We work across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley on the full range of drain and drainage systems — perimeter drains, French drains, foundation drainage, yard and storm drainage, drain cleaning, drain repair, and drain camera inspections. Drainage problems in this region are shaped by local conditions, and the right fix depends on the property, the soil, and the age of the system. Each community page below covers the drainage issues that are actually common there.
A few factors repeat across the region and explain why drain and drainage failures are so common here. Metro Vancouver gets prolonged winter rain for months at a time, which keeps the soil saturated and keeps groundwater pressure high against foundations. Much of the region sits on dense clay soil that absorbs water slowly and drains it even more slowly, so surface water has nowhere to go unless the property is graded and drained to move it away.
The housing stock matters too. Large parts of Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster, and the North Shore were built decades before modern perimeter drainage, and the original clay-tile and early corrugated drains in those homes are now well past their service life. Sloped properties — common in North and West Vancouver, Burnaby, Port Moody, and White Rock — concentrate water against downhill foundations. Flat, low-lying areas like Richmond, Delta, Pitt Meadows, and Tsawwassen rely on storm connections, ditches, and pumps rather than natural fall. And mature trees across Surrey, Maple Ridge, and the North Shore send roots into older drain and sewer lines.
Because the cause is different in each area, we inspect before we recommend any repair or installation. A wet basement in Vancouver is usually a failed perimeter drain; a wet yard in Richmond is usually a grading and storm-water problem; a blocked line in Surrey is often root intrusion. The fix follows the diagnosis.
If your Vancouver home has water at the basement floor joint or a perimeter drain that has silted up or collapsed, you are dealing…
On a sloped Burnaby lot, water moves across the surface and through the soil faster than on flat ground and collects against the d…
In Richmond the typical drainage problem is not a wet basement — it is a yard, driveway, or property that stays saturated because …
The drainage calls we get in Surrey fall into three groups: aging perimeter drains and blocked sewer lines in older areas like Clo…
Perimeter drain failure, root intrusion, and water moving down a slope toward a foundation are the problems we see most often in N…
When a West Vancouver basement is built into a hillside, the uphill foundation wall is effectively holding back soil and groundwat…
In Coquitlam the drainage work splits between older established neighbourhoods with aging perimeter drains and root intrusion, and…
In Delta — Ladner, North Delta, and Tsawwassen — the drainage challenge is moving water off flat, low-lying ground with limited fa…
If your New Westminster heritage home has a wet basement, the perimeter drain is the most likely cause. The older homes in Queens …
In Port Coquitlam the drainage issues are yards and driveways that stay wet, storm connections that need to handle high volumes, a…
The sloped properties around Port Moody inlet deal with water concentrating against downhill foundations, and the newer constructi…
In Maple Ridge the larger lots and mature trees mean two things for drainage: more root intrusion into older drainage and sewer li…
In Pitt Meadows the residential drainage work is about moving surface and groundwater off flat, low-lying floodplain ground where …
In White Rock the slope from the waterfront up to the bluff concentrates water toward the downhill side of foundations, and the ol…
In Tsawwassen the drainage challenge is moving water off flat coastal ground with limited fall, relying on storm connections and e…
We cover the wider Lower Mainland. If your community is not listed, call and ask — we will let you know whether we can help or refer you to someone who can.