Drainage

Water problems are rarely where they appear. A wet basement usually starts as a grading question twenty feet away, and a driveway that washes each spring is usually a culvert question — size, condition, or whether there is one at all.

So the diagnosis matters more than the equipment. We work out where the water comes from and where it should go before deciding what to put in the ground.

What the work covers

• Curtain and interceptor drains, to cut off water moving downhill toward a structure
• Foundation perimeter drains, on new builds and retrofits
• Culverts and ditching, sized for the water they will actually see
• Swales and regrading, which is often the cheapest real fix
• Roof runoff carried away from the foundation rather than dumped beside it

Frost changes the rules

Anything shallow that holds water will heave, and in Maine that shows up a few winters later rather than the first one. Depth and bedding are what make drainage last, so that is where the work goes.

If you can, call us out during or just after a hard rain. Water shows you the answer while it is running, and half an hour on a wet day saves guessing later.