If you have standing water pooling in your yard, soggy grass that never fully dries out, or water creeping toward your foundation after every storm, your property needs a drainage contractor who knows how to fix it right.
TunnelNow specializes in French drain installation in Houston, TX, and has built a reputation for helping homeowners across the city get rid of standing water for good.
We build drainage systems designed specifically for Houston’s clay soil and heavy rainfall so your yard stays dry, your foundation stays protected, and the problem does not come back.
Last spring, a homeowner in Pearland watched the same corner of her backyard turn into a muddy swamp after every storm — for the third year in a row. A neighbor across the fence in Friendswood had water seeping into his garage slab. Both called Tunnel Now. Within a week, both had working french drains that redirected water away from their homes before it could do any damage.
That’s what french drain installation in Houston looks like when it’s done by people who actually know the soil, the rainfall patterns, and the neighborhoods here. If you’re dealing with soggy patches killing your grass, water pooling around your foundation, or yard flooding during heavy storms, you’ve found the right team.
Houston’s clay-heavy soil holds water instead of absorbing it. That’s not a design flaw in your yard — it’s a soil problem that a well-installed french drain system fixes permanently.
A french drain is a gravel-filled trench with a perforated pipe that captures water at the source and moves it away from your home, yard, or structure. We design each system around your specific property — the slope, the soil type, and where the water is actually coming from.
In Houston, we see a few problems over and over: clay soil preventing proper drainage in Katy and Sugar Land backyards, poor slope directing water toward the house in older Heights and Montrose neighborhoods, and foundation cracks from water intrusion in homes across Cypress and Spring. French drains solve all of these — but only when they’re installed at the right depth, with the right grade, and in the right location.
Our crews use laser levels and proper compaction to make sure water moves through the system instead of sitting in the pipe. We also use filter fabric around the gravel to keep Houston’s fine clay particles from clogging the drain over time. That’s the difference between a system that works for 20 years and one that fails in two.
Sometimes a french drain isn’t the right tool. When water collects on hard surfaces — driveways, patios, pool decks, or along garage entries — a channel drain (sometimes called a trench drain) does a better job.
Channel drains sit flush with the surface and intercept runoff before it can pool or flow toward the home. We install them with the same attention to slope and exit point that we bring to every drainage project. If you’re noticing water seeping into your home’s interior after rain hits your patio, or if hydrostatic pressure is causing issues under your slab, a channel drain combined with a proper french drain system is often the right answer.
Collects water at low points and routes it away from your property.
Fix broken or failing sewer lines with minimal disruption to your yard.
Precision trenching for new plumbing lines, irrigation, and drainage tie-ins.
Access plumbing beneath your slab without tearing up your floors.
A catch basin is essentially a collection box—usually set in the ground at the lowest point of a yard or landscape bed— that gathers water and funnels it into a drainage pipe. Think of it as the starting point of your drainage system.
In neighborhoods like Meyerland, where lots are relatively flat, catch basins are one of the most effective ways to deal with water that pools during Houston’s heavy summer storms. We size the basin to match your yard’s drainage load, and we connect it directly to the outflow line so the system moves water quickly even during the hardest rains.
Catch basins also help with soil erosion near the home — instead of water sheeting across your lawn and cutting channels in the soil, it gets captured immediately at the low point and moved out of the way.
Drainage problems in Houston aren’t always about surface water. Sometimes the issue is underground — a sewer line that’s cracked, offset, or partially collapsed because of soil movement or tree root intrusion. When that happens, water backs up, odors appear, and the problem gets worse with every storm.
Tunnel Now handles sewer line repair across the Houston area. We camera-inspect the line to see exactly what’s wrong before we dig or tunnel. That means we’re not guessing — we know the break location, the severity, and the best repair method before a single shovel hits the ground.
We serve homeowners from The Woodlands down through Pasadena and everywhere in between. If your drains are slow, gurgling, or backing up, the problem may be underground, and we can confirm it.
Installing a new water line, gas line, irrigation system, or drainage tie-in requires excavating a trench that’s precise — the right depth, the right width, and the right slope. Get it wrong and you’re either too shallow (the pipe freezes or gets damaged) or too deep (you’ve spent extra money on fill you didn’t need).
Our trenching crews work across residential and light commercial properties throughout Houston. Whether you’re adding an outdoor kitchen in Memorial, running a new plumbing supply line in Humble, or installing drainage for a new addition in League City, we bring the equipment and the experience to do the trench work right.
Precision trenching protects your landscaping, your utilities, and your budget. We locate all underground lines before we dig and restore the surface after we’re done.
This is where Tunnel Now really stands apart. When there’s a plumbing problem beneath a concrete slab — a broken drain line, a sewer leak, or a pipe that’s shifted because of soil settlement — most homeowners fear the worst: jackhammers, broken tile, and weeks of mess.
Under slab tunneling is different. Our team excavates a tunnel beneath your foundation from the outside, accesses the damaged pipe, makes the repairs, and backfills the tunnel— all without touching your interior floors. In most cases, you stay in your home the entire time.
We’ve used this method on homes across Houston, from older bungalows in the Heights to newer builds in Katy and Sugarland where soil movement has shifted plumbing joints. If you’re seeing water stains on your slab, unusually warm or soft spots in your flooring, or mysteriously high water bills, tunneling is often the cleanest answer.
Houston gets an average of 50 inches of rain per year — more than Seattle, more than New York, more than most cities people associate with wet weather. On top of that, the area sits on thick clay soil called “Houston Black” that barely drains at all. Water hits the ground and has almost nowhere to go.
That’s why you see so many Houston homeowners dealing with soggy lawns, water pooling around their foundations, and grass that dies out in wet patches every summer. It’s not a landscaping problem. It’s a drainage problem — and french drain installation is the most effective permanent fix for most residential properties.
We’ve worked in Bellaire, Stafford, Missouri City, Cypress, Klein, Tomball, Conroe, Baytown, Deer Park, and dozens of other Houston-area communities. Every yard is a little different. Our job is to read the property, understand where the water is coming from, and build a system that sends it somewhere it can’t hurt your home.
We start with a site visit. One of our estimators walks your property, checks the slope, identifies where water is entering and where it needs to go, and gives you a clear written estimate — no surprise charges, no upsells you didn’t ask for.
Once you approve the work, we schedule installation and complete most residential french drain projects in one to two days. We haul away all excavated material, restore your lawn as best we can, and walk you through the system before we leave. If you have questions after installation, you can call us directly.
Tunnel Now has been solving drainage problems across the greater Houston area for years. We’re not a national franchise. We’re a local crew that understands Houston soil, Houston weather, and Houston homes. When it rains, we want your yard to drain — not flood.
Ready to stop dealing with a soggy yard or water near your foundation? Call Tunnel Now for a free drainage assessment.
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