Olalla French Drain & Yard Drainage

Drainage in Olalla

On Olalla's flatter lots the drain runs through the wet area toward the outlet and basins collect surface water at the low points. Placement follows the water across wooded acreage on Banner Road, and reading it on hardpan on Banner Road is the experience part.

We've seen a far hydrant with no pressure on small farms near Burley near Olalla Valley Road and a well pump that runs all night by Banner Road. Both times the line was 1970s and 80s polyethylene gone brittle, the ground was hardpan on Banner Road, and the fix was French drain installation done once.

Near Olalla Valley Road the sequence is downspouts, grading, footing drain, interceptor drain. Checking in that order keeps a homeowner on small farms near Burley from excavating a foundation to solve a downspout. For French drain installation we finish before we dig hardpan on Banner Road.

Dry wells only work in soil that drains, which rules out hardpan on Banner Road under wooded acreage on Banner Road. Where there's no gravity outlet, a sump and pump at the low point is the honest answer. We'll tell you which your Olalla lot allows before designing anything.

Why Olalla drains fail

Pasture ponding, the wet Olalla Creek valley and bluff seeps along Colvos Passage. Call 360 Leak Finders at (206) 354-9906, any time.

Drainage problems in Olalla come straight out of the geology. Hardpan on Banner Road doesn't absorb much, so water on small farms near Burley has to be carried away, and when the old drains fail it ends up at the foundation. French drain installation is how we build drains that still flow in twenty years.

How the work goes

A French drain installation visit to Olalla runs: finish, then read the water, then basins and outlet. The middle step is where outwash that drains and hides leaks and waterfront on Colvos Passage set the pace, and perforated HDPE or PVC is what gets it done near Banner Road.

Scope for French drain installation here is three things: ground (outwash that drains and hides leaks), lot (pasture parcels off Olalla Valley Road), pipe (well lines with no drawings). The gear is the same each trip, perforated HDPE or PVC included, and we say which of the three is driving the day before we start near Olalla Bay.

Our French drain installation notes on Olalla say the same thing: expect 1970s and 80s polyethylene gone brittle, expect hardpan on Banner Road on small farms near Burley, expect a far hydrant with no pressure before anything visible near Olalla Valley Road.

Around Olalla

From Banner Road to the Olalla Bridge and out around Olalla Bay and Al's Grocery, French drain installation is regular Olalla work. About forty minutes down Highway 16; we schedule pasture parcels off Olalla Valley Road so you aren't waiting a whole day.