Wet yards, flooded basements, icy driveways — it’s all the same problem: water with nowhere to go. We give Ashland water a better path with grading, drains, and culverts that actually work.
Ashland works at two scales. In the village, lots are small and old — houses close together, short setbacks, sewer and water laterals of respectable age — so excavation means compact equipment, Dig Safe 811 marks studied carefully, and trench work done tight to structures without disturbing them. Out at Little Squam, it’s classic camp country: seasonal places on posts and piers converting to year-round, which brings full frost-depth foundations, water and power trenches, and Shoreland rules within 250 feet of the lake. The Squam River threading through town leaves sandy, workable soils on its terraces — pleasant digging, though low spots near the river want their drainage thought through and floodplain lines checked. Highway access is a genuine advantage; gravel and stone truck in cheap here. Fall remains our favorite Ashland season: dry ground, no posted roads, and camps empty for the winter work window.
Upgrading a Little Squam camp? Trench your utilities — water, power, and any future conduit — in one mobilization while the excavator is already on site for the foundation. Opening the same ground twice is the most common avoidable cost we see on camp conversions, and an empty spare conduit costs almost nothing to add.
Most wet-basement and swampy-yard problems are solved outside, with dirt. We regrade so the ground pitches away from the foundation, install French and curtain drains that intercept groundwater before it reaches the house, day-light downspouts and footing drains so roof water leaves, and set culverts and swales that carry storm flow through the property instead of across your lawn.
On lake lots this doubles as shoreline stewardship — controlled infiltration instead of erosion channels cutting to the water. Perforated pipe in clean stone, wrapped, pitched, and day-lighted: boring details, dry basement.
French/curtain drain installs typically run $2,000–$8,000 depending on length and depth; regrading and downspout day-lighting often less. We find where the water comes from before quoting, and the quote is flat.
Often, yes — if the water is coming from surface or shallow groundwater on the uphill side, a curtain drain that intercepts it plus regrading at the foundation solves it outside. If the water table itself is high, interior systems may be part of the answer; we'll tell you which problem you actually have.
Snowmelt plus flat or bowl-shaped grading plus our hardpan soils equals standing water. The cure is a path: swales or drains that give melt somewhere to go. Most wet yards are fixed with a day or two of grading and pipe.
Work within the protected shoreland (250 feet of a lake) or touching wetlands can require NHDES permits. We flag it on the site walk and plan the job so it's done right and documented.
Free site walks, test pits before quotes, flat pricing, and a crew that knows Lakes Region ground.
Tell us where the property is and what you’re trying to do. We’ll walk the site, talk it through, and give you a straight, flat quote.
