrigation system, its certain that we only need 1 or 2 estimates, because both companies would be good choices. That's because we have already established good referral channels and criteria for picking contractors. We never get estimates and then weed-out bad contractors.

Once more to thank all of you who so kindly responded..Please keep the ideas coming..I know some of you have done drainage and it worked well.Any tips are great.thanks