Custom Drainage Systems

It is one of the largest controllable factors. North Texas clay expands when it absorbs water and contracts when it dries. Water pooling against one side of your home keeps that soil swollen while the opposite side dries out, and that differential is what pulls a foundation apart. Controlling where water goes controls how much the soil moves.

A French drain is a perforated pipe in a gravel-filled trench that collects subsurface water and carries it away from the structure. You likely need one if water stands in your yard for more than a day after rain, if soil stays soggy against the foundation, or if your lot slopes toward the house instead of away from it.

It depends on the length of drain required, the depth, how far the discharge point is, and what has to be crossed to get there. A short run along one side of a house is a modest job; a full-perimeter system with multiple catch basins is a larger one. We design to your lot's actual slope rather than selling a standard package.

Surface drains, including catch basins, capture water sitting on top of the ground and are the right tool for low spots that pond. French drains intercept water moving through the soil below grade. Many properties need both, and using only one where the other is required is a common reason a drainage fix underperforms.

Gutters and properly extended downspouts are the cheapest, highest-return drainage improvement most homeowners can make, and sometimes they are genuinely enough. When the lot itself slopes toward the house, or the soil already stays saturated, gutters help but will not solve it on their own.

Most residential drainage systems are installed in one to three days depending on the length of the run and what the trench has to work around. We restore the trench line and grade when we finish.

To a discharge point that moves it safely away from your foundation and off your property in a way that does not create a problem for a neighbor. Depending on the lot that may be a curb, an alley, or a lower area of the yard. We identify the discharge point during the design, before any digging starts.

Often yes, and it is worth doing together. If water management is what caused the movement, piering the house without correcting drainage means the same forces keep acting on the structure. Doing both at once is also less disruptive than digging up the same yard twice.

No system makes clay soil inert. What good drainage does is remove the large, avoidable moisture swings that cause most damage, which substantially reduces both the rate and severity of movement. It is the most cost-effective preventive step available to a North Texas homeowner.

Keep the grates and catch basins clear of leaves and debris, and check the discharge point occasionally to be sure it is flowing freely. A properly installed system with a filter fabric wrap needs very little beyond that, and we show you what to watch for when we hand the job over.