# Yard drainage system installation in Plano, TX

> Yard drainage system installation in Plano, TX: we join downspouts, inlets and drains into one route with steady fall to a legal outlet. Get an estimate.

URL: https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/yard-drainage/

One planned route that collects roof, surface and soil water from several parts of the yard and carries it in solid pipe to a legal outlet.

Last Updated: November 11, 2026

- **Catch:** downspouts, low spots, side swales
- **Carry:** solid pipe at a steady fall
- **Release:** to the street, never the neighbor

## Water turning up in three places at once?

Roof water pools by the patio, the side yard stays soft, and the back corner holds a puddle. When the wet spots have different sources, fixing them one at a time can just move the water along to the next one.

[Clay Plano Drainage Company](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/) designs and installs whole-yard drainage systems in Plano and the cities around it. We plan one route for the entire lot: what each part collects, how the pipe carries it, and where it legally leaves, which in Plano means toward the street.

> Sometimes one drain is enough
>
> If the visit shows one source and one wet area, we price that single fix. A system is for yards where the sources overlap.

## What happens on the first visit

We walk the whole lot, front to back, because the outlet usually sits at the front while the trouble sits at the back. Photos or a short video from a storm help.

- **Every source.** Each downspout, the patio and walks, the neighbor’s grade and every sprinkler zone near a wet spot.
- **Every wet area.** We note which ones fill during the storm and which stay soft for days, since they need different collectors.
- **Fall across the lot.** We take elevations from the farthest wet area to the outlet. Plano yards have little natural slope, so inches matter.
- **The outlet.** A pop-up emitter in front lawn, an existing line that still flows, or a curb outlet the city permits.
- **Pinch points.** Side-yard width, gates, AC pads, fence posts, tree roots and the sprinkler mainline.

The written estimate shows the trunk line, each branch, the run lengths, the outlet and what gets put back afterward.

## Is the water on top of the ground or in it?

Most problem yards have both, and a system handles each one with a different part. Surface water runs across the lawn during the storm; soil water stays behind after the surface has dried.

| Surface water | Soil water |
| --- | --- |
| Sheets across the lawn or pours off a roof corner | Ground stays soft a day or more after rain |
| Collected by a [catch basin](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/catch-basins/) grate or a downspout line | Collected by a [French drain](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/french-drain-installation/) section in washed stone |
| Needs enough inlet capacity for the peak of the storm | Needs a long enough collection zone in slow clay |
| Enters solid pipe directly | Enters perforated pipe, then joins solid pipe |

Houston Black, the clay under most of central and east Plano, sheds storm water as runoff far faster than it soaks it in. That makes surface collection the bigger job in many yards, with French drain sections only where the soil stays wet.

## How the pieces join into one route

A whole-yard system works like a small tree. Branches collect water where it appears, and they feed a trunk line that carries all of it to one outlet.

- **Branches** are short runs from each collector: a [downspout line](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/downspout-drainage/), a catch basin, or the solid tail of a French drain section.
- **The trunk** is the main solid line, sized for what every branch delivers at once and laid at a steady fall toward the outlet.
- **Junctions** use sweep fittings instead of sharp tees, with a cleanout where branches meet, so a hose or jetter can reach every part.
- **The outlet** is the one place the system lets water go, and the rest of the design is worked backward from its height.

Each branch has to meet the trunk above it, never below. On a flat lot, the outlet’s height decides how deep a collector at the back of the yard must sit.

### Corrugated or smooth-wall pipe?

Both turn up in yard drainage, and on long runs the choice matters. Corrugated pipe comes in long rolls and bends around obstacles, but its ridges hold silt and it can sag or flatten under soil and foot traffic.

Smooth-wall PVC, such as SDR-35, keeps its grade over a long run, flushes cleaner and resists crushing. We use each where it fits, and the estimate says which pipe each run gets.

A branch joining the trunk line through a sweep fitting, with a cleanout riser where they meet.

## When the storm is bigger than the pipe

Every drain system has a ceiling, and the outlet usually sets it. A system that carries an ordinary storm can still overflow in a rare one, so we plan where the extra water goes before it arrives.

NOAA’s rainfall atlas puts a storm with a 50 percent chance in any year at about 1.80 inches in one hour for central Plano. A storm with a 1 percent chance brings about 3.61 inches in the same hour, and no yard pipe carries that.

- We shape a shallow overflow path at the surface, so water the inlets can’t take runs toward the street and away from the slab.
- We place grates where an overflow spills onto open lawn, not against the house or onto the neighbor.
- We check that the emitter or curb outlet can still let water out while the street gutter runs full.

The guide on [how to fix yard drainage problems](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/how-to-fix-yard-drainage-problems/) walks through how each of these parts gets chosen.

## How we build a whole-yard system

On a system, the order of work matters more than on a single drain. We build from the outlet uphill, so every branch has somewhere to send water the moment it is connected.

1. **Locates and layout.** Texas811 marks buried lines, and we paint the trunk and branches in white so you can walk the plan.
2. **Outlet first.** We set the emitter or prepare the permitted curb outlet and confirm its height.
3. **Trunk line.** We trench and lay the main line at its measured fall, working away from the outlet.
4. **Branches.** Each collector goes in and joins the trunk through its fitting and cleanout.
5. **Test.** We run water into each branch in turn and watch it reach the outlet before anything is buried.
6. **Restore.** Soil comes back off the tarps, the sod strips go back down and crossed sprinkler lines get repaired.
7. **Walk-through.** We show you every cleanout and the outlet, and what each one needs to stay clear.

Sod is cut in strips and set aside, and silt controls keep loose soil out of the street while trenches are open. The guide to [what happens during drainage installation](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/what-happens-during-drainage-installation/) follows a day on site.

## What a whole-yard drainage system costs

Our typical range for a whole-yard drainage route is $3,000 to $8,000 per project. It covers the collectors, trunk line and outlet the visit calls for, and the written estimate sets your figure from the drawn route.

The number of zones and the total run length move it most, followed by how many downspouts and basins tie in, whether the outlet is the curb or a [yard sump and pump](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/sump-pump-drainage/), depth, soil and access. If the lot also needs [regrading](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/yard-grading/), we price it alongside.

- The [drainage cost guide](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/drainage-cost-plano/) breaks a system down into its parts.
- The [cost estimator](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/tools/drainage-cost-estimator/) lets you rough out your own yard’s run lengths.

## Keeping a system working

A system has more places to clog than a single drain, and most of them are at the surface. Clear the grates and the outlet after the leaves drop and again before the spring storms.

If one branch slows while the others run, flush it through its cleanout. If the whole system backs up, look first at the trunk or the outlet, and [drain repair and cleaning](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/drainage-repair/) can find the trouble without digging up every line.

## What's included

- A site visit that maps every source: roof, paving, the neighbor's grade, sprinklers and soil
- A drawn route showing the trunk line, each branch, the outlet and run lengths
- Texas811 locates, with the trunk and branches marked in white
- Catch basins, French drain sections and downspout tie-ins as the plan calls for
- Smooth-wall or corrugated pipe chosen run by run, with the reason on the estimate
- Cleanouts where branches join the trunk or the line turns
- Silt controls while trenches are open
- Water run through each branch and out the outlet before backfill
- Sod set back, crossed sprinkler lines repaired and a walk-through of the finished system

## One drain, a full system or a change in grade?

|  | Single drain | Whole-yard system | Regrading |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Fits when | One wet area with one water source | Water comes from several places, or fixing one spot would push water to another | The lawn tilts the wrong way or holds a shallow bowl |
| What gets built | One French drain or inlet and its outlet line | Several collectors joined to one trunk line and a shared outlet | Reshaped soil that moves water over the surface |
| Digging | One trench | Several trenches, planned so they share the available fall | Soil moved across an area, little trenching |
| Risk if it's the wrong choice | Water skips to the next low spot | Paying for branches the yard didn't need | Surface fixed but the soil still stays wet |

## Related resources

- [Cost Guide**How much does drainage work cost in Plano?** Our typical ranges for each kind of yard drainage job in Plano, what moves a price within them, and the public figures that sit inside one.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/drainage-cost-plano/)
- [Learn**How do you fix yard drainage problems?** Start with where the water comes from, not with a drain. How Plano's clay, rain and lot rules shape each fix, and how to tell which one your yard needs.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/how-to-fix-yard-drainage-problems/)
- [Learn**What happens during a drainage installation?** From the first look at the yard to the last walk along the route. What we do at each stage, what we ask of you, and what the lawn looks like when we leave.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/guide/what-happens-during-drainage-installation/)

## How we run a job

### Call

You tell us what you see, where it pools and when.

### Look

We walk the yard, measure the fall and find a legal outlet.

### Mark

We call Texas811 for locates and paint our route in white.

### Build

We trench to grade and set stone, fabric, pipe and outlet.

### Test

We run water through the system before any backfill.

### Restore

We put back sod and beds and repair crossed sprinkler lines.

## What this work looks like

White paint marking a drain line and one branch across a back lawn, sod not yet cut

Narrow trench along a side yard with green smooth-wall pipe laid on a level bed, soil piled on a tarp

Green drain pipe joining a fitting under a capped white cleanout riser in an open hole in a front lawn

Green pop-up emitter lid set flush in a front lawn near the street, open and releasing water

Before

After

## Yard drainage systems: questions

### Can there be too much water for a yard drain system to move?

Yes. Every system has a limit set by its inlets, pipe and outlet, and a rare storm can exceed it. That's why we shape an overflow path at the surface, so water the pipe can't take runs toward the street instead of toward the house.

### Do I have to do the whole yard at once?

No. If the budget points to phases, we build the outlet and trunk line first, sized and set deep enough for the branches you'll add later. The worst area gets its branch now, and the next ones connect to fittings we leave in place.

### Corrugated or smooth-wall pipe: which goes in my yard?

It depends on the run. Corrugated pipe bends around obstacles but traps silt in its ridges and can sag. Smooth-wall pipe holds its grade and flushes clean, which matters on a long, flat trunk line. The estimate names the pipe for each run and why.

### Do downspouts and lawn grates share one pipe?

They can share the trunk line once each has its own solid branch, as long as the trunk is sized for both at once. What they never share is a French drain's stone trench, because roof water would fill it before it could collect water from the soil.

### How do you keep a long line from running out of fall?

We work backward from the outlet's height. Spot elevations at the far end of the yard tell us how deep each branch has to start so the trunk can fall steadily the whole way. On a very flat lot that can mean a deeper trench at the back, or a pump.

## Related services

- [Service**French drains** A trench of washed stone and pipe that collects water held in the soil and carries it to a legal outlet at the street side of the lot.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/french-drain-installation/)
- [Service**Yard grading** Reshaping the soil so the ground falls away from the slab and toward a swale or the street, set to measured slopes instead of guesswork.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/yard-grading/)
- [Service**Catch basins** A grated box set at the lowest point of a lawn, bed edge or patio that takes in surface water and sends it through solid pipe to an outlet.](https://clayplanodrainagecompany.com/catch-basins/)

## Get an estimate for yard drainage systems

Tell us where the water stands and when. We walk the yard, measure the fall and send a written estimate.