Not all french drain installations are equal in value
French drains are not created equal in function, form or the ability to last a long time. That is the truth concerning french drain installation.
Not all installed french drains are built with the same engineering standards and with the same degree of expertise.
Many homeowners use a reputable contractor service such as “Angies List” to give them a leg up in the search for the licensed, bonded and insured drainage contractor that specializes in groundwater removal and the installation of french drains.
We are proud to be a highly regarded drainage construction company referred by “Angies List”. When you need to find contractors, consult “Angies List” for the best contractors throughout the United States.
If you just put in french drains on your browser, you will find a variety of writers and concepts that all use the word french drain. The reality of this is that unless the french drain is hand excavated and conforms to exacting standards of grade, greater than those most often advocated by other drainage writers on the internet, your success will be minimal or will not exist at all.
Both desert and rain forest environments get heavy rains when it does rain. You need a french drain installation that will handle the huge flows that come with those rain events.
The importance of a clean hand excavated aquaduct as the beginning for the hand excavated french drain installation cannot be under stated.
Without a company that has experience with the order in which the work is accomplished, how to use the excavation dirt, the materials and methods used, the engineering standards adhered to, as well as the grade achieved on a flat hard clean bottom, you will likely waste your money.
Specify hand excavated french drains in your google browser and you will find that AAA Home Drainage has the number 1 page ranking in the world with respect to the discussion of hand excavated french drains.
Time and again throughout the year I receive phone calls from homeowners needing information on hand excavated french drains.
The discussion is usually followed by a property assessment concerning their groundwater drainage problems.
Many of the prospective customers start the discussion with a story of how they have french drains installed already. They answer my questions with respect to the age of the french drain installation and how it was accomplished. After discussing their situation, I many times come to the conclusion that their french drain installation does not conform to the structure, logistics and engineering of what I know to be a successful and adequate french drain.
First off the french drain was probably not hand excavated. A combination of the wrong venting method, no grade, and a number of other poor engineering factors, upon investigation at the site, convinces me that it is a ditch just storing water in the same location, not a french drain. The groundwater is still saturating the area.
I must start by removing the old system, hoping that the previous french drain installers have not messed up the area beyond my ability to excavate and plumb a hand excavated french drain groundwater removal system.
Once the bearing soil is excavated below depth or compromised in some other way, it is harder to achieve a hard bottom to the hand excavated french drain. We can compact the needed soil and clay into an adequate grade, but it is better to have an even harder bottom that has not been excavated prior.
Read in this blog on french drain installation, drainage standards, and groundwater removal techniques for information that can help you sort out the qualified french drains installers from the would be drainage contractors who can waste your hard earned money.