Talk to me about french drains - would it turn you off if a house had them

What can you tell me about them, good or bad?

Message edited 10/9/2009 9:45:33 AM.

Re: Anyone have french drains?

I don't have one but there's a good thread posted here a while back about someone who thought they had to install them but it turned out to be something else. Hopefully it will come up in a search.

I posted about this a couple years back too, that a house I was looking at might need them, and wound up not buying.

Good luck

edited to add:

psst... first RT at the bottom.

Message edited 10/9/2009 8:11:59 AM.

Re: Anyone have french drains?

Posted by greenfreak

I don't have one but there's a good thread posted here a while back about someone who thought they had to install them but it turned out to be something else. Hopefully it will come up in a search.

I posted about this a couple years back too, that a house I was looking at might need them, and wound up not buying.

Good luck

edited to add:

psst... first RT at the bottom.

Re: Talk to me about french drains - would it turn you off if a house had them

no, b/c it means u don't have to do it. we had to get one installed b/c of high water levels and it costs a lot of money

Re: Talk to me about french drains - would it turn you off if a house had them

The house we are currently buying has french drains. I wouldn't be worried about it. It's just a extra protection during heavy rain storms. From what I hear putting them in is pricey, so buying a house that has them already is one less expensive u may have to worry about in the future.

Message edited 10/11/2009 12:34:26 PM.

Re: Talk to me about french drains - would it turn you off if a house had them

very expensive to put in so if they are there already know that you probably have drainage issues and they put that extra protection in for you. I am thinking of your have drains you might have a sub pump as well in the basement. Just know that you might not want to finish the basement and if you do you might still get water on extreme rain/floods. Typically this never happens but remember when we got a week and half of heavy rains a few years back - that is when you might see a bit of water otherwise your protected.

So most likely it wouldn't deter me.

Re: Talk to me about french drains - would it turn you off if a house had them

Here is my concern. A house I am interested in supposedly had water a few mths back b/c the french drain wasn't working properly.

But how can i feel confident the french drains are working at all and it's not just a temporary fix that will be a huge issue if I do buy this home?

KWIM? I know they had water issues, obviously that's why they installed a french drain. But what if the french drains don't work properly?

Can an inspector tell something like this?

Re: Talk to me about french drains - would it turn you off if a house had them

Re: Talk to me about french drains - would it turn you off if a house had them

To answer your question, yes it was one of the things that did deter us from buying.

There was more than that going on with the house, but after finding out the area was known for it's drainage issues, I had fears. I kept thinking, what if we do the french drain, pump, etc and it still doesn't do the job? We would be stuck.

I know there are plenty of people who put them in and they're fine. But we decided to keep looking for something in better shape and we found it the next day, and bought it.