Foundation Drain Installation

If you continually have water seeping into your basement, you need to install a drain around the foundation of your home. It is important to ensure that water runs away from your house -- not into it. Water that seeps into your foundation can cause mold, mildew and wood rot. You can install a drain around your foundation without incurring the cost of a contractor. It is a labor-intensive project, so you may want to ask a friend to help you.

Shovel
Hoe
Perforated PVC pipes
Washed gravel
Filter fabric

Instructions

- 1
  Dig the dirt away from the foundation of your home with the shovel in the area where water is a problem. Continue until you've created a 2-foot-wide trench that reaches the footer of your foundation. This could be as deep as 6 feet.
- 2
  Use the hoe to slope the bottom of the trench so once your drain is installed, water will run off your property.
- 3
  Place the PVC pipe along the bottom of the trench.
- 4
  Shovel 12 inches of gravel into the trench so it covers the PVC pipe.
- 5
  Lay the filter fabric over the gravel to keep dirt from clogging the holes in the PVC pipe.
- 6
  Replace the soil that you dug out by shoveling it over the filter paper. Fill the remainder of the trench with the soil.

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