Those persistent puddles in your Balham garden aren't going away on their own. Between the clay soil and Victorian-era drainage, water has a habit of settling exactly where you don't want it.
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Balham's mix of period properties and newer builds face similar battles with surface water. Clay-heavy ground beneath those neat front gardens refuses to absorb rainfall properly. Add narrow side returns typical of SW12 terraces, and you've got water channelling straight towards foundations. A professionally installed French drain creates the escape route your property desperately needs.
Picture perforated pipes wrapped in geotextile fabric, bedded in gravel trenches that guide water away from problem zones. The gradient matters immensely - too shallow and water stagnates, too steep and erosion follows. Depth varies between 450mm for lawn drainage to over a metre when protecting basement conversions popular in this neighbourhood. Each system connects to either soakaways or existing storm drains, depending on your property's layout.
Twenty years sorting Balham's drainage puzzles means knowing which Victorian drain runs where. Local knowledge prevents costly mistakes when navigating existing utilities beneath those tidy front paths.
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Basic garden French drains start around £90-120 per metre. Driveway systems protecting foundations run £150-200 per metre. Most Balham properties need 15-30 metres total.
Absolutely - from the Balham High Road conservation area to properties backing onto Tooting Bec Common. Regular projects near Bedford Hill and around Nightingale Triangle too.
Typical residential French drain installation takes 2-4 days. Larger properties with complex routing might need a week. Weather permitting, naturally.
Every French drain system includes decade-long coverage against defects. This protects your investment whether it's solving lawn squelching or preventing cellar flooding.
Definitely. Channel drains along the edges combined with French drains beneath handle surface water effectively. Particularly useful for those sloped drives common near Wandsworth Common borders.
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