A catch basin captures surface water at a specific low point — a driveway dip, a yard corner, the base of a downspout run — and routes it underground to a discharge point, instead of letting…
A French drain intercepts subsurface water moving through the soil. A catch basin handles surface water collecting at a specific point — a low spot in a driveway, the bottom of a slope, or a downspout discharge that needs to go somewhere besides a puddle by the foundation. See our drainage guide for homeowners for how to tell surface issues from subsurface ones. Many projects combine both, depending on the site.
Depth and length of the pipe run to a discharge point, basin size needed for the water volume, and how much surface regrading is needed to properly direct water into the basin.
No — a catch basin collects surface water at a specific point and pipes it away. A French drain intercepts subsurface water along a trench. They're often used together on a single drainage project.
To a discharge point we identify during design — daylight on a lower part of the property, a storm drain if the site has one, or another appropriate outlet that doesn't just move the problem onto a neighbor's property.
Yes, that's a common and effective use — a properly sized basin at the low point routes water away before it becomes standing water on the driveway.
