French Drains and Yard Drainage in Independence, MO

Some of the oldest houses in the metro

The streets around Independence Square and the historic neighbourhoods near the Truman Home hold some of the oldest housing in the Kansas City area. Many of those houses have shallow cellars and stone or brick foundations laid long before modern drainage. Water in those cellars is expected to a degree, but a lot of it can be kept out by dealing with the surface: gutters that actually connect, downspouts carried away from the house, and grading that sheds water instead of collecting it against the wall.

Mid-century ranches toward the Little Blue

Between the historic core and the Little Blue River, Independence is largely 1950s and 60s ranches with full basements. After sixty-plus years, original clay-tile footing drains are often clogged or collapsed, and water that used to leave through them now comes in at the base of the wall. That is where interior drain tile and a sump replace what the original drain no longer does. Tracing the leak first confirms it.

Newer neighbourhoods to the east

East of M-291 and out toward the I-70 and Little Blue Parkway areas, housing is newer, with poured basements and larger yards where spring rain on saturated clay leaves a wet strip across the lower lawn, a job for a French drain. Utilities are marked through Missouri One Call (MO811) first. Neighbouring Blue Springs and Kansas City are in the same area.

Independence drainage questions