Gravity, compacted soil grade at the foundation, and again, more gravity is what works over and over again, century after century around the world.

Hand excavated french drains are not a mystery school of yet to be proven success. They existed thousands of years before any sump pump ever came along. They were just called aqua ducts in those days, and took even more forms and uses then in society than they presently do, if history is to be believed.

Whether you are building a new home, or have an existing home, the area chosen for the installation of your drainage system, as well as the groundwater removal and/or prevention method proposed, and your contractors honesty and history of success, over and over again, year after year, will have everything to do with whether you have blown your cash, or actually solved your home drainage problem.

It is often the case to see homeowners blow the cash and still have a worse drainage problem than had existed before the bad deal with the sump pump guy.

Following numerous calls to the builders board, they homeowners are back looking for a drainage contractor. And that is when they meet me.

City and county planners, don’t advise or mandate the installation of french drains when additions or new construction are being discussed, unless it is brought up by the applicant. And then it becomes an option for the homeowners, who cut it from the list for lack of spirit in its necessity, in the prospective homeowners eyes, due to the passive response from the planner when french drains are brought up.

Many planners also know that the drainage business is off the wall, and many kinds of problem methods and people exist. So they don’t want to refer anyone, and because they hear about the failed systems, they too feel french drains and dry wells do not work. Ignorance does not need an excuse to exist actually.

City planners and architects, from my experience watching them over 30 years in the real estate arena, in general do not know the difference between a ditch dug with a trencher, that someone called a french drain, and a hand excavated french drain.

Does your home make the home drainage foundation grade? I am talking about how the soil grade at the foundation is engineered and compacted, and to what degree the proper slope and compaction is used to prevent groundwater entry into your homes below grade areas, such as the crawl space or basement.

That is your first major consideration when renovating or building new. Especially when finishing below grade basements into living area.

Home drainage plans are not created equal in any sense of the word. Just like home drainage contractors abilities, no matter how they confidently throw around the words french drain in their pitch.

Planning departments, architects, as well as home builders, should have nailed this home drainage quandry thing right down, long, long ago. But they have not. Why?

Ignorance rules home drainage status quo. And lenders are busy playing other game to harvest cash during the home buying process. They don’t give a damn if the home buyer winds up with a sump pump and still groundwater coming in, as long as it closes. So they do their best to control late information to limit a buyers options if a drainage problem comes up in the inspection report.

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When you flow groundwater away from your home with a hand excavated french drain aqua duct, pipe, and river rock, you will out perform everyones attempt at groundwater removal.

Problem over.

The Portland building code says, that a sufficient grade away from a home, for rain run off, away from the foundation walls, when compacted and not dug up, is 6″ per 10 lineal feet away from the foundation, for adequate home drainage.

That means you are not suppose to plant tomatoes or what ever, in that area, and loosen the soil, if you want good drainage around your foundation.

In a high number of newly constructed homes, as well as existing homes, the grade winds up flat against the foundation, or sloping to the foundation, from day one, which is a smoking gun for a rain created, home drainage groundwater problem.

From that point on homeowners around the Portland, Oregon area line up to install sump pump systems of every sort, good, bad, and ugly. Homeowners get ripped off on the hype of a guarantee that is not worth diddley.

Sump pumps do not stop groundwater entry, and should not be installed closer than 10 feet to any foundation, if at all, same as a 4×4 dry well set back.

Homeowner home drainage knowledge is big protection power, to the fifth power; when it comes to dealing with those professed home drainage contractors that show up on the scene when it starts raining.

These clowns think you know nothing about home drainage, just like it always has been on their plunder.

Sump pump guys are a real hoot, when you know who they really are, scammers, very often. Very often.

Those clowns are counting on homeowner ignorance and fear, in the face of their dire stories of underground rivers and springs under your home, that in their pitch mandate the need for your installation of a worthless sump pump system that will never stop the groundwater entry, and will probably be plumbed wrong and will do more damage than was present before they relieved you of your cash and skipped off into the sunset. Call them about that guarantee, and you will find out what everyone else does. It is worthless. You got scammed.

Getting back to working with planners and architechs.

To make matters worse, these privileged and self professed professional pundits of home drainage planning, are there to facilitate your home drainage demise without your input.

Planners may talk a bit to the public about french drains, by calling them curtain drains, or something like that. Often this is too little too late. The plans are drawn and you are already showing them for approval. And they did not include any drainage, because in your initial meeting with them, it was never brought up.

Remember the architect meeting about drainage? So most often these city and county home building department planners look over their glasses at you pensively, and often frame the need for french drains around your foundation like they were a cosmetic option.

Somthing like those fancy copper fence post caps, or maybe even something closer to lawn flamingos, in their eyes.

Meet with your architect in the beginning, to discuss the placement in the foundation for window wells, foundation vents, siding height from the ground up, how much concrete foundation wil be exposed above ground level, before the siding is nailed on.

Test his home drainage knowledge and make him design your home around home drainage function, not drainage dogma and lack of form, when it comes to making home drainage a priority.

Discuss what drainage considerations have been designed for ingress-egress windows, and in front of foundation vents.

Raise foundation vents up along the foundation wall when the foundation is first designed. Entry level ranch homes suffer worst with low foundations vents poured too low, where groundwater can run right into the foundation, as the vent is below grade. I see this hundreds of times a year myself.

Your architect or builder may tell you that you are wasting money on concrete. Not true.

Next to the cost of major home foundation post beam reconstruction, bad home air, lack of habitability years down the line, when everything is ruined from bad grade and no french drains.

No. This is not candy. This is meat and potatoes, working in the form of substantial good drainage.

Not a ditch full of gravel, bundled up with the pipe suspended within, many inches off the ground in a mess of non functioning garbage, like some clowns will preach.

I know that they fail every time.

I clean lots of stupid home drainage tricks up, and haul it all to the dump with the rest of the junk, prior in installing the real deal, hand excavated french drains.

Skimping on concrete, which is cheap, is penny wise, and pound foolish, in my opinion.

If you want to have no home drainage problems, get the soil grade at the foundation right from the beginning.

Homeowner home drainage knowledge is big protection power, to the fifth power; when it comes to dealing with those contractors who think you know nothing, and are counting on that for your appreciation of their stories, and to win the game by getting an order from you for a sump pump installation perhaps, or something else that does not stop groundwater entry below grade at all.

Get better results by having a home drainage professional install your rain drains and hand excavated french drains, rather than… winding up with a grab bag of bad home drainage, attempted by builders who hire laborers to attempt something they know nothing about.

Consult this website and professional home drainage company for important home drainage and groundwater removal information that can save the quality and structure of your home from dry rot problems and bad air.

We can make a difference where others have failed.

The home drainage information within this website, specifically groundwater removal science and home drainage, specifically, information explaining the logistics of, and effectiveness of, hand excavated french drains.

Studying this web site diligently will prepare you for success, when dealing with architects, planners, attorneys, lenders, engineers, landscape architects, and builder/contractors, none of whom will add much to your home drainage successful plan, without you first promoting the need for it.

Learn to speak the home drainage language that professionals use to identify and make sense of home drainage problems.

The original home drainage planning must start in the architects office really, by making sure the foundation wall has enough space between the ground and the bottom of the siding, after the home is built, planted and back filled, to allow the increase at the foundation, in grade, installing a compacted soil splash block to run groundwater away from the home and into a hand excavated french drain.

This knowledge and expertise must get to the homeowner, and be passed through to the job site, where the home drainage contractor installs the home drainage, in different ways, and at different times than the builder would select. Also getting quality long lasting results, where the builder would likely not achieve the same.

When you want groundwater removal and home drainage science done right, don’t leave it to your builder or city planners to represent common sense methods of home drainage groundwater removal. You will lose most of the time.

That is in part why there are so many home drainage problems out there in the Portland area that are unsolved.

Most are unsolved because they were discovered after the cost to solve the groundwater problem had exceeded the homeowners budget, or their desire to do so.

Reading this web site will teach you the difference between a ditch with little to no grade, called a french drain by some, and a hand excavated french drain groundwater removal system that is engineered with a hard bottom grade of at least 2 inches per ten lineal feet, as it parallels the homes foundation, around 18″ from the foundation wall.

Practice “green” home drainage science to achieve a better air environment within your home, as well as a healthy exterior foundation environment.

Groundwater removal from within 2 feet of your homes foundation wall, every time it rains hard for days and days, will prevent groundwater entry into below grade areas, like the crawl space or basement.

Read other articles on our home drainage consulting services within this website.

A pay pal link is posted on the home page for your peace of mind and banking security.

The home drainage information here-in, offered for free, can save you thousands of dollars, and add decades to the life of your new home. As well as provide your family with a better environment for healthy living.

Use this information to your benefit. Don’t spend wasted time trying to disprove it.

Learn how to protect your property and home from groundwater damage using hand excavated french drain groundwater removal systems.

Learn how to practice green home drainage science, to enhance the quality of life for your community, neighborhood, and family.

Make “green groundwater removal” work for you today. Teach your neighbors to respect their property in the same ways.

Call for a free home evaluation today.

Install hand excavated french drains.

Duplicate what is already happening as a natural process on our earth.

Perking of groundwater below, into the center of the earth, is natures way of filling our drinking water supply.

If you do not think perk science applies to todays world, call your local planning department and ask them how much the fee for a “perk” test is, and how long it will take them to evaluate the findings once compiled, as it pertains to the cities issue of a standard septic permit.

Beginning with contracts signed on or after July 1, 2008, contractors that build new residential structures are required to provide a recommended maintenance schedule to the owner, or the first purchaser, of the structure.

The Construction Contractors Board, the Oregon (CCB) was mandated to adopt rules that specify minimum information, and a maintenance schedule that must include the following. By law, a maintenance schedule is required to contain the following:

1. Definitions and descriptions of moisture intrusion and water damage.

2. An explanation of how moisture intrusion and water damage can occur.

3. A description and recommended schedule for maintenance to prevent moisture intrusion.

4. Advice on how to recognize the signs of water damage.

5. Appropriate steps to take when water damage is discovered.

The CCB must make the information available at no charge to contractors that construct new residential structures. Meetings have been held for stakeholder input. The information is currently being researched, and a work group is being formed.

Contractors must include an acknowledgment of the owner’s, or first purchaser’s, receipt of the maintenance schedule, as part of the written contract.

Information will be updated on the CCB website as it becomes available. Check the Oregon Contractors Board website for updated information, or call them to get information on this new home builder requirement, and how homeowners are impacted by it.

See additional articles on the above subject within this website in the future, and in the past, leading up to this new law.

This company recommends future Oregon legislature mandated disclosures, with respect to the above issues, that would pertain to existing residential structures as well as new homes, and address home seller penalty for non-disclosure of home drainage problems to home buyers. There is a lot more trouble in old homes, with respect to home drainage, than new homes. The problem really is in the non-disclosure of homes through seller fraud and lender fraud, all going down without the knowledge of the home buyers.

This is a reprinted article that was originally written on April 23, 08. New information and forms on this sublect can be found by calling the CCB, or going to their web site.

Hand excavated french drains are not only the past, but the present and the future of home drainage and groundwater removal science.

Become informed on why hand excavated french drains shine above all other groundwater removal systems.

Learn how to install hand excavated french drains yourself. Learn how you can have hand excavated french drains installed by a home drainage professional.

Enjoy the freedom of having a dry crawlspace or basement.

Learn to prevent groundwater intrusion below grade with sound home drainage planning when building a new home.

Find out why millions of homeowners around the world use hand excavated french drains to protect their foundations, protect their footings, keep their basements dry, keep groundwater out of their crawlspace, and protect the air in their home from mold and mildew.

Stop the groundwater from entering below grade. Protect your families health. Don’t sump pump groundwater for the rest of your life without ever stopping the groundwater entry all together. Hand excavated french drains have been around for hundreds of years.

This practice spreads the roofwater and the collected groundwater from your hand excavated french drains around to various areas of the property, and as the collected groundwater perks into the soil, it keeps your yard and landscape green and fresh, without having to pump as much water from the tap.

This saves money, and makes a green environment that your family will enjoy. Stormwater retention ponds have their own benefits.

Many homeowners are creating stormwater retention ponds on their property for roofwater and groundwater storage. If the amount of groundwater and roofwater is significant, the groundwater that is stored can be pumped to irrigate the landscape and vegetable gardens. Oxygen can be increased in the pond with a fountain, which also is very cool to view, and brings birds to the pond.

Remember to put some sort of liner in the pond to prevent the perking of the groundwater into the soil instead of being held in your pond.

Think green science groundwater storage when at all possible. Stormwater retention ponds are fantastic additions to the charm of any home, and can be a wonderful source of enjoyment providing planting areas, wildlife attraction, bird habitat, fish habitat, and irrigation water for the landscape.

Stormwater retention ponds can be large in size, to small ponds. Estimate the amount of groundwater to be stored with a home drainage professional for best results. Also provide for groundwater storage overflow that does not create groundwater problems for neighbors.

This saves money, and makes you money at the same time. The value of your property increases, and you pay less on your water bill. Gotta love that.

Most counties have an agency that will give you free, enough fish of a small species that eat mosquito larva, and keep the water in the pond free of skeeters.

In the Portland, Oregon tri-county area, the organization is call “vector control”. Just go to their facility and tell them the size and depth of your pond. They will give you enough fish to start your fish breeding, mosquito eating project.

Everyone wins. Try it, you will like it. I have used them myself, and kids love to be involved with the fish planting project as well.

Most general contractors do not approach the drainage business with enough experience. Most contend that is the way everyone does it.

These people can help you to understand their experiences with drainage professionals, or with other contractors who said they were drainage professionals, and did not perform up to their expectations.

Discuss the drainage plan with your city and county officials to determine if the suggested methods of water disposal are adequate, and correct for your site and the community and neighbors that will have to live with it. Put the drainage work in your original budget and be prepared to do so after the proposals have been written and reviewed. Do not just put in some arbitrary amount ahead of time for drainage as suggested by your general contractor.