- A French drain is used to remove groundwater that's collecting near a home or in its basement. In addition, building and properly locating a French drain near a home will prevent groundwater from collecting again in the future. A trench that slopes slightly downward, a French drain is filled with rounded gravel and a perforated pipe in many cases. French drains are excellent drainage solutions for homes that sit on slopes and suffer from soggy yards or wet basements.
- Homes located in areas where surface water is constantly collecting and won't run off on its own can benefit from a curtain drain. Curtain drains are actually nothing more than French drains that are dug to a shallow depth. A curtain drain is excellent for diverting water around a house, and is usually about 2 feet deep and 1.5 feet wide. Typically, a curtain drain is dug horizontally and is placed uphill from the area to be dried out.
- Deep French drains are often needed when a home is sitting on flat land and water is persistently building up in its basement. Deep French drains are also called footing drains, and they run around the perimeter of a house, at the same level as its foundation footings. Unfortunately, Deep French drains aren't cheap. A price of about $12,000 to dig a Deep French drain about 6 feet deep and completely around a 1,500-square-foot basement wasn't uncommon as of July 2011.
- All types of French drains depend on gravity to drain water away. If you have a French drain on flat land, you'll probably need to connect a pipe to it to carry away the water it collects. Usually homeowners using a French drain on flat land will run pipe from the drain to a collection basin, where it's then pumped into a storm drain system. As of July 2011, having a standard French or curtain drain installed cost about $10 to $16 per linear foot.
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