Drainage & Excavation · Nashville, TN
French Drains in Nashville
Perforated pipe in washed stone, wrapped and sloped properly, which is what separates a drain from a buried pipe.
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Show us where the water goes
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French Drains in Nashville, Tennessee
Perforated pipe in washed stone, wrapped and sloped properly, which is what separates a drain from a buried pipe.
Nashville's Drainage and Excavation does french drains for homeowners across Middle Tennessee — licensed, insured, with the price in writing before the work starts. Drainage contractors who watch where the water goes before they dig, and give it somewhere to go.
Why homeowners call
Where the water usually gives itself away
- Standing water days after rain
- Water running toward the house
- Soggy patch that never dries out
- Crawl space or basement taking water
- Soil washing off a slope
- Downspouts dumping at the foundation
What is included
Pipe, stone and grade: what french drains involves
- Outlet identified before any digging starts
- Trench cut to a consistent fall along the whole run
- Non-woven fabric lining the trench
- Washed stone, not crusher run or screenings
- Perforated pipe with the holes facing down
- Fabric wrapped over before backfill
- Compacted in lifts and the surface restored
- Outlet shown to you running
French Drains on the ground, from locates to backfill
Every drain needs somewhere to go. A pipe running to a buried stone pit with no outlet simply fills up and stops working, and this is the single most common failure we are called to fix.
Perforations face down. The pipe fills from the bottom as the water table rises, which is the entire mechanism. Facing them up means the pipe only collects what falls into it from above, which is a different and much less useful thing.
Washed stone, never crusher run. Crusher run contains fines that migrate into the voids and silt the system solid within a few years. It is cheaper by the ton and far more expensive over the life of the drain.
Fabric is cheap and it is what makes the difference between a drain that lasts five years and one that lasts twenty. It keeps soil out of the stone while letting water through.
Also available
More drainage and excavation work
Grading & Regrading
Reshaping the ground so water leaves the house instead of collecting against it — usually the real fix.
Learn moreCatch Basins & Surface Drains
Collecting water where it pools and taking it somewhere it can actually go.
Learn moreDownspout & Gutter Drainage
Piping roof water well clear of the foundation, which is the single cheapest drainage improvement most houses can make.
Learn moreExcavation & Site Work
Footings, utility trenches, pads and site prep, with locates called before anything breaks ground.
Learn moreRetaining Walls & Erosion Control
Holding a slope and draining behind it, because a retaining wall without drainage is a wall waiting to fail.
Learn moreService 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.
FAQ
Common questions about french drains
What is a French drain and when is it the right answer?
A trench with a perforated pipe bedded in washed stone and wrapped in filter fabric, sloped to carry water from where it collects to where it can go — daylight on a slope, a dry well, or a storm drain. It is the answer when water arrives from uphill or from a high water table and the grade cannot be changed. A trench with a pipe in it and no stone, no fabric and no slope is a buried pipe, and it fails within a season.
Where does the water from a French drain go?
Somewhere lower — that is the whole design. Daylight on a slope is best; a dry well in permeable soil works where there is no slope, though Middle Tennessee clay limits how well; a connection to a storm drain where one is available and permitted. A drain with nowhere to discharge does not drain. The outlet is decided before the trench is dug.
Free estimate
Plan your french drains with us
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.