Drainage Team

In October 2019 , Drainage Team installed a 40-foot French drain along the back our house and an 80-ft by 4-ft swale in a bed on the hill behind our house. The French drain was installed to address an occasional problem with water coming up at a specific spot in our basement after very heavy rains. This problem occurred even though there appeared to be a perimeter drainage system in the basement that was connected to sumps. The French drain was piped under our asphalt driveway to a storm drain on the left side of our lot. The outlet of one of our sump pumps was connected to the French drain piping instead of being discharged onto the driveway where it tended to form sheets of ice in the winter. Downspouts in the back of the house were also connected to the French Drain piping to direct them to the storm drain. The swale was installed to improve an existing drain that directed water from the hill to a storm drain on one side of our lot. The existing system frequently overtopped during heavy rains and water ran down the bed, sweeping mulch out of the bed. The project was completed on time and the job site was left in a very neat condition both while the project was ongoing and after it was completed. The French drain seems to have worked perfectly. We have not had a drop of water in our basement in more than two years. The swale improved the flow of water but it is still overtopped in the heaviest rains. The water flowing down to the storm drain tended to flow along the edges of the dry creek bed instead of through the center and this led to some erosion which we remedied by placing more rock on that side of the swale. The total cost of this project was $7840. I am happy with the performance of these systems and would hire Drainage Team again if a similar need came up.