Yard Drainage in Havertown, PA

Havertown isn’t a borough or a township of its own. It’s the name nearly everyone uses for the community that fills Haverford Township, in the northeastern corner of Delaware County. Its yards tell the story of how it grew: first the early-1900s streetcar suburbs like Llanerch and Brookline, then a big wave of post-war brick homes. Older housing means older grading, and that’s where drainage trouble starts.

Why Havertown yards hold water

The township rolls. It’s Piedmont upland with real ups and downs, threaded by Cobbs Creek and Naylors Run. On rolling ground, water moves, and where the slope flattens or turns toward a house, it collects. Underneath is the county’s clay-rich subsoil, slow to absorb whatever lands on it. The oldest neighborhoods add another wrinkle: a century of settling, mature tree roots, and decades of patios and additions mean the grade that once carried water away may now steer it back toward the foundation. The newer post-war tracts share the same clay and their own settled-grading quirks.

The fixes that fit a Havertown yard

With rolling lots, regrading is frequently the core fix, resetting the slope so water leaves the house. Where water is coming through the soil on a hillside or collecting in a low run, a French drain intercepts and reroutes it. And on the older, closer-built blocks, downspout and dry-well work keeps roof water from pooling against foundations that were never meant to sit in wet soil. The right mix depends on your lot and where the water is coming from.

Local note

Rolling ground is an advantage when the grade is right and a liability when it isn’t. Getting that slope working with the hill is the difference. For the full how-and-why, read the standing-water guide.