Drainage & Moisture Control

French Drains, Sump Pumps, Waterproofing, and Drainage Design

For Bay Area homeowners dealing with water under or around the house – wet crawl spaces, musty basements, standing water, or foundations that won’t stop cracking.

If your soils stay wet, your house keeps moving. Clay swells, shrinks, and pushes on foundations. Water sits against walls and finds every crack it can. Over time you get:

• Cracks in foundations and walls
• Rot in framing and subfloor
• Musty smells, mold risk, and unhealthy air
• Floors that go out of level again and again

You don’t fix that with “more concrete.” You fix it by getting water away from the house.

This service is about that: drainage and moisture control that actually works with your structure, not against it.

What This Service Covers

We group all the “water work” under one coherent system:

• Drainage assessment & design
• French drains and surface drains
• Sump pumps and dry wells
• Basement and crawl-space waterproofing

Instead of one contractor pushing “a French drain” and another pushing “a coating,” we design the whole path: where water comes from, where it goes, and how it stops attacking your foundation.

Step 1: Drainage & Moisture Assessment

We start by figuring out what’s really happening, not guessing from one puddle:

• Site walk: slopes, downspouts, hardscaping, retaining walls
• Check low areas where water collects near the house
• Crawl-space/basement assessment:

• Signs of standing or past water
• Efflorescence and staining on concrete
• Rot or mold risk in framing

We’re answering:

• Is the problem surface water, subsurface water, or both?
• Is it occasional nuisance or structural risk?
• Where does the water want to go naturally, and how can we help it leave?

Step 2: Drainage Design

Once we understand the water behavior, we design a system tailored to your site. That can include:

• French drains along key sides of the house
• Surface drains and catch basins for visible runoff
• Sump pumps and discharge lines where gravity alone can’t do the job
• Dry wells or daylight outlets where water can safely be released
• Tie-ins with downspouts so roof water isn’t dumped right at the foundation

Good drainage design is simple to explain on paper and works in real storms. If someone can’t sketch it for you and trace the path of water from roof to final outlet, it’s not a design.

Step 3: French Drains & Surface Drains

We install French drains where they’ll actually help, not just “somewhere near the house”:

• Proper trench depth and slope away from critical areas
• Filter fabric and correctly sized gravel
• Perforated pipe oriented and sloped the right way
• Cleanouts for future maintenance
• Connection to a real discharge point (not just dumping at the next corner)

For surface drains:

• Catch basins where water naturally collects
• Grates rated for your use (walkable vs driveable)
• Piping sized and sloped to move water, not hold it

Step 4: Sump Pumps & Dry Wells

Some lots simply can’t drain everything by gravity. In those cases we use:

• Sump pits in crawl spaces, basements, or low yards
• Quality pumps sized for expected flow
• Discharge lines that move water far enough away to matter
• Optional backup systems where power loss during storms is a concern

Dry wells are used where we can’t daylight to a street or swale. The key is designing them so they actually accept and dissipate water, not just fill up and backflow.

Step 5: Basement & Crawl-Space Waterproofing

We don’t believe in slapping on a coating and calling it done. Any interior waterproofing is paired with control of external water first.

Depending on your situation, we may:

• Apply appropriate wall coatings or membranes (interior or exterior)
• Install interior drains and sump systems for basements under the water table
• Address ventilation and vapor barriers in crawl spaces to control moisture in the air, not just liquid water

Waterproofing is the last layer in a system, not the whole system.

Why Drainage Comes Before (and After) Structural Work

In a lot of cases, you’re here because of foundation problems. If we level, shore, and repair without addressing water:

• The soil keeps moving
• The foundation keeps getting attacked
• You pay twice

Our philosophy is simple:

• Where water is part of the problem, drainage is part of the solution.
• We design structural repair and drainage as a linked plan, so your foundation and retrofit work actually stays put.

How the Process Works

1. Schedule a drainage & moisture assessment
2. On-site evaluation of site, foundations, crawl/basement
3. Written plan showing:

• Where water is coming from
• Proposed drains, pumps, outlets, and any coatings

4. Phased options where appropriate (critical measures now, upgrades later)
5. If you proceed, we install and test the system, and you see water go where it’s supposed to go in the next real storm.

If you’re tired of watching water collect around your house and wondering what it’s doing to your foundation, the next step is to let us look at it as a system and design a fix that lasts, not another band-aid.