When French Drains Fail: Common Installation Problems and How to Prevent Them 

You thought you solved the problem. You paid to have a French drain installed to fix that soggy backyard or musty basement. But here you are again—watching water pool in all the wrong places.

If you live in Naperville or anywhere nearby in DuPage County, this is more common than you’d think. We get calls like this all the time: “We had a French drain put in, but it’s not working like it should. What gives?”

If that sounds like you, know this—you’re not alone, and you're not overreacting. Water damage is frustrating, stressful, and expensive. And when the fix doesn’t work, it can feel like you’ve wasted your time and money.

At Allied Waterproofing & Septic, we’ve helped hundreds of homeowners across Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield, Bolingbrook, and the rest of DuPage, Will, Cook, Kankakee, Grundy, Livingston, and Iroquois Counties deal with failed French drains. We’re not a giant company—but we are extremely focused on doing things right, and tailoring each solution to the property it’s going into.

Let’s walk through why French drains often fail in this part of Illinois—and how to avoid common mistakes that lead to standing water, moldy basements, and ruined landscaping.

Why Is My French Drain Not Working? (And Why It’s So Frustrating)

Here in Naperville, many of us live in neighborhoods with heavy clay soils, flat yards, and foundations that were built decades ago. All of that adds up to one big problem: poor drainage.

So when you install a French drain, you expect it to fix the issue. And when it doesn’t, the frustration sets in fast. You may feel like:

• The contractor took your money and rushed the job
  

• You made a mistake trusting the wrong person
  

• You’re stuck redoing the same project over again
  

• You should’ve just lived with the water (even though that’s no solution either)
  

We get it. And we’re going to break down what’s really going on.

The Real-World Problems Naperville Homeowners Face With Bad Drainage

From downtown Naperville to the northern edges of Will County, we’ve seen it all:

• French drains that were installed too shallow and now overflow after a storm
  

• Pipes that mysteriously end nowhere, just dumping water back into the yard
  

• Drainage gravel that got clogged up after just one season
  

• Basements that still smell damp, even after a “fix” was installed
  

If any of this sounds familiar, the issue isn’t just bad luck—it’s often bad planning. Let’s dig into the top causes we’ve seen.

Top 7 Reasons French Drains Fail in Naperville and Surrounding Counties

1. Poor Slope and Grading

In Naperville, a lot of homes are built on nearly flat land. If the French drain doesn’t have a proper downward slope, water just sits there. It needs gravity to work—and without that, the system fails before it even starts.

2. Wrong Type of Gravel or No Filter Fabric

Using pea gravel, crushed limestone, or no fabric at all? That’s a recipe for clogs. Water can’t pass through compacted stone, and without a barrier, fine clay particles (like the ones all over DuPage and Kankakee County) seep in and fill up the line.

3. Clogged Drain Pipes

If your drain worked great the first year but now acts like it’s not even there, it could be full of roots, mud, or debris. Without cleanouts or a proper filter setup, French drains clog quietly.

4. Using Perforated Pipe the Wrong Way

Some DIY installers face the holes up. Others face them down. What matters more than direction is the whole system design. And in clay-heavy Illinois soil, drainage design has to be precise—or it backfires.

5. Cheap, Corrugated Pipe

We see this in Naperville subdivisions a lot—cheap black corrugated pipe that collapses after a few years. It’s easy to install, but it doesn’t hold up in heavy clay or under compacted soil. Rigid PVC is usually worth the extra cost.

6. Drain Outlets That Go Nowhere

A French drain needs a destination. If the water doesn't exit to a dry well, sump pit, storm drain, or daylit slope, it just builds up underground and causes the same old problems. We’ve dug up lines in Grundy and Cook County that were literally capped off at the end.

7. Not Designed for Our Local Soils

DuPage, Kankakee, and Will Counties have clay and silt-heavy soil. This stuff holds water like a sponge. That means French drains must be built deeper, with wider trenches and more free-draining gravel. If your installer didn’t factor that in, the system can fail fast.

How to Spot a Failing French Drain Before It Gets Worse

Before things escalate into flooding, you might see:

• Pools of water over your buried drain
  

• A lawn that stays muddy for days
  

• Water seeping back toward your house
  

• Musty smells near basement walls
  

• Watermarks on your concrete
  

• Mushrooms or odd grass growth patterns (yes, really)
  

If any of that sounds familiar, your French drain might already be failing.

How to Prevent These Common French Drain Mistakes

Hire Someone Who Understands Naperville Soil

A French drain in Iroquois County might need a totally different design than one in downtown Naperville. The slope, soil composition, and drainage path all matter. We tailor every system to match the actual property, not some national guidebook.

Use the Right Materials

We always recommend using rigid PVC pipe, washed gravel, proper filter fabric (not landscape fabric), and adding cleanouts for maintenance. These small choices make a huge difference.

Make Sure Water Has a Way Out

The whole point of a French drain is to collect water and carry it away. If it ends in a dead zone or a low spot, the water has nowhere to go—and it’ll just pool underground until it finds its way into your foundation.

Think About the Whole Drainage Plan

Your home might need more than just a French drain. Sometimes that means tying it into a sump system, regrading your yard slightly, or adding a catch basin. A full plan keeps problems from popping up later.

Should You DIY Your French Drain in Naperville? A Fair Warning

A lot of handy folks in Naperville give DIY a shot. And if you’re just trying to dry out a corner of the yard for your garden—go for it. But if you’re trying to protect your foundation? That’s a different story.

We’ve been called in to fix more DIY jobs than we can count. The usual culprits?

• Drain runs uphill
  

• Pipe crushed during backfill
  

• Cheap fabric letting in sediment
  

• No real drainage outlet
  

Sometimes, the savings on a DIY job are wiped out by having to do it all over again.

What We’ve Learned Fixing Failed French Drains Near Naperville

Whether we’re working in Naperville, Joliet, Kankakee, or Plainfield, one truth holds up: No two yards are the same.

We’ve fixed drains for homes that were less than five years old, and for houses built before the Eisenhower era. Every time, we start with questions like:

• Where does the water start?
  

• Where does it need to go?
  

• What’s underground (trees, utilities, roots)?
  

• What’s the soil actually like here?
  

That’s how you build a system that works now—and still works ten years from now.

Final Thoughts: If You’re Fed Up, You’re Not Alone

We get it. You paid someone to fix a problem, and now the problem is back. It’s easy to feel like giving up or “just living with it.”

But here’s the good news: It can be fixed. And it doesn’t always mean tearing everything up and starting over.

If you're in Naperville, or anywhere in DuPage, Will, Cook, Kankakee, Iroquois, Grundy, or Livingston Counties, and you’re tired of water problems coming back again and again—let’s talk. No pushy sales talk. Just straight answers from folks who know what a pain bad drainage really is.