Drainage & Grading in Kenner

Kenner Sits Flat and Low Near the Lake

Kenner runs right up to the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, and the lots out here are about as flat as land gets. The neighborhoods near the airport and along the lakefront were built on alluvial delta soil with a water table that sits close to the surface. When rain falls on ground this flat, it doesn’t run anywhere. It pools, soaks in slowly, and lingers in the low spots until the next dry stretch. That’s the reality every paver patio, driveway, or pool deck in Kenner has to be designed around.

Without a real grading and drainage plan, water finds its way under the pavers, softens the base, and you end up with sunken sections, shifting joints, and standing puddles where you wanted a clean patio. We solve that before the first stone goes down.

Engineering Slope Where There Isn’t Any

On flat Kenner lots we have to create the fall that nature didn’t provide. We set a positive grade away from your house and patio, usually about a quarter inch of drop per foot, so surface water heads toward a drain instead of sitting against the slab. Then we back that up with subsurface drainage sized for ground that stays damp.

• French drains along the low edge of a patio collect groundwater and runoff and carry it to a dry well or a discharge point well away from the hardscape.
• Channel drains set across a driveway or pool deck catch sheet water before it reaches the garage or the house.
• Downspout tie-ins move roof water underground and out, instead of letting it dump at the base of your pavers during every storm.
• Permeable paver systems with open-graded stone bases let rain soak straight through the joints into a stone reservoir, which is a real advantage on lots that drain slowly.

Base Work Built for a High Water Table

Delta soil this close to the lake holds moisture and settles, so the base under your pavers does the heavy lifting. We dig deeper than you’d need on firm inland ground, compact the subgrade in lifts, and build an angular crushed-stone base that interlocks and resists movement. On the wettest Kenner lots we add geotextile fabric between the soil and the stone so the saturated subgrade can’t pump up into the base and wash it out over time.

The humidity and heavy rain here, not salt, are what wear hardscapes down. Lake Pontchartrain is brackish, not salt water, and the Gulf is more than 40 miles south, so the real challenge is keeping water moving and the base dry. Our Zone 9b winters stay mild, so standing water and a soggy subgrade, not freeze damage, are the things proper grading has to defend against.

Permits and Local Code

Hardscape and drainage work in Kenner falls under Jefferson Parish Inspection and Code Enforcement. Grading changes that affect where water leaves your property can trigger review, and we build to code so your project passes inspection and doesn’t send runoff onto a neighbor’s lot.

How We Start

We walk your property, find the low spots, and watch where water actually pools during and after a Kenner downpour. From there we design grading and drainage around your real conditions, then build the patio, driveway, or deck on a base ready for flat lakefront ground. If your current hardscape already holds water, we can regrade it and retrofit drainage without ripping everything out. Get in touch and we’ll come take a look.