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Lancaster County · 22 years

Drainage Solutions in Lancaster County, PA

Drainage Solutions in Lancaster, PA

Move the water before it reaches the wall.

The cheapest waterproofing is the water that never gets to your foundation. Exterior drainage is where we start on most Lancaster County properties, and sometimes where we finish.

(800) 834-6584
Moving water away from the house, outsideExterior profile. The house wall and footing are at the left, with its eave, gutter and downspout, and the grade falls away to the right across the whole width, dipping through a swale. A gold dashed line shows the old grade falling back toward the house and a gold arrow shows water running that way. Beside the footing, a green fabric-lined gravel trench holds a green perforated pipe seen end-on. A buried green line carries the downspout's water right, picking up a green yard drain grate at the low point of the swale, and daylights at a green outfall near the right edge, well away from the foundation.Gutter and downspout, buried and extendedOld grade fell toward the houseSwale and yard drain at the low pointExterior French drain, fabric-linedDaylight outfall

What's included

The actual scope

  • Exterior French drain and interception
  • Downspout extension and burial
  • Yard and swale drainage
  • Threshold and hardscape drains
  • Grading correction

How it runs

Start to warranty

  1. Walk the property and find the path
  2. Design the route and outfall
  3. Install and restore the yard
  4. Warrantied workmanship

Terms, plainly

Free estimate. No money down. Financing available. Lifetime warranty on waterproofing systems, and it transfers when you sell.

How the system works

Interior drainage, in cross-section

Not to scale · every install is sized to the house
Interior drainage, in cross-sectionCutaway through the soil, the block foundation wall and the basement floor of a house. Rainwater falls from a downspout and seeps down through saturated soil on the left, pressure arrows push it sideways against the wall, and a drainage system set into the floor on the right carries it away. Five numbered callouts. One, gold: rain and snowmelt saturating the soil against the wall. Two, gold: water forced through the block and in at the cove joint where floor meets wall. Three, green: a perforated drain pipe in a gravel bed at the footing, below the slab. Four, green: a sealed sump basin with a cast-iron pump and battery backup. Five, green: the discharge line running water away from the foundation.12345GradeWall vapor barrier
  1. The problem: Rain and snowmelt saturate the soil against the wall. Downspouts and grade decide how much arrives.
  2. The problem: Pressure pushes it through the block and in at the cove joint where floor meets wall.
  3. The system: A perforated drain in a gravel bed at the footing intercepts the water before the floor does.
  4. The system: It runs to a sealed sump basin with a cast-iron pump and battery backup for outages.
  5. The system: Discharge is routed far enough from the foundation that it does not simply come back.

Where you live changes the job

Drainage Solutions on limestone is not drainage solutions on red shale

Lancaster County has four distinct ground conditions, and each one changes how we size and place this work. Your town page has the specifics.

Limestone valley floor

Interior French drain tied into a sealed sump basin with a battery backup, because the volume shows up fast and all at once. Wall vapor barrier where the block has been wicking.

Northern red shale and clay

Interior drain at the footing to relieve the pressure, plus wall reinforcement (carbon fiber or steel) anywhere the block has started to move. Exterior grading and downspout extensions to stop feeding the clay.

Southern schist uplands

Drainage on the uphill side first — interior drain plus exterior interception where the grade allows — and a discharge line routed far enough downslope that it does not simply return.

Susquehanna river terraces

Sub-slab drainage with a high-capacity sealed sump and battery backup, mortar repointing on stone walls, and encapsulation where the space is unfinished.

Before you call

Drainage Solutions questions we get from Lancaster County

Can fixing the outside alone keep the basement dry?

Sometimes, and we'll tell you when we think so. On properties where roof water and grade are doing the damage, exterior work is the whole answer for a fraction of a system's cost. Where groundwater is arriving under pressure it isn't, and pretending otherwise just delays the real fix.

How far from the house should downspouts discharge?

Ten to twelve feet at a minimum, and further on a slope or on ground that moves water freely. Two feet from the wall, which is where a great many of them still end, is close enough that everything off the roof goes straight back into the soil against your foundation.

The yard holds water for days after a storm. What fixes that?

Depends whether it's arriving faster than it can soak away or the ground under it can't take it at all. A swale or a French drain moves surface water off; heavy soil sometimes needs a route out to daylight. The walkthrough works out which one you have.

Do buried downspout lines clog up over time?

Old clay ones certainly do, and roots find the joints. Solid modern pipe with proper cleanouts and enough fall doesn't, and cleanouts are the part people skip. If your existing line is clay and older than you are, it's worth checking before assuming it works.

Will you put the yard back the way it was?

Trenches are backfilled, graded and seeded, and we tell you up front which plantings are in the way so nothing is a surprise. It takes a season for turf to knit back together. Where the route runs through something you care about, we'll look for another route first.

Other things we fix while we are there

Get a real price on drainage solutions.

Free estimate anywhere in Lancaster County, and an honest answer about whether it can wait.

(800) 834-6584