Standing water, flooded yards, and basement moisture are solvable problems — with the right drainage system designed and installed for your property. Serving Norfolk, Franklin, Wrentham, Walpole, Millis, Medway, Medfield, Plainville, Foxborough, Sharon, Mansfield, Attleboro, and the surrounding Norfolk County area.
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We walk your property to identify water entry points, collection areas, and natural drainage patterns. Understanding how water moves across your specific site is essential before designing a solution.
We design a drainage system matched to your site — selecting the right combination of grading, piping, inlets, and outlets to solve the problem permanently, with consideration for Massachusetts stormwater requirements and any wetland setbacks.
We excavate trenches, install pipe and stone, set catch basins and inlets, and connect everything to a proper outlet — working carefully to minimize disruption to existing landscaping.
Trenches are backfilled and compacted, disturbed areas are regraded and seeded, and the site is left clean with a drainage system ready to handle whatever New England's weather brings.
New England's climate — heavy spring rains, intense summer storms, and rapid snowmelt — tests every property's ability to manage water. In Norfolk County, the challenge is compounded by glacial till soils: a dense, heterogeneous mix of clay, silt, sand, and boulders that absorbs water slowly and inconsistently. When you add a high seasonal water table and thousands of properties with grading that's shifted over the decades, it's no surprise that drainage problems are among the most common issues homeowners and contractors call us about. Millbrook Excavation approaches drainage problems systematically. We start by identifying where water is entering the property, where it's collecting, and — critically — where it needs to go. Then we design and install the right system. That might mean re-grading to establish positive slope away from the foundation (at least 6 inches in the first 10 feet per Massachusetts code), installing a French drain to intercept subsurface water before it reaches the house, cutting a drainage swale to carry surface runoff to a discharge point, setting catch basins in persistent low spots, or connecting everything to a dry well or daylight outlet. For new construction and development sites, we manage stormwater in compliance with Massachusetts Stormwater Handbook standards and local bylaws. Larger projects disturbing one or more acres require Construction General Permit compliance under EPA stormwater regulations. Work near wetlands or within the 100-foot buffer zone requires a Notice of Intent to the local Conservation Commission — we coordinate this process for our clients. Every drainage solution we install is built to handle Norfolk County's real precipitation events — not just light rain. We use quality pipe, properly sized stone, adequate inlet capacity, and correctly sloped outlet runs to build systems that perform through the biggest spring storms and nor'easters.
Chronic water against your foundation causes cracking, settling, and basement moisture. A proper drainage system moves water away from your structure before it can cause damage.
Standing water breeds mosquitoes, kills grass, creates icy patches in winter, and turns your yard into a muddy obstacle. We find and fix the cause — not just the symptom.
Uncontrolled runoff strips topsoil, undermines driveways, and damages landscaping. Properly designed swales and outlets protect your property from ongoing erosion damage.
We build drainage systems sized for Norfolk County's real storm events — spring deluges, nor'easters, and rapid snowmelt — not just light rain.
A French drain is a perforated pipe surrounded by gravel, buried in a trench. Water seeps through the soil, enters the perforated pipe, and flows by gravity to a safe discharge point — such as a daylight outlet, dry well, or municipal storm drain. It's particularly effective for intercepting subsurface water before it reaches a foundation or collects in low areas.
A dry well is an underground chamber — typically a large perforated concrete or plastic structure surrounded by gravel — that collects stormwater and allows it to infiltrate slowly into the surrounding soil. Dry wells work well when your soil has reasonable permeability and there's no nearby water body or wetland that could be impacted.
Norfolk County sits on glacial till — a dense, variable mix of clay, silt, sand, and boulders. Clay-heavy pockets absorb water slowly and hold it near the surface, especially during spring when the ground is saturated from snowmelt. This is compounded by New England's high-rainfall seasons. Proper grading and a drainage system designed for your specific soil conditions is the long-term solution.
If your drainage work is within 100 feet of a wetland, stream, river, or vernal pool, a Notice of Intent (NOI) to your local Conservation Commission is required under the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act. We identify any wetland setback issues during our site assessment and can coordinate the permitting process.
Exterior drainage improvements — regrading, French drains, and proper surface water management — can significantly reduce or eliminate water intrusion into basements and crawl spaces caused by surface and subsurface water. We address the problem from the outside, where water management is most effective and cost-efficient.
Some disturbance is unavoidable when installing underground pipe and inlet structures. We work carefully to minimize damage to existing plantings, hardscaping, and lawn areas, and we restore disturbed areas with loam and seed as part of our standard process.
Serving Norfolk, Franklin, Wrentham, Walpole, Millis, Medway, Medfield, Plainville, Foxborough, Sharon, Mansfield, Attleboro, and the surrounding Norfolk County area.
Call or text (508) 641-3577 or fill out our online contact form. We'll schedule a visit, assess your drainage situation at no charge, and recommend the right solution for your property.
Based in Norfolk, we provide professional septic repair, foundation excavation, drainage, demolition, and site work to homeowners and businesses across the norfolk county, ma.
+ Surrounding communities within the Norfolk County, MA
