Typical cost in Renton
Footing drains, downspouts and the grade beside the house are what this page covers. Renton Foundation Repair approaches water as a threat to the footing and the wall, which sets it apart from landscaping work and from finishing a basement.
We serve Renton and nearby Kent and Tukwila. Lots differ across Renton, and a drain that suits one can be the wrong tool for another.
A perforated pipe laid in washed gravel at footing level around the outside of the foundation collects water before it reaches the wall. It means a trench along the wall, and where the lot is tight or there is a deck, patio or retaining wall, that trench may be hard to get.
Where the outside cannot be dug, a drain along the inside of the wall can lead water to a sump basin. It deals with water that has reached the crawlspace or basement and does not change what happens in the soil outside.
This costs least and comes first. Downspouts empty into pipe that leads roof water well clear of the house, and the soil is graded to fall away from the wall. HUD’s drainage guidance rests on the same idea of grading surface water away from buildings.
HUD sets out two mechanisms. Moving water leaches fine particles from under the footing, cutting the soil’s cohesion and bringing settlement, and standing water presses on walls and slabs hard enough to crack or shift them. For that reason drainage is checked before piers or crack work are proposed.
The University of Minnesota guide lists the usual faults: ground that does not fall away from the house, weak gutters and downspouts, and underground drains that are missing or failing. It is written for a colder climate, though these faults are not peculiar to cold places.
An old footing drain may have silted up, or the house may never have had one; HUD cautions that existing drains may be undersized or not working. Ask the Renton permit center what the building code requires for a footing drain at your address.
A crawlspace raises a separate question. Its moisture, in Building America’s ranking for vented ones, comes mainly from bulk water: grading that sheds toward the house, no perimeter drain, gutters that spill. A plastic ground cover does not cure that on its own.
Renton’s critical areas code exempts installing new storm drainage lines in a geologic hazard area only when a geotechnical report clearly shows the installation meets the code’s criteria. The code speaks of storm drainage lines; for a lot on a slope, ask the permit center whether a private footing drain falls under it before anyone digs.
Renton’s critical areas code groups steep slopes, landslide, erosion and seismic hazards, and coal mine hazards, as geologically hazardous areas, and the same code calls for geotechnical studies by licensed professionals when a hazard is on or near a lot that needs a development permit. Reports are also called for near medium coal mine hazard areas. Check your address before planning a trench.
Renton also has permit rules for retaining walls, so ask the permit center if a wall stands beside the drainage work.
Standing water against the wall, a damp crawlspace or basement wall and soil that stays soggy after rain are the signs. A drain is one answer among several, and grading and downspouts come first.
The words overlap. A yard French drain moves surface water across a lot, and a footing drain sits at the bottom of the foundation wall. This page is about the second.
It addresses one cause. A crack or settlement that has already happened stays, and may still need its own repair.
Drainage seldom ends the story if corners have sunk or damp has weakened the floor wood. Corners are the business of foundation settlement and piering, and floor wood the business of crawlspace post and beam repair; Renton Foundation Repair lists its other work on the Renton Foundation Repair home page.
When does the water show up, and where? Describe the slope of the ground around the house, any retaining wall nearby and where the downspouts empty. We'll get back to you soon with an estimate or any questions we have. Estimates are free and there's no obligation.
Call (425) 276-6261