French Drain Types: Inside, at the Footing and in the Yard
Interior perimeter drain tile
Inside a basement, a French drain means cutting out the floor along the walls down to the footing, laying perforated pipe in gravel, and pouring the concrete back. The pipe feeds a sump pump, which is why interior systems typically include one. It's the expensive version because of the concrete.
- 100 feet: $4,000 to $8,500.
- 150 feet: $6,000 to $12,800.
- 200 feet: $8,000 to $17,000.
The drain is one piece of a waterproofing system. Basement waterproofing covers the whole package and where grading fits in.
Exterior footing drains
This is the drain the building code describes. Under the 2021 IRC that Topeka adopted, a basement that holds back soil gets a drain around it, built like this:
- Pipe or tile height: at or below the top of the footing, or below the bottom of the slab.
- Gravel: at least 1 foot beyond the outside edge of the footing and 6 inches above its top.
- Cover: an approved filter membrane over the gravel.
- Outlet: discharge by gravity or by pump into an approved drainage system.
The code skips this only for well-drained sand and gravel soils, and Topeka's clay isn't that. On an existing house, digging down to the footing can take several days and runs $30 to $90 a foot. Utilities have to be marked before any excavation; basement wall replacement explains the call.
Yard French drains and curtain drains
For a soggy lawn or water running toward the house from uphill, the drain stays shallow. A surface-level drain sits less than 2 feet deep; a curtain drain goes 2 feet or more and gets covered with soil. Both cost about $10 to $35 a foot.
- Gravel bed: 2 to 3 inches under the pipe and 3 to 4 inches over it.
- Pipe: $1 to $5 a foot, from corrugated up to PVC.
- Filter fabric: $0.40 to $1.80 a foot.
- Trenching: $5 to $12 a foot.
Where the water goes: daylight, dry well or sump
A French drain only works if the far end has somewhere lower to go. The outlet can daylight at a low spot in the yard, feed a dry well, or drain to a sump that pumps it out. A dry well runs $50 to $3,000 or more, depending on whether it's loose stone or a buried tank. Tying into a public storm drain often adds permit fees; French drain permits generally cost $100 to $375. The City of Topeka asks that yard drains stay out of the sanitary sewer, and sump pump installation covers that rule.
Why Topeka homeowners and property owners call Topeka Expert Foundation Repair
- The call and the inspection request cost you nothing
- Your details go to one Topeka contractor, never a lead list
- Ask for piers, anchors and price on paper before any digging
- Method explained first: piers, anchors, straps or mudjacking
French Drain Cost by Length
National guides price yard and basement drains very differently, so compare quotes for the same layout:
| Drain length | In the yard | In a basement |
|---|---|---|
| 50 feet | $500 to $1,800 | $2,000 to $4,300 |
| 100 feet | $1,000 to $3,500 | $4,000 to $8,500 |
| 150 feet | $1,500 to $5,300 | $6,000 to $12,800 |
Ask the contractor to draw the route, the depth, the slope and the outlet on the quote. Cleaning a clogged drain later runs $80 to $500 or more, so ask whether a cleanout is included. And check the slope: a drain with no fall to its outlet just holds water in the gravel.
See sump pump installation when the drain has nowhere lower to send the water.