French Drain & Track Drain Systems – JH Foundation Repair & Waterproofing

What's Involved

French Drain & Track Drain Systems in Kansas City

When water is pooling against your foundation, or yards are sloping towards your foundation, a French drain system will help divert that water away preventing soil pressure that could compromise the structure of your home. The system helps limit water intrusion and can be a great step in the right direction.

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Local Conditions

Solving Water Before It Reaches The Wall

Every interior waterproofing system is managing water that already made it to your foundation. A French drain works further upstream: it intercepts water in the yard and carries it away before it ever saturates the soil against your wall.

This matters in Kansas City because clay does not drain. Water that lands next to your foundation does not percolate away, it sits in the backfill and loads the wall. Yards that slope toward the house, downspouts discharging at a corner, and neighboring grade higher than yours all concentrate water exactly where you least want it.

Our Approach

How We Build A French Drain

01

Read the water first

We look at where water actually goes during a storm: how the yard slopes, where downspouts land, where the ground stays soft. The drain has to intercept the real path, and a drain in the wrong place is just a buried pipe.

02

Trench and slope

The trench is excavated to depth and cut with continuous fall toward the outlet. Slope is what makes it work. A level French drain is a trench that holds water next to your foundation, which is worse than doing nothing.

03

Filter fabric and washed stone

Fabric keeps soil out of the stone so the void stays open. Clay migrating into the aggregate is what silts a drain shut, and it is the most common reason an older French drain stops working.

04

Perforated pipe

Set in the stone bed to carry intercepted water to the outlet. Sized and oriented for the volume the run will see.

05

Outlet and daylight

The drain has to end somewhere useful, discharging to daylight at a lower grade or to an appropriate outlet. A drain that ends in a low spot near the house has simply relocated the problem a few feet.

06

Track drains where they fit

Where the water is running across a hard surface, a driveway, a patio, an entry, a track or trench drain at the surface catches it before it heads for the foundation. Often the right partner to a buried French drain rather than an alternative to it.

Straight Answers

When A French Drain Is The Right Call

Good candidate

Water pooling against the foundation after rain, a yard that slopes toward the house, soggy ground along one side that never dries, or a neighboring property draining onto yours. Also worth considering alongside interior work, since less water arriving means less for the interior system to handle.

May need more than a drain

If water is already entering the basement, a French drain reduces what reaches the wall but does not repair a wall that is cracked or already passing water. Those are usually a package, and we will lay out what the house actually needs rather than selling one piece.

No Guesswork

What Determines The Cost

We do not publish a price, because a number without seeing your foundation is a guess. Here is what actually moves it, so you know what we are looking at during the free inspection.

Linear footage of the run
Trench depth, which is driven by where the water is and where it can outlet
Soil conditions and whether rock or roots slow excavation
Where the outlet can go and how far the line has to travel to get there
Surface restoration, since the trench crosses lawn, beds, or hardscape
Whether track or trench drains are included at hard surfaces
Access for equipment, which is the big one on tight or fenced lots

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Questions

French Drain & Track Drain Systems FAQs

What is a French drain?

A trench with filter fabric, washed stone, and perforated pipe that collects water in the soil and carries it away by gravity to an outlet at lower grade. It works on the water in the ground rather than water on the surface, though it is often paired with surface drains.

How is a French drain different from a downspout extension?

A downspout extension moves roof water. A French drain deals with water already in the soil, including groundwater and runoff from the yard. Extensions are cheap and worth doing, but they do not solve saturated soil against a foundation.

Will a French drain fix my wet basement?

It reduces the water reaching your foundation, which is often a large part of the problem. If water is already coming through a crack or up at the wall-floor joint, that entry point still needs to be addressed. Many homes need both, and we will say so plainly.

How long does a French drain last?

A properly built drain with filter fabric and washed stone lasts a long time. Drains fail when soil migrates into the aggregate and silts the void shut, which is what the fabric prevents. Skipping the fabric is why some drains stop working in a few years.

Will my yard be torn up?

There will be a trench, and we are honest about that. We restore the surface as part of the job, and we plan the route to minimize what has to be crossed. On the walk-through we will show you exactly where it runs before anything is dug.

Where We Work