French Drain or Curtain Drain Installation

Installing French drains, also known as curtain drains, is one way to handle water in a yard with grading issues.  Here is an example from our customer in Lee's Summit, MO.

Installing French drains is an option in circumstances where excessive surface water must be managed.

Water management can take on many forms.  In most cases, a home is built so that the yard can be graded to properly drain water away from the foundation.  Swales are even graded into the landscape to provide a path for water to drain away from structures and toward storm drains.  In some cases, though, grading is not correct or has to be changed.  Sometimes a neighboring property will change their landscape and change the original drainage that was planned for the neighborhood.

When grading is done well, and gutters and downspouts are installed correctly, water will shed away from the foundation helping to prevent wet basements and bowing basement walls.  When those problems persist, and interior French drain, draintile, or another form of interior drainage is the usual recommended solution.  However, if there are major grading issues, they must be addressed outside.  Not addressing the pooling water can lead to extreme flooding or excessive pressure that can push a foundation wall in causing cracks and other structural issues.

The best approach to solving grading issues is to regrade in a way that water can runoff of the yard naturally and without pooling in the yard.  Unfortunately, there are rare cases where that isn’t possible.  That is when a change in landscape design should be considered.  One tool in the landscape toolbox is the exterior French drain or curtain drain.

For this customer in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Thrasher was able to work with them on both their yard drainage issues and dealing with the water that was already getting into the basement.  An exterior interceptor drain was installed in this home’s back yard.  Since the yard was not naturally sloped to move water away from the home, it was collecting in areas close to the foundation.  While an interior waterproofing drainage system may have kept the basement dry, the pooling water still had a chance to cause structural damage.  The homeowner also did not like having a muddy mess in their backyard after ever rainfall and even after watering the lawn.

Thrasher Foundation Repair prides itself on working with homeowners to find the best solution for their circumstances.  Even in situations where we cannot perform all the work ourselves, we will make recommendations to the homeowner that they can do themselves or hire a landscaper to perform.  If you aren’t sure what you need to do to solve your problem, we are happy to provide a free inspection to help you figure it out.

“From start to finish, I received total professionalism and up-to-date progress. The crew respected my property and cleaned up after the job was completed. Thrasher Foundation Repair came highly recommended to me and I see why. My neighbors are interested in having work done. My brother and mother have also used Thrasher. Top notch company. In today’s world, it is hard to find great customer service.” – R. R., homeowner