Water is the thing that wrecks NH houses more than anything else — slowly, expensively, and usually from a source the homeowner doesn't see. I work across Hill (03243), Bristol (03222), Franklin (03235), Plymouth (03264), and the surrounding Lakes Region fixing the drainage problems that show up in basements, driveways, and septic fields. Most of them are preventable. Almost all of them are cheaper to fix now than later.
Wet basement? Start here
Here's the real-talk version: roughly 70% of wet basements I look at are surface-water problems, not rising groundwater. Water lands on the roof, drops from the gutters too close to the foundation, runs downhill from the yard toward the house, or sits in a low spot until it finds a crack. None of that needs interior waterproofing to solve.
- Regrading. The cheapest fix. Sloping the first 6–10 feet around the foundation away from the house, not toward it.
- Gutter extensions. Simple, but astonishing how often this alone dries up a basement.
- Curtain drains. A perforated pipe in gravel, uphill of the house, intercepting water before it gets to the foundation. Classic fix for hillside properties.
- Foundation perimeter drains. When regrading and a curtain drain aren't enough, a drain tied into the footing wall, dug and installed from the outside.
Driveway washouts + hillside runoff
A washed-out gravel driveway is almost always a sizing problem — the culvert is too small, the swale is too shallow, or there's no catch basin where the water concentrates. I fix the cause, not just fill the hole. Swales move water across a property. Catch basins take a concentrated flow and send it underground. Culvert upsizing keeps driveways from turning into streambeds during a wet spring or a summer cloudburst. And a French drain handles the slow, soaking groundwater that won't go anywhere on its own.
Septic systems in NH
Septic work in New Hampshire has its own rules. Frost line is roughly four feet deep in central NH, which means tank tops and D-boxes have to be buried deep enough or insulated well enough not to freeze. Rocky and ledge-heavy soil means every site is different — what worked on your neighbor's property doesn't necessarily work on yours.
I handle:
- New installs — tank, D-box, leach field, pump chamber if the site needs one.
- Repairs — baffle replacement, D-box replacement, leach field repairs where salvageable.
- Full replacements — when the field is saturated and done.
- Pump chambers for sites that can't run gravity-fed.
The design itself comes from a NH-licensed septic designer. I install from their spec and coordinate the state inspection.