Guide ·
Clay, concrete, Big-O or PVC: what is around your foundation?
Clay, Big-O and PVC drain tile look similar underground but fail differently. Learn how to identify your drain tile type and what each means for repairs.
Resources Guides from the crew that does the digging
Everything below comes out of jobs we have run on the North Shore and in Vancouver: what a perimeter drain actually is, how to tell when yours has failed, what the different pipe materials mean, and what drives the cost of putting it right. No sales copy, no scare tactics.
Where to start
Start with the question you actually have
Drainage is the part of a house nobody sees until it stops working. Most of the questions we get on site are the same handful, so we wrote the answers down.
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Is my system failing?
If you are trying to work out whether your system needs attention, start with the signs guide and the plain explanation of what a perimeter drain does.
Signs your perimeter drains are failing -
What is a perimeter drain?
By the time a basement smells musty or a floor drain backs up in a November storm, the pipe around the footing has usually been failing for years.
What a perimeter drain is and how it works -
What will it cost?
If you already know something is wrong and you are trying to budget for it, the cost guide sets out the variables that actually move the number on a Metro Vancouver property: excavation depth, soil, access, and how much landscaping and concrete has to come out and go back.
What perimeter drain replacement costs in Vancouver -
Buying a house?
If you are buying a house, read the pre-purchase guide before your subject-removal date. A standard home inspection stops at what can be seen; it says nothing about the condition of a pipe buried at footing depth, and that pipe is one of the more expensive things on a property to replace.
What a drainage inspection covers before you buy
Every guide is written by our own crew, dated, and updated when the code, the municipal process or our own practice changes. Where a guide states a rule or a requirement, it links to the source so you can check it yourself.
- Written by our own crew
- Dated and updated
- Every source linked
What is not in these guides
What you will not find here is a set of do-it-yourself instructions for replacing a perimeter drain. Foundation drainage sits below the footing, ties into a municipal storm or sanitary connection, and needs a permit and an inspection in most of the municipalities we work in. Getting the slope, the rock, the fabric or the connection wrong does not show up for years, and by then the trench is backfilled and the landscaping is back. The useful thing we can give a homeowner is an accurate picture of what is under the ground and what the options actually cost.
Three different problems
Drainage, waterproofing and pumping
One thing worth saying up front, because it comes up on nearly every job: a drainage problem and a waterproofing problem are not the same thing, and neither is a plumbing problem.
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Drainage
The drain around the footing manages groundwater before it reaches the wall.
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Waterproofing
A membrane or a crystalline coating manages water that is already at the wall.
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Pumping
A sump pump moves water that cannot leave by gravity.
Fixing one when the fault is in another is the most common way people end up paying twice, and it is the reason we put a camera down the line before quoting anything.
Not answered here?
If a question you have is not answered below, the FAQ page collects the shorter ones, and the individual service pages go into detail on how each job runs. Anything still unanswered, call or text us and ask. We would rather spend ten minutes on the phone than have someone spend thousands solving the wrong problem.
All drainage guides
Guide ·
Why a home inspection tells you almost nothing about what's underground
A standard home inspection cannot evaluate buried perimeter drains. Here is what a drainage inspection covers before you remove subjects in Vancouver.
Guide ·
How much does perimeter drain replacement cost in Vancouver?
Perimeter drain replacement cost depends on footprint, excavation depth, soil and access. Here is what drives the price and how a quote gets built.
Guide ·
Signs your perimeter drains are failing
Perimeter drains usually fail quietly. Here are eight signs that show up inside the house first, what each one usually means, and what to do about it.
Guide ·
Weeping tile, perimeter drain or French drain: what's the difference?
Weeping tile, perimeter drain and French drain get confused constantly. Here is what each system actually does and which one protects your home.
Guide ·
What is a perimeter drain?
A perimeter drain collects groundwater at the footing and carries it away from the foundation. How it works, how deep it sits, and where the water goes.
We find the cause before we quote the fix
Tell us the address and what you're seeing — a backup, a wet wall, a smell, a sinking lawn. We'll tell you what the next step is and what it costs, before anyone digs. Not sure yet? Ask us a question first.