Water was getting in at the foundation, but this home did not need an interior drain tile system. Behncke Construction sealed the exterior foundation crack and installed 52 feet of lawn drainage to carry water away from the house and discharge it toward the creek.
PROJECT SUMMARY
Date posted: September 5, 2026
Service: Exterior foundation crack repair and lawn drainage
Problem: Water intrusion at the foundation
Solution: Exterior foundation crack sealed; 52 feet of lawn drainage installed to collect water and carry it away from the foundation, discharging toward the creek
Completion status: Completed
Project photos
Project overview
The homeowner was getting water in at the foundation. A common answer to that is an interior drain tile system, which manages water after it has already reached the house. This project took the other approach: deal with the water outside, before it gets to the wall.
Project details
The crew sealed the exterior foundation crack where water had been entering.
They then installed 52 feet of lawn drainage to collect water and carry it away from the foundation, discharging it safely toward the creek on the property. Once the trench was backfilled and the lawn restored, there is little sign the work was done at all.
No interior system was installed. The combination of sealing the entry point and moving water away from the house addressed the problem at its source.
What homeowners should know
Water that ends up against a foundation usually got there from the surface: roof runoff, a low spot in the yard, ground that slopes toward the house, or a neighbor’s grade draining onto the property. Interior systems are good at catching that water once it arrives, but they do nothing to reduce how much water reaches the wall in the first place. Exterior drainage works on the supply side of the problem.
A lawn drainage line collects water from the surface or the upper soil and gives it an easier path than the one it was taking through your foundation. The line has to run downhill to somewhere the water can legally and safely go: a creek, a storm drain, a dry well, or daylight at a lower part of the lot. Where that outlet exists, this kind of system can often solve a water problem without any work inside the basement.
Sealing the crack and fixing the drainage go together. A sealed crack with water still pooling against the wall will eventually be tested again, and drainage alone leaves an open path into the basement. Homeowners who want to understand the sequence can read why we fix the drainage first. After a repair like this, watch where water goes during a hard rain and keep the discharge point clear.
Photo highlights
- The lawn along the foundation after the work was finished.
- 52 feet of lawn drainage going in to carry water away from the house.
- Digging down at the foundation to reach the crack from the outside.
- The crack sealed from the exterior before backfill.
- Looking along the back of the house after the drainage line was buried.
- The side yard restored; it is hard to tell a drainage line runs beneath it.
Related services
Water reaching your foundation?
Sometimes the fix is outside, not in the basement. Contact Behncke Construction or call (563) 332-6045 for an honest look.