How to Build a Drainage System Around Your Foundation

Rain water and snow melt soak into the ground where they flow downhill, following the path of least resistance. Sometimes this path is through cracks or gaps in your foundation, such as where the walls meet the floor. These leaks can flood your basement and damage your foundation walls. To fix this problem, build a drainage system around your foundation to channel the water in the soil away from it. This drainage system, called a “French drain” or a “curtain drain,” provides a new path of least resistance for groundwater that bypasses your house.

Shovel
Drainage pipes cut to the length of your walls
Washed rounded gravel
Filter fabric
Measuring tape
Scissors
Topsoil

Instructions

- 1
  Dig a 2-foot wide trench along the outside of your house’s foundation. Make the trench at least 2 feet deep for a slab-on-grade house. Make it 6 feet deep if you have a basement. Make the bottom of the trench slope away from your house.
- 2
  Put one of the drainage pipes into the trench so that one end is uphill of the other. This will cause the pipe to direct the water that collects in the trench away from your foundation.
- 3
  Fill the trench with washed rounded gravel between 1 inch and 1 ¼ inches in diameter. Leave 1 foot at the top of the trench. There is more space between the pieces of gravel than there is between particles of dirt. The water in the soil, therefore, flows through the gravel to the bottom of the trench, where it is led away by the pipe.
- 4
  Measure the dimensions of your trenches. Cut the filter fabric into lengths that cover these dimensions. Cover the trenches with the filter fabric.
- 5
  Fill the remaining space in each trench with topsoil. Compact it and ensure each trench is well filled. Replant the grass, shrubs or whatever other plants you grow next to your house.

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