Exterior Drain Tile and Footing Drains in Kalamazoo, MI
Kalamazoo Drainage Pros installs exterior drain tile and footing drains for homes across Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County, Michigan. We are a licensed and insured drainage contractor, and we take foundation water from the outside. A footing drain is a perforated pipe run around the outside of the footing to catch water in the soil and carry it off before it reaches the wall.
The pipe rides in washed #57 stone and geotextile filter fabric, sloped to daylight or a sump. That is different from an interior basement system, where a company breaks the floor inside and sets a perimeter channel to catch water that has already reached the wall. Outside, the water is stopped in the ground; inside, it is collected after it has arrived.
Foundation Water, Handled Outside
Water in the soil against a foundation leans on the wall and works through any crack or pore it can find. A footing drain relieves that pressure by giving the water a lower, easier path than the wall. Set at the base of the foundation, it collects the water down where it gathers and carries it away, so it never builds up against the concrete.
How a Footing Drain Is Built
We excavate along the wall down to the footing, then lay perforated pipe on a bed of washed stone at the base. The pipe and stone get wrapped in non-woven fabric so the clay cannot pack them, and the trench is backfilled with free-draining material. The whole run drops toward its outlet, because a footing drain with no slope holds water at the wall instead of moving it off.
Drain Tile, Not an Interior Package
Interior perimeter systems that break up the basement floor are their own line of business, sold by other companies. Our work is the exterior drain tile: the perimeter footing drain that keeps water out of the wall in the first place. We say plainly which one we do, so there is no confusion about what you are getting.
Where the Water Goes
A footing drain still needs an outlet. On a sloped lot it runs to daylight. On flat ground it ties into a sump that pumps the water up and out, and from there a discharge line carries it away from the house. We often bury the downspouts at the same time, since keeping roof water off the wall means less for the footing drain to handle.
What It Costs
An exterior footing drain in Kalamazoo runs about $4,000 to $12,000, and the digging is why. Reaching the footing means excavation along the wall, sometimes several feet down, with machine access and backfill. One wet wall costs less than a full perimeter. Every job gets a free written estimate first, with the scope of the dig spelled out.
Water pushing through a foundation wall from outside? (269) 555-0177 gets you a free look and an honest read on whether the fix is a footing drain or something smaller, like regrading and buried downspouts.
What is drain tile?
Drain tile is the perforated pipe run around the outside of a foundation footing to gather the water in the soil and carry it off. The name goes back to the clay tiles once used for the job. Today it is perforated pipe in washed stone, wrapped in filter fabric, sloped to daylight or a sump.
Is this the same as interior basement waterproofing?
No. Interior systems open the basement floor and set a channel around the inside edge to catch water that has already reached the wall. An exterior footing drain works outside, in the soil, to catch that water before it gets to the wall at all. We do the exterior work. The interior channel is a different trade.
Do I have to dig around my whole foundation?
For a full footing drain, the wall being treated has to be excavated down to the footing, so the drain can sit where the water is. That is why it is the biggest drainage job on a house. Where only one wall or corner is wet, the dig can be held to that stretch. We scope it to where the water actually is.
Why is exterior drain tile expensive?
The digging is the job. Reaching the footing means excavating along the foundation, sometimes several feet down, then bedding the pipe in stone and fabric and backfilling. The materials are a small part of it. Machine access, depth, and how much of the perimeter is wet are what set the price.