Below-Grade Drainage
French Drain Installation for Edison Yards
Edison Excavation builds exterior French drains for yards that never dry out. The run is trenched by machine, lined with filter fabric, and the perforated pipe is bedded in washed stone on a steady positive pitch to a real outlet: daylight when the grade allows, a dry well when it doesn't. Designed for the clay soils around Edison, not textbook sandy soil.
Inside every trench
A French drain is simple, and none of its parts are optional. Leave one out and the drain won't last. This is what goes into each run.
Fabric and Washed Stone
Geotextile fabric lines the trench and wraps the stone, keeping fine clay out. Washed gravel, not crusher run, surrounds the pipe so water flows instead of sitting in packed fines.
Pipe Set on Laser Pitch
Trench bottoms are set with laser grade control so the perforated pipe keeps continuous positive pitch from end to end. No sags or flat spots for water and silt to settle in.
A Real Place for Water to Go
Collected water has to exit. The outlet daylights downslope where the grade provides fall, or we size and dig a dry well where it doesn't. A drain with no exit is a buried puddle.
Why shortcut drains clog
Failed French drains tend to share a story: a quick trench, gravel dumped straight against the soil, and no fabric. In clay-heavy ground, fine particles work into the stone within a few seasons and the trench packs solid. Fabric isn't an add-on. It decides whether the drain lasts a few seasons or decades.
Where we work
Volume is the other factor. A seasonal high water table plus roof water concentrated at the downspouts sends more water into an Edison yard than clay can absorb. Pipe and stone get sized for that load, downspouts run in their own solid pipe instead of emptying into the French drain, and the NJ One Call (811) markout is in place before any trench goes near utilities.
What happens after you call
From the site walk to the final cleanup
1. Site Walk
We visit the property by appointment, check access and any constraints, and go over your plans or what you have in mind.
2. Marking & Layout
The layout is set on the ground with laser accuracy. Depths, lines, and elevations are marked before any digging starts.
3. The Work
The right machine for the access comes in, ground protection goes down where needed, and disturbance to lawns, trees, and hardscape is kept to a minimum.
4. Clean Handover
You're left with a site ready for the next step and a yard that's still in one piece.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Our work is exterior and yard drainage: trench-and-pipe runs that catch water outside before it reaches the house. Interior perimeter systems under a basement slab are waterproofing work, and we'll tell you if that's what your situation needs.
It depends on the purpose. A drain catching surface water and shallow groundwater in a soggy lawn usually runs 12 to 24 inches deep. A curtain drain protecting a foundation goes deeper. Pitch and outlet elevation set the depth, and we work those out on the site visit.
Downhill, by design. If the lot has fall, the pipe daylights at grade in a low area away from the house and property lines. On flat lots we build a dry well, a buried stone-filled chamber that holds the surge and lets it soak in slowly.
Service Areas
- Edison· Middlesex County
- Metuchen· Middlesex County
- Piscataway· Middlesex County
- Woodbridge· Middlesex County
- Highland Park· Middlesex County
- South Plainfield· Middlesex County
- Perth Amboy· Middlesex County
- Carteret· Middlesex County
- Rahway· Union County
- Linden· Union County
- Plainfield· Union County
- Dunellen· Middlesex County
Edison, Metuchen, Piscataway, Woodbridge, and nearby Middlesex and Union County towns north of the Raritan.
Soggy yard every spring? Let's walk the drain line before the next storm.
Site visits are by appointment. Share a few details about the project and a time gets set to walk the property together.