Archive for the ‘DIY French Drain’ Category

Where is the Water coming from? Identify the water sources

Posted: April 3, 2026 in DIY French Drain, french drain, French Drain Help, French Drain Installation
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Where is the Water coming from? Identify the water sources

Water may move into your Problem Area in many ways.  It may also come from multiple sources.

Once you have determined your Problem Drainage Area, the next step is to find out where it is coming from.

Here are some common water sources.

Water running downhill over the surface toward your home or business happens all the time.  It is definitely the most common water source.

Once it finds a low area it begins to build up.  This is called, ” Ponding.”

Ground Water

It can also run downhill underground.  This is also very common, but people don’t think about it because they don’t see it.  To detect Sub-Surface Ground Water a hole must be dug.  Water will start to appear in the hole over time.  Sometimes it is moving fast and appears immediately.  Usually, it moves more slowly and may take hours or days to collect in the hole.

Once we dug deep enough the ground water appeared immediately in the picture above.

If you live in a neighborhood where the houses are close together, water may be coming from your neighbor’s gutter downspouts and becomes trapped between houses.  Or it comes from your own gutters or both.  If there are no gutters even more water can be trapped between houses.

Erosion Problems

This can cause all kinds of Erosion Problems and Foundation Issues.

For Oklahoma Drainage, A French Drain installed between houses is the most common work we do.

There are many different ways for water to get into a Problem Drainage Area.

Digging holes to test for ground water is always a good idea as previously mentioned.

Try to watch surface water flowing toward the problem area as much as possible.  This might mean standing in the rain.  I have even done this in the dark with a light.

French Drain Answers are a Central Focus for Oklahoma Drainage.  We installed our first French Drain and completed our first Sprinkler Repair in Norman in 1993.

Oklahoma Drainage and Sprinkler Repair — Installing – French Drains – Surface Drains – Channel Drains – Sump Pumps.

We also install Sod and Provide Dirt work for Lawn Leveling.

Providing Expert Sprinkler Repair – Broken Sprinkler Pipes – Sprinkler Head Adjustment – Sprinkler Valve Replacement

We provide Service for Folks in: Norman, Oklahoma City, Edmond, and Moore.

Servicing all of Central and Western Oklahoma since 1993.  

                                                           (405) 203-9419

Identify the Problem Area, French Drain, Surface Drain, Channel Drain or Sump Pump

Posted: April 2, 2026 in DIY Drain Installation, DIY French Drain, french drain
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Identify the Problem Area.

Sometimes it is very easy to see where your water problem is.

If you step out of your car and get immediately soaked because of the water standing on your driveway, it is easy to determine what is bothering, you.

But Maybe water is seeping up into your floor vents at a very slow rate, and you only discovered it by accident.

Start with the obvious

Surface Water is Easy to see.

Surface Water may stand in your front yard.  But you may not realize or think about it soaking into the ground.  Once in the Ground it becomes Sub-Surface Water or Ground Water.

Guess What!

It continues to move.  Many times, it doesn’t go straight down but instead moves laterally.

The water in the picture could soak in and then move toward the house, filling the AC vents or causing Foundation Damage.

If a French Drain or a Surface Drain were installed on the left side of the picture, Water would drain away over time, but Ground Water would still flow toward the house.

French Drain Placement and Design is all about knowing as much as you can about your Problem Drainage Area.

Sometimes there are Several Problem Areas.

Problem Drainage Area

Problem Drainage Area

Try to determine which one is the worst and label it the Primary Drainage Area.

The other Areas would be Secondary to varying degrees.

Sometimes it is hard to tell where the Problem Area is.

We had to cut the sidewalk on the side of the house.  Next, digging 3 feet deep was necessary to find the Problem.

 

Water seeping under foundation

Water seeping under foundation

Sub-Surface Ground Water was moving under the house on the Southwest Corner.  It flowed all the way under the house in a steady stream and came up in the kitchen on the Northeast corner.

It took several days for my company, Oklahoma Drainage, to determine the entirety of the Drainage Problem Area.

In most cases it is not nearly this hard to determine the Water Problem Area.

Patience and focus are key.  Don’t be in too much of a hurry to start digging.

water seeping under foundation

water seeping under foundation

 

French Drain Answers are a Central Focus for Oklahoma Drainage.  We installed our first French Drain and completed our first Sprinkler Repair in Norman in 1993.

Oklahoma Drainage and Sprinkler Repair — Installing – French Drains – Surface Drains – Channel Drains – Sump Pumps.

We also install Sod and Provide Dirt work for Lawn Leveling.

Providing Expert Sprinkler Repair – Broken Sprinkler Pipes – Sprinkler Head Adjustment – Sprinkler Valve Replacement

We provide Service for Folks in: Norman, Oklahoma City, Edmond, and Moore.

Servicing all of Central and Western Oklahoma since 1993.  

                                                           (405) 203-9419

French Drain Mistakes, Problems, and bad practices – THINGS NOT TO DO! —

Posted: May 6, 2020 in DIY Drain Installation, DIY French Drain, Drain Installation, french drain, French Drain Photos
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French Drain Mistakes.

Recently we installed a Drainage System in NE Edmond.  Our customer had purchased a new home at a large discount.  The new home had sat empty for three years because of all the drainage problems on the West side of the house in the front, side, and back yard.  The builder could not sell the home.   Originally The builder of the home had installed a French Drain to solve these problems.  Whoever originally installed the system had no idea what they were doing.  Many mistakes were made.

Once the house was finally sold at a very large discount, the new homeowner hired us to come in and assess the situation.  We determined that the drainage problems could be solved.  Our quotes for drainage system installations are always free with no obligation.

Here are some of the problems we found:

  1.  A French Drain was installed, but perforated pipe was not used in the last 60 feet of the French Drain.  Crushed Limestone was used to cover the French Drain Pipe in the drainage trench, but since the pipe in the trench was solid and not perforated, the water had no way to get into the French Drain.  THIS IS LIKE PUTTING GAS INTO YOUR CAR AT THE GAS STATION BY POURING IT ON THE ROOF?
  2. In the areas where perforated pipe was used, it was installed incorrectly.  No type of filter was installed to protect the French Drain.  Neither a “Trench Liner” or a Neo-Preen soc was used to protect the perforated pipe from getting clogged.  The soil was very sandy in this NE Edmond neighborhood.  Here is the Pipe that we dug up.  Sand had completely filled the French Drain Pipe.  It was so heavy, that we had to cut it into sections just to lift it out of the trench.

    3.  Finally, the thing that left me scratching my head and made me speechless was this!  Much of the French Drain in the back yard would need to flow up hill a substantial distance to reach the exit point of the drainage system.  I can’t explain this or make it up, but somebody got paid to do this.  I’m sorry! I need to just let this go.  Anyway

     

     

    We ripped up all the bad French Drain Pipe that was filled with sand.  We installed perforated French Drain Pipe that had a Neo-Preen soc around it and we installed a trench liner as well.

  3. Installing French Drain

    The White Material is the Trench Liner. The black material is the Pipe Filter.

    Our customer is very happy!  I checked on the progress of the yard drying out yesterday, a week after the install.  He now has a normal firm back yard.

    French drain gravel

    Installing gravel on French drain

    The Bermuda grass will soon grow over the trench with the limestone.  If you have read my other blogs, you know how important this is and what it means.  CATCH YOU guys’ NEXT TIME!

 

 

  1. Oklahoma Drainage – We install French Drains, Channel Drains, Surface Drains, Sump Pumps and Sod.

    If You live in Oklahoma City and water damaging your foundation, We can install a French Drain for you.

    If you live in Norman and have water standing on your driveway, We can install a Channel Drain for you.

    If you live in Edmond and have water flooding your basement, We can install a Sump Pump for you.

    If you live in Moore and have water washing out your flower bed mulch, We can install a Surface Drain for you.

    If you live in Yukon and need grass to grow we can install Sod too!

    French Drain Installation

    Oklahoma Drainage  has been diagnosing and solving Drainage Problems since 1993.  Water has the ability to get into places around your home where you really don’t want it to be.  Some drainage problems are easy to solve.  Typically water enters the problem drainage area one way from one source.  The really tricky drainage problems occur when water enters the problem drainage area from multiple directions and from multiple sources.  Sometimes a secondary water source can’t be seen or identified until the primary water problem source is eliminated.

Edmond French Drain, Oklahoma City French Drain, Norman French Drain

Posted: October 15, 2010 in DIY French Drain, Drain Installation, french drain
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Oklahoma Drainage – French Drain Installation, Drainage System Design,  Drain Repair 

Recently Oklahoma Drainage and installed a large 6 inch French Drain in Edmond.  The customer had water running under his back porch step and into his basement.  We did a Free Drainage Diagnostic and Estimate.  The French Drain design that we proposed would intercept the surface water and subsurface water that was flowing under the steps.  The French Drain design called for a 6 inch French Drain to be installed above and several feet away from the steps.  It would run around the house parallel to the foundation and about 5 feet to the East.  The French Drain would run past the steps to a point where water must cross the French Drain or run up hill to the steps which in this case was not possible.  Once past the steps, the French Drain would transition to Solid 6 inch Drain Pipe and continue on around the house to the Pop-Up Emitter down hill in the side yard.  Along the way we attached several Gutter Down Spouts into the French Drain.

 

 

Curb Outlet for French Drain in Edmond

Curb Outlet for French Drain in Edmond

French Drain Installation

Oklahoma Drainage and Sprinkler Repair has been diagnosing and solving Drainage Problems since 1993.  Water has the ability to get into places around your home where you really don’t want it to be.  Some drainage problems are easy to solve.  Typically water enters the problem drainage area one way from one source.  The really tricky drainage problems occur when water enters the problem drainage area from multiple directions and from multiple sources.  Sometimes a secondary water source can’t be seen or identified until the primary water problem source is eliminated.

An example of this occurs when water is running into a problem area in an obvious way over the ground where you can see it.

Simple enough.

A drainage system is installed with a surface drain as the “intake” with drainage pipe running to an exit point.  Initially the water drains away and everything looks great.  The next day water is back and is all around the surface drain, but below the edge and it hasn’t rained at all, so no additional water ran over the surface of the ground to flood the area.  The primary water source was solved, ( The surface water run off ) but the secondary water source was not.  Which was sub-surface water, (ground water) running into the area.  A surface drain can’t drain “ground water.”  A French Drain should have initially been installed instead of a Surface Drain.  A French Drain can drain both Surface Water and Ground Water.

 

Does your backyard turn into a pond every time it rains?  Do your gutters turn your sidewalk into a moat?  Even worse, do you have standing water seeping into your home or business through the walls or up through the foundation? Oklahoma Drainage and Sprinkler repair can help these and many other Drainage Problems!

Give us a call.  We can diagnose your drainage problems and design a drainage system to fit your needs.  We utilize and install: French Drains, Surface Drains, Channel Drains, Basin Drains, Trench Drains, Basement Drains, and Sump Pumps.

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