When a French drain may make sense
A French drain is a fit for persistent saturation: a strip that stays soft, groundwater that reappears in the same place, a lawn that never fully dries even when you cannot photograph a pond. French drain installation is the service page once that is actually the job.
It is also a candidate when surface water has already been handled and the ground is still holding water. The trench is not a prize for having a wet yard. It is a tool for a specific layer — and only if collected water has somewhere appropriate to go.
When another solution is usually more appropriate first
A single surface low spot is often a catch basin or a grade change. Concentrated roof water is downspout drainage. Runoff you can watch cross the lot is slope and path work.
Installing a trench under those problems, without moving the water that is still arriving from above, is how a French drain gets blamed for a job it was never given.
What you see, and what to investigate
This table is a first filter. It is not a remote diagnosis.
| Problem | Likely solution to investigate |
|---|---|
| Surface puddle in a low spot | Catch basin / grading |
| Downspout dumping water beside the home | Downspout drainage |
| Water flowing across the yard | Grading / swale / surface drainage |
| Persistent saturated strip of soil | French drain may be appropriate — if there is an outlet |
How this differs from the comparison pages
French drain vs. grading is soil storage vs. surface direction. Catch basin vs. French drain is grate vs. trench. This page is the yes/no filter before those comparisons.
Which drainage solution is right for you? matches several symptoms to several methods. Use that if you are not asking specifically about a French drain.
Read these next
Installation if a trench is actually the fit. Yard drainage if you need the full menu. The two comparisons if you are stuck between methods.