The Landscape Drainage Experts

Landscape Drainage & French Drains Installer / Contractor for the Portland OR West Side

• 

  Lawn & Yard Drainage Issues

  Landscape drainage issues are a constant challenge here in the Northwest with our clay soils and heavy rains. The solutions to drainage issues can be complex. Solutions we landscape drainage contractors in Portland have to mitigate can include re-grading of the landscape, soil amendments to help your soil below the lawn drain better, the installation of catch basins, vent wells to protect water from entering a crawl space, channel drains, sump pumps, or re-routing / replacing rain drains or gutter drains. One the most frequent solution is the installation of a French drain or a series of French drains around key areas of your landscape to re-route incoming water to a better outlet point and prevent it from going further into your lawn or landscape. Many homeowners seek effective lawn drainage solutions to combat these persistent problems. But first, it’s important to first go over the drainage mitigation process.

• 

  The Drainage Mitigation Process

  If you’re reading this page, chances are you have a drainage issue that is causing a lot of frustration. You may be dealing with some standing water, flooding issues, water in a crawl space or basement or landscape drainage issues. We understand and we sympathize because we’ve seen it over and over again at our clients’ homes. We understand that you’re hoping someone will be able to come out and just have the perfect solution that will make that drainage problem just go away for good. Unfortunately, with drainage, it’s not always that simple. Sometimes, drainage mitigation is a process that sometimes takes several steps before you finally reach your desired result. Our team provides comprehensive drainage services to address a wide range of issues and offer the best drainage solutions.

  Because we can’t see exactly what is happening underground, we can only make an educated guess, based on the problems that we’re shown, what we know of the soil and site conditions and our 29 years of drainage and landscape experience in doing drainage work. So the first step is to have one of our drainage experts come out and assess the situation and make a recommendation as to what would be the best place to start. Sometimes, the problem is pretty straight forward and the solution is also pretty straight forward. In many cases what we propose the first time fixes the problem and our client is happy.

• 

  Experience Counts!

  Our goal is to take our experience in installing hundreds of drainage systems over 29 years and apply that to your situation with what we calculate will be the most likely thing to fix your drainage issue, without spending a fortune. About 75% of the time, that initial drainage solution fixes the problem for our client, they are very happy and it stays that way for several years. However, the other 25% of the time, the drainage work we proposed and then installed helped but did not totally solve the problem and a second step is needed.

  Sometimes water is coming in from areas we didn’t expect it to be coming from. Again, we cannot see what’s going on underground. So while our first drainage mitigation effort may have helped, a second step is now needed. This is the most important thing to understand about drainage work – sometimes it’s a multi-step process. We may need to install additional drainage before your drainage issues are totally solved. For reliable water drainage solutions, our experience is invaluable. Many customers rely on our team as their trusted landscape drainage specialists and are very happy with the final results.

• 

  French Drain Systems

  Originally, a French drain was simply a trench filled with round river rock. The idea being that this trench would give nearby surface water a place to sit while it slowly dissipated into the soil below. Many homeowners contact French Drain contractors for this type of installation. Here in the Portland Oregon area, we’ve come to use the term “French drain” to mean more than a simple trench filled with rocks. With the amount of rainfall we get, simply giving the water a place to ‘sit’ isn’t usually enough. Instead, we need to give the water a viable outlet. So most Portland drainage companies here will use the addition of a drain pipe in their French drains. This drain pipe is typically covered with a geotextile sock in order to keep it free of silt and debris. And the drain pipe is connected to a sump well, greenspace, street drain or other outlet. If you’re looking for French Drain service, we can help. We’ve built and re-built hundreds of French Drains.

  If the French drain is placed underneath your lawn, we will encapsulate the drain in a landscape fabric and then replace some of the soil and sod on top. If the French drain is outside of your lawn, you will see what looks like a 6-8″ wide river bed on top. This is both decorative as well as functional. Surface water goes straight through the river rock down to the pipe below and is carried away to suitable water outlet point.

  Each year, dozens of homeowners in the Beaverton and SW Portland Oregon area hire Lewis Landscape Services to take care of their landscape drainage challenges. Over the years, we have developed a great deal of experience coming up with drainage solutions Portland area customers have come to appreciate to handle their unique drainage challenges.

  
• 

  The Solution for Poor Lawn Drainage

  One of our go-to lawn water drainage solutions involves a comprehensive soil amendment process and then replacing the existing lawn with new sod. In areas plagued by poor drainage, particularly those with heavy clay soil common in the Portland area, we’ve found this method to be highly effective. Our process begins by tilling the existing soil and blending in a proprietary soil mix containing 60% sandy loam. This addition helps to break up the dense clay structure and create more pathways for water to move through the soil profile. We further amend ths soil profile by tilling in Turface soil conditioner, further enhancing the soil’s porosity and drainage capabilities. Finally, we install new, healthy sod on this improved foundation, creating a lawn that not only looks great but also drains efficiently. For effective yard water drainage systems, Portland soils often need this level of soil conditioning to really drain well.

  The use of Turface soil conditioner is a key component of our water drainage solutions for lawns, and its benefits are well-documented. As highlighted in the Turface product information sheet to the right, this kiln-dried calcined clay is widely utilized in professional sports field construction and maintenance to manage soil moisture and stability. Its application as a soil amendment below the turf, significantly improves drainage. This process helps create an optimal environment for root growth, reduces compaction, and enhances the overall health and resilience of the lawn. Homeowners seeking reliable lawn drainage solutions will appreciate the long-term benefits of incorporating Turface into their soil profile.

  By integrating this soil amendment process, we provide a robust approach to your landscaping drainage installation specifically designed to greatly improve lawn drainage. The permanent nature of Turface, once incorporated into the soil profile, ensures long-lasting improvements to soil structure and drainage. This proactive method addresses the root cause of many common lawn drainage problems, offering a more sustainable and effective solution compared to simply installing surface drains. If you’re tired of dealing with a perpetually soggy lawn, our expertise as experienced Landscape drainage contractors and our understanding of effective soil conditioning techniques can provide the drainage services you need for a healthier, more usable outdoor space.

• 

  Catch Basins & Channel Drains

  Catch basins are usually square shaped grates that are installed at a low point in a landscape to catch standing water that is puddling in a certain area and then re-route it over to a rain drain, green space or other outlet point. Property owners often seek such yard water drainage systems, Portland drainage contractors offer to address pooling water effectively. Channel drains are longer, usually rectangular grate drains that usually handle drainage coming off of a hard, wide surface area such as a driveway, pathway or patio and then re-route it over to a rain drain, green space or other suitable outlet point. For professional landscaping drains installation, consider our very experienced team.

  
• Vent Wells & Outdoor Sump Pump Systems:

  Vent Wells are installed around vents that lead to your crawl space so that the grade can be lowered below the vent so water doesn’t go in. This allows the rest of the landscape to be at a higher grade than the vent while still allowing proper air flow into the vent. Many rely on our expertise for our outside drainage solutions, Portland area homeowners have used.

  Sump pumps out in a landscape are a last resort. But if the low point where all the water needs to drain to does not have any kind of suitable outlet point down hill, sometimes we have to install a sump pump and pump the water out to a suitable outlet point. As a local drainage company, we offer this and various other landscape drainage solutions.

  These are just a few of the drainage mitigation solutions we have at our disposal. We’ll need to meet and look over your property to evaluate which of these items are best to help solve your drainage issues. If you’re looking for a reputable French Drain company or need Yard drainage installers, we are here to assist. We also specialize lawn water drainage solutions and have more experience than anyone in the Portland west side area.