Footing Drain Repair
Expose, repair and replace foundation footing drains that have silted, crushed or separated and are letting water into a crawlspace.
A footing drain is the perforated pipe that runs around the base of a foundation and carries groundwater away before it finds a way into the crawlspace or basement. On a lot of Kitsap homes built from the 1960s through the 1990s it's thin corrugated plastic laid without fabric or clean rock, and after thirty or forty years it's silted solid, crushed, separated at the joints, or full of roots. The result is a crawlspace that's wet every winter, efflorescence on the foundation, musty smells, and in the worst cases standing water under the house.
Repairing a footing drain means exposing it. We excavate along the foundation, carefully, to the depth of the footing, remove the failed drain, and install new perforated pipe wrapped in filter fabric on a bed of clean drain rock, sloped to a working outlet. On a lot of homes the original outlet was a daylight pipe that has long since been buried or crushed, so we rebuild that too, or tie into a sump or a storm connection where that's the right answer. Then the trench is backfilled with drain rock and fabric, not native clay, so the drain keeps working.
We often find and fix a leaking water service line and a failed footing drain on the same house, because they live in the same trench along the foundation. If the water line is passing through the same excavation we'll tell you what it's made of and what shape it's in while the ground is open.
When you need footing drain repair
- A crawlspace or basement that's wet every rainy season
- Standing water or saturated soil under the house
- Efflorescence or staining on foundation walls
- A footing drain outlet that never flows, even in a downpour
- Crushed corrugated pipe found at the foundation during other work
How the job goes
- Diagnose. Check the crawlspace, find the outlet, trace the drain, and confirm the footing drain is the problem rather than surface grading or a downspout.
- Excavate the foundation. Careful excavation to footing depth along the affected walls, with shoring and spoils managed on a tight site.
- Remove and replace. Old drain out; new perforated pipe in fabric on clean drain rock, sloped to the outlet.
- Outlet. A rebuilt daylight outlet, a sump, or a storm tie-in, whichever actually gets the water away.
- Backfill with rock. Drain rock and fabric in the trench so the system keeps draining for decades.
- Restore. Grade sloped away from the house, and the beds, lawn or hardscape put back.
Equipment and materials
- Perforated PVC or HDPE footing drain pipe
- Filter fabric and clean drain rock
- Cleanouts and outlet structures
- Sump basins where needed
What shapes the scope
Every property is different, and these are the things that decide whether a job is a quick morning or a full day. We'll tell you which it is before we start.
- How much of the foundation perimeter is affected
- Depth to the footing and soil conditions
- Access along the foundation: decks, patios, planting beds
- Where the outlet is and whether it has to be rebuilt
Footing Drain Repair on real Kitsap jobs
Footing Drain Repair across the peninsula
Each community page covers what the local ground, water utility and housing stock mean for this work.
Footing Drain Repair in Bremerton
The shipyard city's older galvanized lines fail quietly and show up as a wet lawn or a water bill nobody can explain.
Footing Drain Repair in Silverdale
The 1980s and 90s subdivision boom around the mall left thousands of polybutylene service lines that are now failing on schedule.
Footing Drain Repair in Port Orchard
The county seat's hillside lots and clay soils turn small leaks into slope problems, and long rural runs hide breaks for months.
Footing Drain Repair in Poulsbo
Little Norway's mix of century-old downtown lines and fast-draining bay-side outwash means leaks hide well and fail suddenly.
Footing Drain Repair in Bainbridge Island
Clay soils and 500-foot driveways make island leaks slow to surface and expensive to guess at, which is why we locate before we dig.
Footing Drain Repair in Kingston
Ferry-town acreage with long wooded service runs where a leak can hide under hardpan for an entire winter.
Footing Drain Repair in Keyport
A century-old Navy village with short lots, old lines and shoreline clay that keeps everything damp.
Footing Drain Repair in Tracyton
Bluff-side lots over Dyes Inlet where seeps and springs make it easy to mistake groundwater for a leak and vice versa.
Footing Drain Repair in Hansville
Beach cabins at the tip of the peninsula with shallow lines, high water tables and a long drive for anyone who isn't already in Kitsap.
Footing Drain Repair in Indianola
A century-old summer colony where shared lines, easements and bluff clay make leaks a neighborhood puzzle.
Footing Drain Repair in Suquamish
Two utilities, mixed-era housing and Agate Pass shoreline clay in the heart of the Port Madison reservation.
Footing Drain Repair in Manchester
Rich Passage waterfront lots where the service line runs downhill and every leak finds the beach.
Footing Drain Repair in Enetai
East Bremerton's bluff-side neighborhood where mid-century copper lines fail on slopes that drain toward the bay.
Footing Drain Repair in Lofall
Rural acreage between Poulsbo and the Hood Canal Bridge where well lines run hundreds of feet through hardpan.
Footing Drain Repair in Olalla
Well country at the south end of Kitsap where a leaking line shows up as a pump that won't shut off.
Footing Drain Repair in Seabeck
Hood Canal forest parcels where boulders, hardpan and long well lines make guessing at a leak an expensive mistake.
Footing Drain Repair in East Port Orchard
South Kitsap's 1970s and 80s subdivisions where copper and poly lines are reaching the end of their run.
Footing Drain Repair in Rollingbay
The northeast corner of Bainbridge where clay slopes, long drives and small community systems keep leaks hidden for seasons.
Footing Drain Repair in Port Townsend
A Victorian seaport where 1890s service lines sit under historic sidewalks and the gravity pipeline from the Quilcene delivers the water.
Footing Drain Repair: common questions
Do you have to dig up the whole foundation?
Can you add a footing drain to a house that never had one?
Services that often go together
Exterior Drain Line Repair
Dig out and replace collapsed, crushed, root-bound or clay exterior drain lines and yard drains.
Read more →
French Drain & Yard Drainage
French drains, curtain drains, catch basins and swales that move water away from foundations, driveways and soggy lawns.
Read more →
Downspout Drain Line Repair
Replace crushed, clogged or missing buried downspout lines so roof water gets away from the foundation.
Read more →Something underground isn't right?
We answer 24 hours a day. We locate before we dig, and we handle the whole job with our own crew and equipment.