Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Installed 3 of these for my back yard. Used one for each of 3 downspout gutters, along with underground NDS French Drain tubing as well. Have had several rains now and we no longer see any waters building up in large sections of the yard any more. Did a lot of study beforehand and looked at a multitude of other brands, as well as other methods. This was the solution I chose and it's been great for us. I also used the NDS Surface Inlet Drain on each. It is true that the drain could be sealed to the top of this dry well but, the general rule is not to, to allow for ground shifting over the years (such as earthquakes, etc.). I didn't seal mine. I did read a lot of items on others reviews all across the Internet so I hope the following notes help others. I read a lot had to cut out the little drain holes and couldn't pound them out like the instructions mentioned. I actually read the instructions and it mentioned to place each of the curved well walls onto a hard supporting surface such as cinder blocks. I did this and they all popped out easily, except one (our of 3 wells, 9 wall sections total). I tried it without the blocks support and sure enough, it didn't work so, reading the instructions helped! The larger holes, for joining piping, are mentioned to perform some cutting prior to "popping" them out. A few reviewers across the Net also mentioned that the wall sections sometimes fell apart when handling them or installing them. So, one of the tips a couple of people mentioned (which I followed and did) was to use a water proofing sealant when joining the sections together. It worked absolutely perfectly. I constructed each well prior to digging each hole so it would have time to set for a couple of hours. Some reviewers had assumed it would come with a bottom but, being this is a dry well, the open bottom is intended for maximum drainage at the bottom. There are some scenarios where a bottom might be desired, e.g., if you're connect several of these together and you want to force it to drain into other dry wells or to drain out only through tubing. I've seen where a bottom can be purchased for those scenarios. I had to read a lot about draining on how it's done because we have no place to expel excess water. Thus, the dry well with no bottom was our solution. Also, I did line the outside of each dry well with the type of fabric that is recommended for french drains and dry wells. That fabric, by the way, is not the typical landscape fabric, by the way. Won't go into those details but a lot of people across the Net have posted they just used regular landscape fabric. From what I've read (including by engineers, etc. on the topic), I don't recommend it for long term usage. I did also use the draining fabric to line each of the dry well holes. I hope this helps others.