You stop worrying every time it rains. No more musty smell creeping through your floors. No more wondering if mold is growing under your house.
A properly installed French drain system redirects water before it reaches your crawl space. That means your foundation stays protected, your air stays cleaner, and you’re not dealing with moisture damage that costs thousands to fix later.
North Carolina gets hit hard with rainfall, especially during hurricane season. In Altamahaw, that water has to go somewhere. If your property doesn’t have landscape drainage solutions in place, it’s going straight toward your foundation and into your crawl space. Once moisture gets in, you’re looking at wood rot, mold growth, and structural problems that only get worse.
A French drain installation handles the problem at the source. Water gets collected and moved away from your home before it becomes your problem.
We’ve spent over 30 years helping homeowners in Altamahaw and the surrounding Greensboro area deal with crawl space moisture and air quality issues. We’re NADCA certified, which means our team knows how water problems affect the air you breathe inside your home.
Most companies either do drainage or air quality. We do both. That matters because a wet crawl space doesn’t just damage your foundation—it creates mold, mildew, and contaminants that move up through your floors and into your living space.
We’ve seen what happens when homeowners wait too long or try DIY fixes that don’t last. Altamahaw sits in an area where heavy storms and humid summers create the perfect conditions for crawl space flooding. We install French drains that actually work for this climate, and we back it up with the kind of experience you can’t fake.
We start with an inspection of your crawl space and the grading around your foundation. We’re looking at where water is pooling, how it’s getting in, and what drainage solutions will actually solve the problem long-term.
Once we know what you need, we trench around the perimeter of your crawl space or along the problem areas of your property. The trench gets filled with gravel and a perforated pipe that collects water and moves it away from your foundation. If your property needs it, we’ll tie the system into a sump pump to handle higher water volumes.
The system gets covered and graded so water flows into the drain instead of sitting on your property. You’re not left with torn-up landscaping or a system that clogs after the first storm. This is surface drainage and subsurface protection working together.
After installation, we test the system and walk you through how it works. If there are other moisture issues in your crawl space—like poor ventilation or standing water—we’ll address those too. French drain repair or adjustments down the line are rare when the system is installed correctly from the start, but we’re here if you need us.
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You get a French drain system designed for North Carolina weather. That means it handles the heavy rainfall we see during thunderstorms and hurricane season, and it’s built to last through freeze-thaw cycles in the winter.
The installation includes trenching, gravel bedding, perforated drainage pipe, proper grading, and connection to a safe discharge point away from your home. If your crawl space needs a sump pump or vapor barrier to stay dry, we handle that too. We don’t just install a trench drain and leave—you get a complete moisture control system.
In Altamahaw, properties face serious flooding risk. Nearly 730,000 homes across North Carolina are at substantial risk of flood damage in the next 25 years, and crawl spaces are the first place water goes. A French drain installation is one of the most effective ways to keep that water out and protect your foundation from erosion and structural damage.
We also bring in our air quality expertise. Once your crawl space is dry, we can seal and encapsulate it to prevent mold growth and improve the air circulating through your home. Most contractors stop at drainage. We make sure your home is healthier overall.
Most residential French drain installations in North Carolina run between $2,500 and $5,000, depending on how much drainage your property needs. If you’re dealing with a straightforward crawl space perimeter drain, you’re looking at the lower end. If your property has grading issues, needs a sump pump, or requires a longer trench drain system, costs go up.
Pricing typically breaks down to $23 to $38 per linear foot. A 60-foot installation might cost $1,400 to $2,300, but most homes need more coverage than that to actually solve the problem.
DIY systems run $500 to $1,500, but they fail more often because homeowners don’t have the equipment to trench properly or the experience to grade the system correctly. You end up paying twice—once for the DIY attempt, and again when you call someone to fix it. Professional installation costs more upfront, but it works the first time and lasts for years.
A properly installed French drain system lasts 20 to 30 years, sometimes longer if it’s maintained. The pipe itself doesn’t wear out—it’s the gravel bed and surrounding soil that can shift or clog over time if the system wasn’t installed correctly.
The biggest factor in longevity is installation quality. If the trench isn’t deep enough, the grading is off, or the pipe isn’t surrounded by the right type of gravel, you’ll see problems within a few years. Roots, sediment, and debris can clog a poorly installed system fast.
We use contractor-grade materials and proper installation techniques, which means your system keeps working through heavy rains and seasonal changes. Maintenance is minimal—mostly just making sure your discharge point stays clear and checking the system after major storms. French drain repair is rare when the job is done right from the start.
Yes, if it’s installed correctly and paired with the right moisture control measures. A French drain collects water before it reaches your crawl space and redirects it away from your foundation. That stops the flooding at the source.
But if your crawl space already has standing water, poor ventilation, or structural issues, you’ll need more than just a trench drain. That’s where vapor barriers, sump pumps, and crawl space encapsulation come in. We assess the full picture so you’re not just moving water around—you’re actually keeping your crawl space dry.
Altamahaw gets heavy rainfall, especially during storm season. If your property doesn’t have proper landscape drainage solutions, water will find its way into your crawl space no matter what. A French drain installation is the most reliable way to handle that water and protect your home long-term. It’s not a Band-Aid—it’s a permanent fix when done right.
Yes. We trench carefully and restore your landscaping after installation so you’re not left with a torn-up yard. The goal is to solve your drainage problem without destroying the work you’ve already put into your property.
We map out the drainage route before we dig, which means we avoid plants, hardscaping, and other features whenever possible. The trench itself is only about 12 to 18 inches wide, and once the system is in place, we backfill, grade, and reseed or replant as needed.
Some properties need surface drainage adjustments along with the French drain to make sure water flows correctly. If that’s the case, we’ll walk you through what needs to happen before we start. You won’t be surprised by extra work or damage. We’ve done this long enough to know how to install drainage systems without wrecking your yard in the process.
A French drain is installed underground and collects water through a perforated pipe surrounded by gravel. It’s designed to handle subsurface water and keep it away from your foundation or crawl space. You don’t see it once it’s installed—it’s buried and graded into your landscape.
A trench drain sits at surface level and has a grated top. It’s used in driveways, patios, or areas where surface water pools and needs to be moved quickly. You’ll see trench drains in places like garage entrances or along the edge of a paved surface.
Both systems move water away from your property, but they’re used in different situations. Most crawl space flooding problems in Altamahaw need a French drain because the water is coming from underground or soaking into the soil around your foundation. If you’ve got surface water pooling in your yard or driveway, a trench drain or other surface drainage solution might make sense too. We’ll tell you what you actually need based on how water is moving on your property.
It depends on your property and how much water you’re dealing with. If your crawl space sits below the water table or you’re in an area that floods heavily during storms, a sump pump gives you an extra layer of protection. The French drain collects the water, and the sump pump moves it out and away from your home.
Most homes in Altamahaw don’t need a sump pump unless they’re in a low-lying area or have a history of severe crawl space flooding. We assess your property during the inspection and let you know if a sump pump makes sense for your situation.
Adding a sump pump increases the upfront cost, but it also means your crawl space stays dry even during the worst weather. If you’re already investing in waterproofing and foundation protection, it’s worth considering. We don’t upsell equipment you don’t need, but we also won’t leave out something that could save you from water damage down the road.
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