Drain Tile Repair Services
What's done to a drain tile system that has stopped carrying water. Installing a new interior system is a different job, covered on the interior basement waterproofing page.
Drain Tile Jetting and Cleaning
A jetter is a hose with a nozzle that fires water backward at high pressure, pulling itself up the pipe and scouring the walls as it goes. It goes in through a cleanout, or from the sump end of the line. The pressure has to suit the pipe. University of Wisconsin Extension's guidance for farm tile: above 400 psi for larger perforations or pipe in gravel, below 400 psi for small perforations or pipe wrapped in a fabric sock. For a lighter clog, HomeGuide describes clearing the line with an electric snake and then flushing it with water.
Camera Inspection
A push camera fed up the pipe shows what the jetter can't: a crushed section, a root mass, a joint pulled apart, or a run with standing water where the pipe has sagged. We'd want any repair quote to start here, because the video shows whether you're paying for a cleaning or a dig. HomeGuide's national price for a sewer camera inspection is $125 to $500. We haven't found a separate figure for scoping drain tile, which uses the same equipment. Ask for the video file and the distance marks where the problems are, so a second contractor can quote from the same footage. Cleanout risers brought up to the floor or to grade make every future inspection quicker.
Collapsed Clay Tile Replacement
Many older footing drains are short sections of clay tile laid end to end with open joints. The residential code still describes that kind of tile, with the open joints covered by strips of building paper. Over decades, sections shift, crack under backfill or settle out of line, and soil washes into the gap. Farm-drainage research describes the same failure on a larger scale: tile breaks at junctions and weak spots, soil is drawn in, and a sinkhole appears above. The fix is to expose the bad run, replace it with perforated pipe in washed gravel, and connect it to the sound tile at each end.
Iron Ochre, Silt and Root Clogs
Iron ochre is a red, orange or tan slime that iron bacteria build in drains where groundwater carries dissolved iron. It clings to the perforations and blocks the flow. Jetting removes it, but it grows back, so HomeGuide notes that soils with iron ochre need more frequent cleaning. Fine silt and tree roots are the other two main enemies of a footing drain. Code wants perforated drain wrapped in, or covered by, a filter membrane, so silt in the line usually means that layer is missing or torn. Roots point to a tree too close to the wall, and they'll be back if the tree stays.
Outlet and Daylight Repair
Sometimes the tile is fine and the exit is blocked. An exterior footing drain that runs to daylight can be buried by landscaping, crushed by a car, or blocked by an animal guard full of leaves. An interior line ends at the sump, and a failed pump makes the whole system look dead. The outlet also has to meet city rules: Farmington Hills sends footing drain water to the storm sewer or onto the ground away from the house, and pumped lines need a relief line where freezing could block them. If the pump is the problem, see sump pump repair.
Why Farmington Hills homeowners call Farmington Hills Waterproofing
- Free in-home inspection
- Written scope and price before work starts
- Cause found before a fix is quoted
- One local waterproofing contractor, not a call list
- No charge to homeowners for the referral
Signs the Drain Tile Has Stopped Working
The sump stays dry in a storm
If the basement is wet and the pit isn't filling, water isn't reaching the pump.Water returns along the old line
Seepage at the cove joint on a wall that was dry for years means the tile beside it is blocked.Muddy or orange water in the pit
Silt or ochre is moving through the pipe and settling in it.A soft spot or sinkhole outside
On an exterior system, a depression along the foundation or over the outlet line can mark a broken section.The pump runs far less than it used to in wet seasons
A drop like that, with the walls getting wetter, means water is no longer reaching the pit.No outlet anyone can find
In older houses the daylight end is sometimes buried. Finding it is part of the repair.
Drain Tile Repair Cost and Lifespan
HomeGuide's national numbers (February 2026): cleaning a clogged French drain costs $80 to $500 or more, and most well-installed drains last 30 to 40 years or longer. Systems that run to a sump typically need service within 10 years. If a run has to be replaced, interior drain tile runs $40 to $85 per linear foot and an exterior perimeter drain $30 to $90 per foot. We haven't found Michigan-only figures.
Age matters here. About 53% of Farmington Hills homes were built before 1980, so many footing drains have been in the ground more than 45 years. We'd jet and camera an old system before agreeing to replace it, and ask for the quote to price cleaning, inspection and excavation as separate lines. A full replacement makes sense when the camera shows collapse along most of the run, not just one bad section.