Drainage Solutions in Clark County, WA
French drains, catch basins, downspout tightlines and regrading for yards that hold water every winter.
Get a Free EstimateClark County sits on heavy clay and takes roughly forty inches of rain a year, most of it between October and May. Water that has nowhere to go will find your lowest ground, your crawl space or the back of your retaining wall. Drainage is the least glamorous thing we do and by far the most valuable.
We diagnose before we dig
Standing water in a back corner and water in a crawl space are different problems with different fixes, and the wrong fix is expensive. We walk the property, look at where roof water discharges, find the grade that is pitching toward the house instead of away from it, and identify where water can legally and physically be discharged.
That last point is the one homeowners rarely think about. A drain has to daylight somewhere — a swale, a street, a dry well, an existing storm connection. Piping water to a spot where it simply reappears, or onto a neighbor, is not a solution.
What we install
French drains: perforated pipe in a clean drain rock trench wrapped in filter fabric, intercepting subsurface water before it reaches the low spot. We use washed rock and fabric on every one — fabric-wrapped pipe alone silts up and dies in a few years.
Catch basins and area drains for surface water in lawn low spots and at the bottom of slopes. Downspout tightlines to get roof water fully away from your foundation instead of dumping it at the corner. Dry wells where there is no gravity outlet. Curtain drains above slopes. Regrading and swales, which are often the cheapest real fix and get overlooked because there is nothing to sell you.
Wet crawl spaces and foundations
If your crawl space is damp, the cause is usually outside it. Roof water discharging at the foundation, negative grade against the house, and saturated clay against a footing are the three we find most. Fixing the drainage above ground is almost always cheaper than fighting the symptom below it.
What is included
- On-site diagnosis before any pricing
- Washed drain rock and filter fabric on every French drain
- Catch basins and area drains at collection points
- Downspout tightlines routed well away from the foundation
- Dry wells where no gravity outlet exists
- Corrective grading and swales
Every quote is fixed and in writing. We walk the site, tell you what the job actually needs, and price it. If we find something during the walkthrough that changes the scope, you hear it then — not as a change order halfway through.
Drainage Solutions: common questions
Why does my yard hold water all winter?
Almost always a combination of Clark County clay subsoil, compaction from construction equipment, and a grade that does not fall anywhere. Clay drains extremely slowly, so once the top few inches saturate in November, additional rain has nowhere to go until spring. The fix is giving the water a path out rather than waiting for it to soak in.
How much does a French drain cost?
It depends on length, depth, whether we can get a machine to the trench line, what the trench has to cross, and how far the outlet is. A short run in an open back yard is a very different job from a hundred feet of hand-dug trench between a fence and a house. We price it after walking it, and the number we give you is fixed.
Can I just fill in the low spot with soil?
Occasionally, if it is a genuinely isolated dip. Usually it moves the problem rather than solving it, because the water still has nowhere to go and simply ponds at the new low point. If the water is arriving from uphill or from your roof, filling does nothing.
Do I need a permit for yard drainage?
Simple private drainage usually does not require one, but connections to a public storm system, work in a critical area or wetland buffer, and anything that changes where water leaves your property can. We will flag it if your project looks like it needs a call to the county or city first.
Drainage Solutions by city
Local conditions change what this job takes. Pick your area for the specifics.
Need drainage solutions?
Free on-site estimates across Clark County. We walk the property with you, tell you what it actually needs, and put a fixed price in writing.