Drainage & Excavation · Nashville, TN
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Where yard water comes from, where it should go, and what French drains, swales and grading can and cannot fix in Middle Tennessee.
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Notes on grade, pipe and runoff
Written by Michael Blair, owner of Nashville's Drainage and Excavation, from the trade’s own practice.
October 12, 2026
Trench Safety: What to Ask a Trenching Contractor
A trench for a drain line or a buried utility looks like simple work until the wall lets go. Federal rules set out when the walls need protection, and they make a good test of any crew you hire.
Read itOctober 8, 2026
A Soggy Spot in the Yard That Never Dries
Most wet spots in a Nashville yard come from one of five places. Whether the spot dries in a dry week, smells, or sits by a downspout tells you which one it is.
Read itSeptember 28, 2026
When a Buried Downspout Line Stops Draining
The gutter overflows at one corner, the ground by the foundation is wet, and the pop-up in the yard never pops. The line between them is often where the trouble sits.
Read itSeptember 21, 2026
Channel Drains and Catch Basins for a Driveway
A driveway that falls toward the garage sends every storm to the door. Where the drive can’t be regraded, a trench drain across it, piped to a real outlet, is the usual fix, and the details decide whether it works.
Read itSeptember 14, 2026
Fixing Erosion on a Sloped Nashville Lot
The gully behind the house gets deeper with every downpour, and the seed thrown on it washes to the bottom with the soil. The fix starts with the water, not the plants.
Read itSeptember 7, 2026
Driveway Culverts and Ditches That Stop Working
The pipe under a driveway is the drainage nobody thinks about until the water goes around it instead of through it.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Where Water Should Go on a Nashville Lot
Almost every drainage solution starts with the same question, and it is where the water is meant to end up.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
What a French Drain Should Actually Be
A French drain is a simple thing to build wrong, and the ways it fails can be seen coming before the trench is backfilled.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Regrading Around a Foundation That Settled
Ground that slopes back toward the house can be checked with a string line and a level, and corrected with the right fill.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Dry Wells, Rain Gardens and Nashville Clay
A dry well or a rain garden only works where the ground will take the water, and a hole in the yard tells you that before anything is built.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
What to Do Before Any Excavation Starts
The locate request is free, most digging legally needs one, and the marks stop at the meter.
Read itSeptember 1, 2026
Sump Pumps and Where They Discharge
The storms that fill a sump are the storms that take the power out, which is the whole argument for a backup.
Read itService area
Yards drained and graded across Middle Tennessee
We dig in Nashville and 64 more towns across 12 counties, and our equipment goes anywhere in Middle Tennessee that sits about an hour or closer to Nashville.
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Water sitting in the yard again?
Show Nashville's Drainage and Excavation where the water collects after rain; our written estimate traces it to a discharge point and prices the fix.