GROUND AND FINISH
Underground drains, jetted clear or installed new.
Underground downspouts, French drains, driveway channel drains and pool channel drains. The last stretch of the water's path, cleaned or built by Neil's crew.
Chapter 01
Four kinds of buried drain, and what clogs each
Chappell clears blockages from underground downspout extension drains, French drains, pool channel drains and every other exterior drainage system on the property. Each one clogs for its own reasons.
Underground downspouts are the common way to send roof water away from a house, and in most cases they are neglected. They fill with leaves, debris and granular shingle grit. The tell is water rushing out of the top of the underground connector instead of flowing down it.
French drains sit in lawns and on concrete slabs and gather yard water to redirect it, and they clog with dirt and leaves. Driveway channel drains, the long trenches near the garage, are among the most clogged drains around a home because of their size, usually with sticks, rocks, mud and leaves. Pool channel drains are similar but smaller, and mud and leaves are the usual culprit.
Corrugated underground downspout drain being laid in a trench at a Northwest Arkansas home
Jetting: high-pressure water through the line
The method is called jetting. The crew shoots high-pressure water through the drain to break up buildup and flush the system, which clears the whole line instead of just the first few feet.
How often depends on your gutters. Underground downspouts want flushing about once every 5 years if the gutters have no guards, and about every 10 years if they do. Leave it longer and a clog can mean replacing the line instead of clearing it. Pool drains should be cleaned yearly to keep water from backing up into the pool.
On a gutter cleaning visit, an underground downspout jet-out is a $20 add-on per drain, so it is easy to fold in while the ladders are already up.
Chapter 03
A soggy lawn is a drainage question
When the water has nowhere to go, it finds its own path: toward the foundation, across the driveway or into the yard until the grass gives up. Chappell builds custom lawn drainage with French drain installation, and also identifies where water is getting into a property and works out a plan to stop it.
That is the other end of everything the crew does on the roof edge. A new seamless gutter with oversized downspouts delivers more water, faster, to the ground. The buried line is where that water goes next.
Prices and timing
Underground drain cleaning runs $300 to $400. Lead time is 2 to 5 days, and the visit takes about 2 to 3 hours.
New underground downspout extension installation is $260 to $450 per drain. Lead time is 2 weeks to 1 month, and each install takes about 4 hours. Call (479) 717-7726 or request an estimate and tell us how many downspouts you want buried.
Without gutter guards, flush underground downspouts about once every 5 years. With guards, about every 10. Cleaning is $300 to $400, and a new extension is $260 to $450 per drain.