French Drains and Yard Drainage in Overland Park, KS

North of I-435: seventy years of settling

The neighbourhoods north of I-435, from around 75th and Metcalf down through the 95th Street corridor, were built out mostly in the 1950s and 60s: ranches and split-levels, nearly all with basements. Their original grading has had decades to settle against the foundations, and many still have the splash blocks or short extensions they were built with. Water in those basements usually starts at a downspout corner or along a side of the house where the soil now tips inward, which is why buried downspout lines and regrading fix a lot of north Overland Park calls before anything else is needed.

South of I-435: builder grading on big lots

Below College Boulevard and out past 135th, the housing is newer and the lots are larger, but the pattern repeats on a shorter timeline. Builders shape the yard once, before the backfill settles, and a few years later the side yards between houses are carrying water from two roofs toward the same low strip. Walkouts on the slopes toward Indian Creek and Tomahawk Creek add a second front: a lower patio that collects runoff at the door. A French drain down the side yard or a catch basin at the patio edge is the usual answer.

Working in Overland Park

Before any trench, utilities are marked through Kansas811. Outlets stay on the property or go where the city allows, and a line is never pointed at a neighbour's yard. Neighbouring Leawood and Lenexa share the same creeks and clay, and Olathe the same subdivision-era housing.

Overland Park drainage questions