Foundation drainage in San Diego. Move the water before it moves the house.
Almost every foundation problem in San Diego County has water in the story somewhere. Expansive clays swell when wet and shrink when dry, fines wash out under slabs, and hillside lots collect uphill runoff against the foundation. Drainage is not glamorous and it is not a quick visible win, but it is the cheapest insurance you can put in the ground. Done right, it is a 40-year fix.
What's included in this service?
- Site grading review and corrective slope (minimum 6 inches in 10 ft)
- French drain installation: 4-inch perforated pipe, washed stone, filter sleeve
- Footing drain at the stem wall base for hillside and basement lots
- Surface drains with catch basins at downspouts and patio low points
- Daylight discharge to a swale, gutter, or rip-rap outfall
- Sump pump installation where daylight is impossible
- Downspout extension and tight-line piping away from the foundation
- Driveway and hardscape drainage retrofit
When do you need this service?
- Water pools against the house after rain
- Crawl space or basement gets wet in winter
- Hillside lot with uphill runoff coming toward the home
- Existing French drain that has stopped working (silted, crushed, separated)
- Foundation repair is being done and we want to address the root cause
- Pre-listing improvement to remove a drainage disclosure
What do homeowners ask about Drainage?
Do I need a permit for drainage work?
Most surface drainage and downspout work in San Diego County does not require a permit. Discharge to a public right-of-way (curb, gutter, alley) often requires an encroachment permit. We pull whatever is needed and coordinate with the city or county.
Sump pump or daylight, which is better?
Daylight every time, when the lot allows. No power, no maintenance, no failure mode. Sump pumps are reliable but they introduce a single point of failure, an annual maintenance task, and a power dependence. We design for daylight first and only add a sump when the lot will not allow it.
Will a French drain fix my foundation?
Drainage stops the cause of soil movement and active leaks. It does not put a settled foundation back to level or seal an existing crack. We almost always pair drainage with the matching structural repair so you get the cause and the symptom in one visit.
How long does a French drain last?
Schedule 40 PVC perforated pipe in clean washed stone with a filter sleeve, daylight discharge: 40+ years. Cheap thin-wall corrugated pipe with no filter, dirt around it, no daylight: 5 to 10. The materials are not where most homeowners save money on a drainage job.
Where do we offer Drainage in San Diego County?
We provide drainage in every city and community in San Diego County. Pick your city for local climate notes and service specifics.
See drainage in all 48 cities
Homeowners who hired us for this
Examples of the kind of feedback we work to earn on every job. Verified reviews from real customers live on our Google Business Profile and Yelp pages.
Cracks at our window corners had me convinced we needed major repairs. Their inspector did the level survey, mapped every crack, and told us straight up the foundation was stable old movement and we did not need underpinning. Free inspection, honest answer, no pressure.
Got three quotes for foundation work. Two pushed full perimeter underpinning, Base Pro recommended four piers at the settled corner only and saved us $18,000. Engineer signed off, permit pulled, work was clean. House is solid two years later.
Active leak through a foundation crack after the January storm. They came out, identified it as a non-structural water issue, injected hydrophobic polyurethane, and pointed out that our downspout above the crack needed an extension. Both fixes done in one visit, leak gone.
Need drainage in San Diego County?
Call for a free quote. Most work scheduled within the week.