Surface Drainage & Catch Basin Repair in North Vancouver
The yard holds water for days after it rains, or a low corner never quite dries out.
- Google rating
- 5.0
- Verified reviews
- 104
- Service in
- English
Stormwater management is exactly what it sounds like — moving water off the surface before it finds its own way somewhere you don't want it, whether that's a catch basin, a swale cut across a slope, or a culvert carrying it under a driveway. Modern Drainage builds and services all three, and clears the growth that chokes a swale just as often as it clears the basin itself: root systems and overgrown hedges silt a surface system slowly enough that nobody notices until the yard stops draining.
Their level of courtesy and professionalism was of the highest standard. And the way they conducted the post job clean up (each day and at the end of the project) left my property looking better than when they started. In sum, I would strongly recommend Modern Drainage to anyone.
Recent work in North Vancouver
Mike Hartman's own photographs, job by job.
Keeping the surface path clear, not just the pipe underneath it
What to check, and what to ask
General guidance for homeowners, not specific to your system — worth knowing before you book anyone, including us.
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How long the water sits matters more than how deep it gets
A puddle that is gone within an hour of the rain stopping is ordinary. The same puddle still there the next day, in the same spot every time, is a drainage problem — the ground or the pipe underneath it is not carrying the water away.
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A catch basin only works if what is above it can reach it
Leaves, mulch and settled soil around a grate can seal it almost as completely as a clog inside the pipe, and it looks fine from a glance. The grate being visible is not the same as the grate being clear.
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One low corner of the yard is not automatically a swale failure
Some yards are graded with a deliberate low path to carry water toward a street or a catch basin — that pooling briefly along the route is the system working. Ask whether the spot that concerns you is on that path or off it before assuming something has failed.
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Shared drainage does not respect the property line
On some streets a swale, a culvert or a catch basin serves more than one yard, and a change on one property changes what the next one receives. Worth knowing before assuming the fix is entirely on your side of the line.
Try these first
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1. Note exactly where the water pools, and how long it stays
A specific corner, a low spot near a walkway, the whole lawn. And whether it is gone in an hour, a day, or still there when it rains again — that timeline narrows the problem a great deal.
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2. Look at any catch basin or grate you have, without opening it
Check whether it is visible above the surface, and whether leaves, mulch or soil have built up over the openings. A grate buried under settled ground cannot do its job even if nothing inside it is blocked.
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3. Watch which direction the water actually moves, if it moves at all
Toward the house, away from it, or nowhere at all. A puddle that just sits without ever draining toward anything is different information than one that slowly finds its way somewhere.
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4. Check whether a downspout is discharging into the same low spot
A surface drainage problem and a gutter problem can look identical from the yard. Ruling out a nearby downspout first can save a call for something that is really the cheaper fix.
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5. Ask a neighbour whether they see the same thing
On some streets a swale or a catch basin is shared. If the same corner floods on both sides of the property line, that is useful to know before anyone assumes it is a problem on your side alone.
Before you call
- Do I need a whole new drainage system, or just a catch basin cleared?
- Usually the second. A yard that holds water is more often a blocked or silted catch basin than a failed system underneath it — worth ruling out before anything bigger gets proposed.
Tell Mike Hartman what's going on
604-984-4343Mike Hartman will call you back on the number you left.
- Address
- 165 Amherst Avenue, North Vancouver, BC V7H 1S5
- Service Area
- North Vancouver · Burnaby · Vancouver · Coquitlam
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, from 8am