Water pools after every rain
A low spot that holds water for hours or days means the grade sends water there and the clay underneath will not take it. Filling it with topsoil moves the puddle rather than removing it.
Drainage Solutions
French drains, regrading, downspout and yard drainage for wet yards in Oakville and Burlington.
Free · No obligation
Get your drainage assessed
Tell us where the water sits.
The symptoms
If any of this sounds like your yard
Standing water after every rain. A lawn that stays spongy into July. A basement that smells damp each spring. These are symptoms of the same thing — water with nowhere to go. We find where it actually travels, then fix the route.
Halton sits on heavy clay. Combine that with the shallow grading used across most subdivision builds and water simply has nowhere to go. These are the six problems we’re called about most.
The lawn stays spongy
Ground that never firms up is saturated below the root zone. Grass roots suffocate, moss moves in, and mowing tears the turf because the soil gives underfoot.
The basement smells damp in spring
Very often an exterior problem. Negative grade against the foundation and downspouts discharging a foot from the wall push snowmelt straight down against the footing.
Water crosses the property line
Runoff arriving from — or leaving toward — a neighbour is the most sensitive case. It needs a legal discharge point, not just a trench aimed sideways.
Interlock or patio is settling
Water moving under a hard surface washes out the base. The pavers sink, the joints open, and re-levelling without fixing drainage buys a season at most.
Downspouts dump beside the house
A single downspout can deliver hundreds of litres in one storm. If it discharges next to the foundation, no amount of interior sealing keeps up with it.
What we install
Five ways to move water
Which one you need depends on where the water comes from and where it can legally go. Most properties need two working together.
01
French drains
A gravel-filled trench with perforated pipe at the base, wrapped in filter fabric so silt does not clog it. Water enters along the whole run and is carried to a discharge point. Depth and slope matter more than length — a drain without fall is a holding tank.
Best for: Persistent low spots, foundation perimeters, slope bottoms
02
Regrading
Reshaping the ground so water leaves on its own. Cheaper and lower-maintenance than pipe when there is somewhere for the water to go, because there is nothing to clog or collapse. Often the correct first move on newer subdivision lots.
Best for: Negative grade at the house, broad shallow pooling
03
Downspout extensions and buried leaders
Taking roof water properly away from the building instead of dropping it at the corner. Buried rigid pipe to a pop-up emitter well out in the lawn is inexpensive and often solves a damp basement on its own.
Best for: Damp basements, erosion at the corners of the house
04
Dry wells
A buried gravel-filled chamber that accepts a surge of water and lets it soak away slowly. The answer when there is no legal outlet to daylight or storm sewer, which is common on interior lots.
Best for: Properties with no downhill discharge point
05
Catch basins and channel drains
Surface inlets that capture water at a specific point — the low corner of a patio, the base of a driveway, a gate threshold — and tie into the drainage line below. Fitted with removable grates so you can clear them yourself.
Best for: Driveways, patios, hard surfaces, gate lines
How we work
Diagnose first, dig second
Plenty of contractors will sell you a French drain before they know whether you need one. A drain installed in the wrong place moves water somewhere else on your property — or onto your neighbour’s. We start with where the water actually goes.
- 1
Walk it with water in mind
We look at grade, downspout placement, hard surfaces, soil and where your neighbours drain. Ideally during or just after rain, when the evidence is visible.
- 2
Find the legal discharge point
Water has to end up somewhere permitted. This step decides the whole design, and it is the one most often skipped.
- 3
Quote the fix
A clear quote, so you can see what you are paying for and phase it if you want.
- 4
Install and restore
Sod lifted and relaid where practical, access protected, topsoil and seed to finish. Most trench lines are invisible within a season.
Questions
Drainage questions, answered
A French drain is a gravel-filled trench with a perforated pipe at the bottom that collects water and channels it to a safe discharge point such as a storm sewer or dry well. You need one when water collects in a low area faster than the soil can absorb it — most often beside a foundation, at the bottom of a slope, or along a fence line where two properties meet.
Most of Halton sits on heavy clay soil, which drains very slowly. Combine that with the shallow grading used on many subdivision builds and water has nowhere to go. It is usually a grade and routing problem rather than a soil problem, which is why topdressing or aerating alone rarely fixes it.
Often, yes. A large share of basement moisture starts outside as negative grade against the foundation or downspouts discharging within a foot of the wall. Correcting the exterior grade and moving water away is far less invasive than interior waterproofing, and we will tell you honestly if the problem is beyond what exterior work can solve.
Most residential drainage corrections take one to three days. A single French drain run or downspout extension is often a one-day job, while a full regrade with multiple collection points can take three days or more depending on access and how much material has to move.
There is disturbance, but we plan for it. We cut and lift sod where practical so it can be relaid, protect access routes with plywood, and finish with topsoil and either the original sod or fresh seed. The trench line is usually indistinguishable within one growing season.
It depends entirely on the cause, the run length and the discharge point, so we do not quote drainage over the phone. Every quote follows an on-site assessment.
How do you install a French drain?
French drain installation services typically involve the following steps:
Assessment
The first step in installing a French drain is to assess the area where it will be installed. This includes evaluating the existing drainage system, soil conditions, and water flow patterns to determine the best location for the drain.
Planning
Once the assessment is complete, a drainage plan is developed. This includes determining the size and depth of the drain, as well as the materials needed for the installation.
Excavation
The next step is to excavate the area where the drain will be installed. This typically involves digging a trench along the perimeter of the area to be drained.
Installation
The drain is then installed in the trench with a perforated pipe placed at the bottom to allow water to flow into the drain. Gravel is then added on top of the pipe to facilitate drainage.
Backfilling
Once the drain is in place, the trench is backfilled with soil, leaving only a small portion of the drain visible above ground.
Finishing Touches
Finally, the area is graded to ensure proper drainage away from the property, and any landscaping or hardscaping features are restored.
Often paired with
Landscape Design
If you are redesigning the yard anyway, drainage should be built into the plan rather than retrofitted afterwards.
Learn more →Interlocking & Hardscaping
Patios and driveways change how water moves. Base preparation and drainage are the same job.
Learn more →Lawn Improvement
Once the water is handled, thin and mossy turf can be repaired or replaced with sod that will actually hold.
Learn more →Get started
Show us where the water sits
Free on-site assessment across Oakville and Burlington. We’ll tell you what’s causing it and what it takes to fix — even if that turns out not to be us.