110 feet
The highest natural ground in all of Pinellas County sits right here in Clearwater, up near Countryside. Most of the city slopes away from it.
Drainage · Clearwater, Pinellas County
Clearwater drainage built for the ridge it sits on and the low streets its rain runs to
We do not just sell drainage. We sell peace of mind.
Trufam Drainage designs and installs French drains, yard drainage, and complete water systems for homes across Clearwater, from the high ground around Countryside to the low streets near the beach and the harbor. We build for the way water actually moves here: off the ridge, across a clay layer it cannot soak into, and downhill toward the coast.
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Serving Tampa Bay since 2018 Family owned and operated
Residential & commercial Commercial-grade materials
50+ inches
of rain fall on Clearwater in a normal year, and most of it arrives fast in the afternoon storms between June and September.
Sand over clay
A short way down, a tight clay layer stops water from soaking in, so it runs across the surface instead of draining away.
How Clearwater Sheds Its Water
Every Clearwater yard sits somewhere on the slope
Clearwater is not flat. A limestone ridge runs down the middle of the Pinellas peninsula, and Clearwater holds the top of it, from the bluff over the harbor downtown to the county high point near Countryside. Rain that lands on the high ground has one way to go, and that is downhill: toward the Gulf and the beach on one side, and toward Old Tampa Bay on the other. The clay under the sand keeps most of that water at the surface, so it moves across yards and streets instead of sinking in.
Why The Water Behaves This Way
Four things shape drainage in Clearwater
Good drainage here starts with reading the land the way the water reads it. Four local facts explain why so many Clearwater yards flood, pool, or wash out, and why the fix is different from one street to the next.
The ridge and the bluff
Downtown Clearwater sits on a bluff above the harbor, and the county high point is up near Countryside. High ground drains fast, which sounds like a good thing until you remember the water it sheds has to land somewhere lower, often the next yard down.
Clay you cannot see
Clearwater soil looks like clean sand on top. A short way down sits a tight clay hardpan, and water hits it and stops. Instead of soaking in, it holds on the lawn or sheets across the surface. Fixing that is the heart of good yard drainage.
The low streets take it all
Near Clearwater Beach and the older streets along the water, runoff from higher ground collects, the water table is high, and the ground drains slowly. The city is spending years and hundreds of millions upsizing stormwater pipes in these areas, which tells you how much water ends up here.
Homes built before the plan
Countryside filled in through the 1970s and the streets near downtown are older still. Many homes went up before anyone planned where a heavy summer storm would send the water, so the roof and yard runoff still has nowhere good to go. Underground drainage gives it a path.
Find Your Home On The Slope
Where you sit decides what you need
The same storm causes three different problems in Clearwater depending on your elevation. Here is what we see at each spot on the slope, and how we solve it.
High groundCountryside, Skyline, the ridge
You would think high ground drains itself. The clay hardpan says otherwise. Water sits on the lawn after a storm, then rushes off the property and can pile onto the yard below yours. A French drain custom-built for your lot, along with proper grading, catches that water and carries it off on your terms.
Mid-slopeMost of Clearwater
Your yard gets water from two directions: what falls on it, and what runs down from the homes above. It crosses the lawn in sheets, cuts erosion lines, and pushes toward the house. We intercept it with a French drain and move it in solid pipe to a safe, lower outlet so it never reaches the foundation.
Low groundThe beach, the harbor, the creeks
This is where all of that water ends up. The table is high, the ground drains slowly, and the street may flood before your yard even clears. We build underground drainage to move it out, sump systems where gravity runs out, and foundation drains to keep water off the walls.
The Problem
When Clearwater rain has nowhere to go
A short afternoon storm can drop an inch of water on your lot. On the clay under a Clearwater lawn, that water does not disappear. It sits, it saturates, and it looks for the lowest way out, which is too often your house. These are the signs a property has run out of room for its own runoff.
- Water stands in the yard for a day or more after the rain stops
- Runoff from higher ground crosses your lawn and heads for the house
- Soggy, spongy turf that never fully dries between storms
- Gutters dumping straight down at the base of the foundation
- Erosion channels or bare ruts cutting downhill through the yard
Standing water in Clearwater is a drainage problem, and it is fixable.
What We Build In Clearwater
Drainage built for the way water moves here
We design the full water path for your property, from where the rain lands to where it safely lets go. Most Clearwater homes need a combination of the systems below, sized for the slope and the soil.
French drains
Custom-built for your property and the water it actually has to move, with perforated pipe, clean #57 granite, and drainage fabric rated for decades in the ground.
See French drains →Yard drainage
Catch basins and regrading that end the soggy spots and standing water the clay layer leaves behind on Clearwater lawns.
See yard drainage →Underground drainage
Solid SDR-35 pipe that carries roof and surface water off the property to a safe, lower outlet, so it does not sit or run back toward the house.
See underground drainage →Foundation drains & waterproofing
For low-lying Clearwater homes where water holds against the slab or stem wall, a perimeter drain and a rubberized coating keep it off the foundation.
See foundation drains →Seamless gutters
Six and seven inch gutters that catch the roof water and tie straight into the underground system, instead of dumping it at the foundation.
See seamless gutters →
Real Work
The same system, from trench to outlet
Every photo on this page is a real Trufam install, never stock and never a rendering.
The Trufam Promise
We are not the cheapest drainage company in Clearwater, and that is on purpose.
Most homeowners who call us have already paid once for a quick fix that did not hold. A Clearwater drainage system done right is commercial-grade pipe, the proper downhill slope, and a plan built around your spot on the slope, so it keeps working through the summer storms and back-to-back tropical systems. You are protecting the largest thing you own.
$5,000 to $30,000+ where most Clearwater projects land, priced after we walk the property
Service Area
Serving Clearwater and the rest of Pinellas
We work across Clearwater every week, on the high ground and down by the water, and throughout the neighboring Pinellas cities. If your street is not listed, ask us, because we most likely cover it.
Clearwater neighborhoods we serve
CountrysideClearwater BeachIsland EstatesSand KeyHarbor OaksDowntown ClearwaterMorningsideSunset PointSkycrestDel Oro
Common Questions
Clearwater drainage questions, answered
Yes. French drains are one of our most common Clearwater installs, on the high ground near Countryside and down through the older mid-slope neighborhoods. Every one is custom-built for your property using perforated pipe, clean #57 granite, and drainage fabric rated for decades in the ground. We walk the lot first and design the drain around the water it actually has to move. See our French drains page for how we build them.
Because what matters here is under the grass. Clearwater soil is sandy on top, but a tight clay hardpan sits a short way down. Rain soaks through the sand, hits the clay, and stops. On high ground it then rushes off the surface; in a low spot it just sits. The fix is yard drainage that collects the water above the clay and carries it away in solid pipe.
Yes. We cannot control the public street, but we can control what happens on your lot. In the low coastal areas the water table is high and the ground drains slowly, so we build underground drainage to move water out to a safe outlet, add a sump system where gravity is not enough, and use foundation drains to keep water off the walls. The city is upsizing stormwater pipes in these neighborhoods, and property-level drainage works alongside that.
Often, yes. Countryside filled in through the 1970s and the streets near downtown are older still, and many homes were built before anyone planned where a heavy storm would send the water. The most common upgrade is tying the gutters into an underground system so roof water is carried away from the house instead of dumping at the foundation.
Most Clearwater drainage projects run between $5,000 and $30,000, depending on the size of the property, the site conditions, and the materials the job calls for. We do not quote over the phone. Every estimate follows a walkthrough where we find where the water comes from, where it needs to go, and what it will take to get it there, then we price the actual work.
All of it. We work in Countryside, Clearwater Beach, Island Estates, Sand Key, Harbor Oaks, Downtown Clearwater, Morningside, Sunset Point, Skycrest, and Del Oro, along with the neighboring Pinellas cities of Dunedin, Safety Harbor, and Largo. See the full Pinellas County service area to confirm your street.
Solid SDR-35 PVC for the underground lines. It holds its shape, does not collapse, and will not trap sediment and roots the way the flexible corrugated pipe from the big box stores does. For French drains we use perforated pipe in a granite and fabric trench. The right pipe in the right place is what keeps a Clearwater system draining for years.
Yes. We install seamless 6-inch and 7-inch gutters and can tie the downspouts straight into your underground drainage, so the roof water is carried away from the house as part of one complete system rather than dropped at the foundation. See our seamless gutters page for the full detail.
Protect Your Clearwater Home
Find out exactly where your water is going
We walk your Clearwater property, read the slope and the soil, and show you exactly what is causing the problem and what we would build to solve it. No pressure, and no guesswork.