You stop mopping up after every hard rain. Your crawl space stays dry enough to actually use for storage. The musty smell disappears because moisture isn’t sitting under your house anymore.
French drains intercept water before it reaches your foundation. That means no more standing water in your yard, no more seepage through basement walls, and no more wondering if the next storm is going to flood you out again.
Burlington sits on red clay soil that doesn’t drain. When we get those fast, hard rains that dump several inches in an hour, that water has nowhere to go except against your foundation. A properly installed French drain gives it somewhere else to go—away from your house, not into it.
We’ve been in Burlington since 1991. We started with air duct work, built a reputation for showing up and doing the job right, and expanded into drainage because people kept asking.
Thirty-plus years in this area means we know exactly what Burlington’s soil does when it rains. We’ve seen the flooding patterns, we know which neighborhoods get hit hardest, and we understand how the Piedmont’s clay soil behaves differently than other regions.
You’re not getting a national franchise that doesn’t know the area. You’re getting a local crew that’s seen what works here and what doesn’t.
We start with a free assessment of your property. We look at where water collects, how your yard slopes, where your downspouts drain, and what your soil is doing during heavy rain.
Then we map out the drainage path. French drains work by gravity, so we’re creating a route for water to follow away from your foundation. We dig a trench, line it with landscape fabric to prevent clay from clogging the system, lay perforated pipe, and cover it with gravel that allows water to flow in but keeps debris out.
The pipe directs water to a safe discharge point—usually a drainage ditch, storm drain, or low area of your yard that’s away from structures. For basements or crawl spaces, we often tie the French drain into a sump pump system that actively removes water when gravity alone isn’t enough.
Installation typically takes one to three days depending on the length of the run and how much we’re tying into existing drainage. You’ll see trenches, some disruption to landscaping, and then a system that works quietly in the background every time it rains.
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Every French drain installation includes a site assessment, proper grading to ensure water flows away from your foundation, and materials rated for long-term use in clay soil conditions.
We use perforated PVC pipe, not the corrugated stuff that collapses under soil pressure. The gravel we use is sized specifically for drainage—not decorative rock that looks nice but doesn’t move water. Landscape fabric goes around the entire drain to keep Burlington’s fine clay particles from clogging the system over time.
For properties dealing with basement water or crawl space flooding, we tie the French drain into a sump pump system. That gives you two layers of protection: passive drainage through the French drain, and active pumping when water volume exceeds what gravity can handle.
We also handle surface drainage issues with trench drains or catch basins if you’ve got water pooling in your driveway or patio areas. Sometimes the solution is a French drain, sometimes it’s a surface drain, sometimes it’s both. We’ll tell you what your property actually needs, not what’s easiest to sell.
Most French drain installations in Burlington run between $3,000 and $10,000 depending on length and complexity. You’re looking at $30 to $50 per linear foot for shallow yard drainage, and $50+ per linear foot for deep drains around basements or crawl spaces.
A typical residential job involves 50 to 150 linear feet of drain. If you’re just managing surface water in your yard, you’re on the lower end. If you’re solving basement flooding with a deep perimeter drain tied to a sump pump, you’re on the higher end.
The biggest cost variables are how much we’re digging, what we’re tying into, and whether we’re working around landscaping or hardscaping that needs to be preserved or replaced. We give you a detailed estimate after assessing your property so you know exactly what you’re paying for.
Yes, but only if it’s installed correctly for clay. Burlington sits on red clay soil that’s common across the Piedmont region. Clay doesn’t drain—it holds water, swells when wet, and shrinks when dry. That’s why you’re having drainage problems in the first place.
A French drain works in clay soil by creating a gravel pathway that water can move through, even when the surrounding soil is saturated. The perforated pipe collects that water and carries it away. The key is using the right gravel size and wrapping everything in landscape fabric so clay particles don’t migrate into the drain and clog it over time.
We’ve been installing French drains in this soil for decades. The systems that fail are usually the ones where someone skipped the fabric, used the wrong gravel, or didn’t slope the pipe correctly. When it’s done right, a French drain handles clay soil just fine.
Most installations take one to three days. A simple yard drainage project with 50 feet of shallow trench might be done in a day. A full perimeter drain around your basement with sump pump integration could take three days or more.
The timeline depends on how much we’re digging, what we encounter underground (tree roots, existing utilities, rock), and how much coordination is needed with other systems like downspouts or sump pumps. Weather also plays a role—we can’t dig trenches in saturated soil, so heavy rain delays the job.
We’ll give you a realistic timeline during the estimate. Once we start, we work straight through to completion because leaving open trenches isn’t safe and doesn’t help anyone.
A French drain is buried underground and handles subsurface water. A trench drain sits at ground level with a grate on top and handles surface water. They solve different problems.
If water is seeping into your basement or you’ve got a soggy yard from groundwater, you need a French drain. It intercepts water below the surface before it reaches your foundation. If you’ve got water pooling on your driveway, patio, or walkway, you need a trench drain or catch basin to collect that surface runoff.
Sometimes you need both. We see this a lot in Burlington where clay soil creates surface pooling and subsurface saturation at the same time. A French drain handles the groundwater, a trench drain handles the surface water, and together they keep your property dry.
It depends on where the water discharges and how deep we’re digging. If we’re draining to a storm sewer or municipal drainage system, you’ll likely need a permit from the city. If we’re draining to a natural low area on your property, you usually don’t.
For drains deeper than a few feet, or if we’re working near property lines or easements, permits may be required. We handle this during the assessment and let you know what’s needed before we start.
Burlington’s permitting process is straightforward, and we’ve worked with the city for over 30 years. If a permit is required, we’ll walk you through what’s needed and make sure everything is filed correctly so the job doesn’t get held up.
If your gutters are dumping water right next to your foundation and that’s causing your problem, extending your downspouts might be enough. If water is coming up through your basement floor, seeping through crawl space walls, or pooling in your yard even when gutters are clear, you need a French drain.
Gutters handle roof water. French drains handle groundwater and subsurface saturation. In Burlington’s clay soil, you often have both issues—roof water that doesn’t drain away fast enough, and groundwater that has nowhere to go because clay doesn’t absorb it.
During our assessment, we’ll look at your entire drainage situation: gutters, grading, soil conditions, and where water is actually coming from. Sometimes the fix is simple. Sometimes you need a comprehensive drainage solution. We’ll tell you which one applies to your property.
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