Where We Install French Drains

Which cities do we serve?

We serve twelve cities and communities around our League City office: League City, Pearland, Friendswood, Dickinson, Texas City, Galveston, Santa Fe, San Leon, Alvin, Clear Lake, Deer Park and Houston. They share a flat Gulf Coast plain, but the soil, the creeks and the flood history change from one to the next, and so does the right drain.

The notes below give one drainage fact for each place, with soil readings taken from the USDA's soil survey database. They are not sales copy. They are the things we look at before we pick an outlet and a route.

League City

League City, in Galveston County, drains to two watersheds: Clear Creek along its northern edge and Dickinson Bayou. Lake Charles clay and Bernard clay loam on 0 to 1 percent slopes cover much of the city. It is where our office is, so it has its own page: French drain installation in League City.

Pearland

Pearland sits mostly in Brazoria County, with parts in Fort Bend and Harris counties. Brazoria Drainage District No. 4, based in Pearland, sets drainage rules there alongside the city. Four of the five points we checked around central Pearland are mapped as Lake Charles clay, a soil that cracks when dry and seals tight when wet.

Friendswood

Friendswood lies in both Galveston and Harris counties, and its major flooding comes from the rise of Clear Creek. The soils change within a mile or two, from Kemah silt loam to Edna loam to Lake Charles clay. All of them carry the USDA's group D rating, the class with the highest runoff when wet.

Dickinson

Dickinson Bayou runs through the city of Dickinson in Galveston County. In August 2017, Hurricane Harvey flooded an estimated 90% of the city. Vamont clay and Bernard clay loam are common here, so yard water that is not carried to the street or a ditch tends to sit.

Texas City

Texas City is mostly ringed by a 17-mile levee system built in the early 1960s, after Hurricane Carla, with pump stations on its northeast edge. Near the center of the city, the USDA maps Kemah and Francitas soils mixed with paved urban land, all rated group D for runoff.

Galveston

Galveston Island is the exception to the clay rule. The Galveston series soil mapped around the center of the city formed in windblown sand and is in hydrologic group A, the fastest-draining class, but the same map unit is flagged for occasional storm-surge flooding. Behind the 10-mile seawall built after the 1900 storm, the limit on a yard drain is how low the lot sits, not the soil.

Santa Fe

Santa Fe, in Galveston County, is prone to flash flooding, and the area is lined with drainage ditches, culverts and canals. Highland Bayou and Halls Bayou flow southeast from there to West Bay. All five points we checked are Mocarey loam soils, which are rated C/D for runoff.

San Leon

San Leon is an unincorporated community in Galveston County, so county rules apply rather than a city's. It sits about 3 feet above sea level, and FEMA flood maps adopted in 2019 place most of it at high flood risk. On lots this low, a pump basin is often the only outlet that works.

Alvin

Alvin, in Brazoria County, holds a famous rain record: Tropical Storm Claudette stalled over the city in July 1979 and dropped 45 inches of rain in 42 hours. Bernard and Edna soils, both rated somewhat poorly drained, cover much of the town.

Clear Lake

Clear Lake is a Houston community in southeast Harris County, named for the lake at the mouth of Clear Creek, which empties into Galveston Bay. Lake Charles clay shows up at most of the points we checked here, often mixed with paved urban land.

Deer Park

Deer Park, in southeast Harris County, is bounded on the north by the Houston Ship Channel, the dredged Buffalo Bayou. The Harris County Flood Control District lists a partnership with Deer Park on the Delo-Elaine stormwater detention basin in its Armand Bayou watershed. Bernard clay loam was the dominant soil at all five points we checked.

Houston

We take jobs on the south and east sides of Houston, in Harris County. The Harris County Flood Control District notes that a major flood occurs somewhere in the county about every two years. Our clay-soil guides on yard drainage and French drain installation apply to most Houston lots.

Service area questions

Is there a charge to come out to my city?

No. The on-site assessment is free in every city on this page. We walk the yard, find where the water collects and where it can legally leave the lot, and then give you a written price for the work.

My city is not on the list. Can you still help?

Call us. The list shows where we work most, not a hard boundary. If your home is in the Houston-Galveston area, give us the address and a short description of the water problem, and we will tell you whether we can take the job.

Why does the same drain design not work in every city?

Soil and outlets change across the area. USDA maps show slow-draining clays under most of Pearland, League City and Deer Park, sandy soil on Galveston Island, and loams around Santa Fe. A drain is sized and routed for the soil it sits in and the street, ditch or bayou it empties toward.

Who do I ask about a drainage permit outside League City?

Ask the city building or permit office where the house is. Rules differ: League City lists area drains and lot grading among permitted work, Pearland projects also answer to Brazoria Drainage District No. 4, and unincorporated places such as San Leon fall under Galveston County rather than a city.

Do you work in Harris County neighborhoods inside Houston?

Yes. Clear Lake is part of the City of Houston, and we work there and in other south and east Houston neighborhoods, as well as in Deer Park. Tell us the address when you call so we can confirm the visit.

Can a French drain help in a city that floods from the bay or a bayou?

It helps with rain on your own lot, not with rising water. In places like San Leon, Dickinson or Texas City, a French drain clears ponding from ordinary storms. It cannot stop storm surge or a bayou out of its banks, and we will say so on the visit.