Drainage Solutions in Vancouver, WA
Older neighborhoods without any drainage at all. French drains, catch basins, downspout tightlines and regrading for yards that hold water every winter.
Free Estimate in VancouverDrainage Solutions in Vancouver: what is different here
Homes built in Vancouver before the 1980s frequently have no yard drainage whatsoever. Downspouts discharge at the foundation corner, the grade has settled back toward the house over fifty years, and there is no perimeter drain. That combination produces exactly the damp crawl space and permanently soggy side yard we get called about.
The fix usually starts above ground and is cheaper than people expect: tightline the downspouts well away from the house, correct the negative grade against the foundation, and only then decide whether a French drain is actually needed. Contractors who lead with the most expensive solution often skip the two cheap ones that would have solved it.
Where a drain is needed, the outlet is the whole question. Vancouver lots are often flat with neighbors close on both sides, so finding somewhere the water can legally and physically go takes more thought than the trench does.
How we build it
- 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
Clark 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.
About 20 minutes south of our Ridgefield shop. Estimates in Vancouver are free, and the price we put in writing is the price.
Full detail on how we build drainage solutions · Everything we do in Vancouver
Drainage Solutions we have built
Drainage Solutions in Vancouver: questions we get
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.
Drainage Solutions in Vancouver
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.